Log 16-April-2011: Arrival in Brazil!

 Take-off from Cayenne after refuelling, plan de vol, all very professional. Flight first in IMC with vecors from the French Controller: Mais votre Francais est excellent! Vous etes du Quebec? Non, non, de l'Autriche ..... 30 minutes after takeoff, the River Oyapock, border Guyane - Brasil. On the foto, the French airstrip. At that point, the Cayenne Control hands me to Amazonic Center for Brazil. After 30 minutes, I found another pilot to transmit my position, and only a good hour into Brazil,  near AMP ADF I got radio contact with "Centro Amazonico". From there vectors around heavy thunderstorms, towards Belem.

 First part of the huge Amazonas delta. We flew an hour and a half over the delta, impressive.

Here I took a short video, to document the switch of the GPS from the Northern hemisphere to South, we crossed the equator! No bump, no bang, the little "N" just turned into "S" in a fraction of a second.

Belem finally in sight

with a bad thunderstorm looming. Can we still do the landing?

yes, we just made it. Already quite some gusts on final, but we made it in one piece!

Infraero sent us a truck, the guy had to wait for 20 minutes, it was pouring!

After that, welcome to Brazilian bureaucracy! Jeppesen advised to send a Fax to DAC, but since the last 2 years, another organisation is in charge, and pre-landing clearance has to be obtained from http://www.anac.gov.br/ . For the first landing, the reply is automatic and almost immediate. But you don't normally fly all the way just for one landing, and a further, more complicated clearance is needed to continue within Brazil, at the same website. Have scans of your pilot license, medical, airworthiness, registration and insurance ready! That request is answered in 24-48 hours. Hence, we were stranded in Belem for 2 days.

Note the two Laws of General Aviation Entry Requirements:
1. The larger the country, the more red tape (US, Brazil worse; Bahamas, small Caribbean islands best)
2. The Percapita BIP is inversly correlated to the fees due at landings (fees highest in Haiti, high in Brazil, Trinidad, low in US, French possessions)

my two angels just arrived in Brazil!

A lucky event to be stranded in a city where we have friends from 30 years ago in Sao Paulo, Valmir and Beth who were formidable hosts during our stay in their city. Belem has a lot to offer.  

and a local dancer awaits us in the hall of Belem Airport: Bemvindos no BRASIL!