21-Apr-2011 Sao Paulo Campo de Marte

The day after we arrived we got a call from my daughter's boyfriend who got stuck in Sao Paulo, the first day of a 4-day weekend, with terrible car traffic out of the 20m people metropolis. So, let's get him by plane! A nice challenge. Campo de Marte has only VFR procedures, and you have to arrive via a sophisticated network of VFR corridors. But not Jeppesen, not the web had a description or chart, finally i found one at the local aeroclub. Programmed waypoints into my GPS, and off we went. Have to self-announce upon entry, and over waypoints "Coordenacao Corredores...", all in portuguese. At the point "Pedagio", call Sao Paulo Approach, and 3 minutes later you are handed over to Campo de Marte Tower, near "Rodoanel". Same in reverse order on way back. And nice to see endless traffic jams from above ...My daughter Veronika was the reporter on this flight.

Chart of the SP VFR corridors ... not easily available on the web!

The last day, 20 April 2011 SWGI - Araras

Half an hour after Gurupi, Centro Amazonico handed us over to Centro Brasilia, we are getting into the heart of Brazil!
An hour and a half after Gurupi: Brasilia, the Capital of Brazil.

Brasilia Airport from FL 110

Turning final at SBCN, caldas Novas, lunch and refuel

Caldas Novas Lake

Rio Grande, boundary with Sao Paulo State ... we are getting closer! 

 Here, the controller of "Academia", the TMA near Araras, controlled by the Air Force Academy at Pirassununga, headed us far away from our route, as jet training was going on at the Academy.

Araras in sight!

And here, Araras! We made it!

Happy Landing

Friends and family (and dogs)

                                           completed 4000nm in 33 flying hours, over 8 days

Log 19-April-2011 Belem - Gurupi

IFR from Belem to Maraba. Flight planning is very profesional in Brazil, you file in an AIS room, where you are serviced by the air force. ANAC, the civil aviation authority, is subordinated to the Ministry of Defense. You feel like preparing a air force mission, when a sergeant or sometimes lieutenant in uniform gives you weather and enroute briefing. But it works. You get all info on flying in Brazil on http://www.aisweb.aer.mil.br/?i=home oops, I hope this website is no military secret. You get also met info, satellite pictures, approach plates and charts through this site. Well done, Brazil!
But it costs something: at every Infraero airport (like Belem, Maraba), you get charged 200-300 BRL (130-200$) for landing, communication etc. fees. Be ready with cash.

So, here you know why we need good meteorological data, here is the thunderstorm corridor of the intertropical convergence zone. I was told I caught a very good day, it looks like this:

Once you are through it (S of 10-13 degrees S, depends on time of year), the sky clears up, and you have only the occasional buildup like in the Caribbean. Brazilian pilots have recommended Gurupi (SWGI) for a stopover, no Infraero (=no landing fee) and AvGas (PetroBras), and cheap hotels (we stayed at Veneza, central, clean, pool), a (not too tasty) pizzeria, and a ice cream parlor.

17 and 18th April 2011 - Belem

The rains near thunderstorms had torn away the front window insulation, I fixed this with silicone from a local supermarket (and it held until destination!)

Amazon near Belem

our crew, once with all feet on the ground (better on a thundery day). In Belem, our friends showed us many fine places, don't miss the Docas (a large indoor area, former docks, full of restaurants, shops, live music on evenings, right on the River, near Ver o Peso), and Restaurante Mangal das Garças, very recommended. Try the local cuisine, fishes, spices, fruits which you ahave never tasted before (like our Jamais Goute in Cayenne)

15-April-2011 forced rest day in Cayenne

 La plage, next to the Novotel

Swimming is not advised, strong currents. We found Guyane a lively little French province, turned more to their rivers than the sea. Also reflected in the cuisine, most fish are from rivers (the "Jamais Goute" from the Moroni, don't miss it!), but you get also crevettes if you look for them....

Here on the many forth and back to/from the airport. We couldn't find one of our passports, had to make a Rapport by the Gendarmerie, so that stopped us here one day. The passport dropped out of a bag later in Brazil, but we liked our extra day in Cayenne!



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!

Log 14-April-2011 Trinidad - Guyane

 Had an enjoyable night in Port of Spain, in the same hotel (the Hilton "upside down", you enter on a hill, and the rooms are down) where I stayed 32 years ago, doing a Nestle audit. We met 2 employees still from that time! Dinner with Steel Band, and short sight seeing around PoS, then heading for the longest flight of our trip, plan was PoS to Paramaribo (4 hours), over water and mostly inhospitable jungle. Here we refuel the plan to the rim.

About an hour and a half after take-off: the first sight of SOUTH AMERICA! Here Venezuela, the mouth of the Orinoco (engine, please don't quit!)

Port of Spain handed us directly to Georgetown (Guyana), even if we flew a little corner through Hugo Chavez's airspace on A324. And after we lost communication with PoS, it took about 45 minutes until Georgetown could hear us.

Coastline of Guyana, near Georgetown

Here a suburb of Paramaribo (Surinam) from the air. Here we had already lost our battle over the radio, for the permission to land at Zorg-en-Hoop, the only airport in Surinam with AvGas. The controller wanted us to go down at Zanderij, the larger airport, but only jet fuel. So despite being already 4  hours in the air, we asked for deviation to SOCA - Cayenne, another 1 3/4 hours

 My copilot and passenger were very brave, still smiling with this ordeal. Finally we had a flight of 5 hours and 38 minutes on the tach, almost 6 hours hobbs.

The coastline of Guyane, near St.Laurent de Moroni

And finally an ILS approach for Rwy 08 at Cayenne - Rochambeau. The first time I had to trust the needles in real life (and they were nicely centered...)! And it worked, here, at around 1000 ft, we could guess the runway, smack in front of us (piece of cake, with an MDA of 340') 

 

Bienvenue en France! The gendarmes controlled my pilot license, Securite our bags, la Police our passports, and la douane again the bags, but all very friendly (must be far from Paris....). Cayenne was full, and Elie, our able taxi driver spent 60€ knocking on every hotel in town (next time, the Amazonie looked nice and central), but a regional Petanque championship filled up the whole place. Happy to find rooms at the fashionable Novotel on the outskirts, near a lovely beach. Champagne, un bon diner et allez hopp au lit, this was a tiring day!

Log 13-April-2011 St.Martin - Port of Spain

 My two heroes and myself, just before leaving St.Martin. I filed IFR, and it took them 1 hour to get the clearance. My handheld ICOM saved aircraft battery/fuel. I was still happy for the IFR, as we had a lot of rain and clouds on the leg to Fort de France, half of the flight in IMC (Instrument conditions, in the clouds). New challenge: baro pressure in hectopascals, nobody knows inches of mercury (divide the HP by 33.86, and twist your Kollmans to the result!). Next evening, my portable miniprinter produced a little conversion table. Same for AvGas which comes in litres (divide by 3.78, ah, and no avgas in Grand Case!)

St. Marteen

St. Barts, the (in)famous airstrip

Guadeloupe in sight. Continuously changing the accents and languages of controllers between Caribbean English, and les francais.

Fort de France, Martinique, our lunch, and refuel stop

The "Paris of the Caribbean" looks quite impressive from the air, past KAREX, on a 4 mile final on the glideslope for ILS 10 (flew a full ILS, even weather was perfect VFR)

That's why the controller asked us to speed up our approach, the Air France Airbus was landing behind us! Very relaxed bureaucracy at TFFF. No immiggration/customs in sight. Just dropped 4 copies of GenDec into 4 post boxes airside of the General Aviation terminal. Refuelling to be paid cash (€ or $). A very popular local restaurant, Chez Maimaine, is just opposite the General Aviation Terminal. Jet Aviation was helpful with tips, weather and filing the FPL. Merci.

From TFFF to TTPP Port of Spain the weather improved, and we chose VFR, also to be free to climb/descend for some sight seeing, for some of the most spectacular views in the Caribbean

St. Lucia

Les Pitons: spectacular!

Grenadines ... islands, islands, islands ..

until we see the coastline of Trinidad, our destination for today

Short final runway 10. The International Terminal is on the left (N) side, General Aviation on the Southern side. Reception at Piarco Airport was professional, but expensive. The handler asked 250$. I recommend to call before you land, because at sunset, hungry and thirsty, your negotiation room is limited. Here also ended the coverage of the Bahamas and Caribbean Pilot's Guide http://www.pilotpub.com/store.ph) a very valuable guide through this trip! Don't leave home without it!