Final leg home to Florida

Friday, May 28, 2010

Cruising at 8000 feet again, for the final time on this trip and I’m still fuming. That was absolutely the worst departure of this whole trip. I was ready 45 minutes ahead of time. The line guy could see the flight plan in the system. I’d said last night that finally things would be “easy” again. I’d filed with fltplan.com, checked this morning that it filed and assumed all would be ok. I started up, called for my clearance, nothing in the system. He said usually they popped up 30 minutes before departure, so I waited a few minutes. Nothing. I shut down, went inside and filed with Flight Service. He confirmed that it would be in the system in two minutes.

After a rest room break (only one cup of coffee this morning) I started up again. Still nothing. Finally the ground controller agreed to call flight service and after another 10 minutes found that it was there but they were modifying the route. I taxied to the runway, he said it would be available in a few minutes. Finally he read a new route clearance. It really wasn’t that much different, only the first intersection and leg, after Grand Turk it was the same as I had filed. I checked everything again and called tower for takeoff. Then sat another 15 minutes. He finally said it was stuck with San Juan, so I asked for and received a VFR departure. After 35 minutes on the ground, I finally took off 15 minutes after the filed departure time. First time in the whole month that I’ve had a late departure.

Once I was talking to departure control he asked if I was ready to copy a full route clearance. I said that I’d already received it. He asked me to read it to him. Here I am at 1500 feet supposed to be watching for traffic and I have to read a full route clearance back. He said that was the correct clearance and had me put my squawk code back in. Everything proceeded normally from then. But, I’m still hot under the collar; I’d probably still be on the ground waiting for San Juan if I hadn’t asked for a VFR departure. What a complete waste of time, with cumulus building the whole time.

Anyway, now I can sit back and enjoy the final ride home. Right now there’s only a two knot headwind and not too many buildups ahead. I have the power setting just a little higher than normal for me…maybe I’m trying to make up for the late departure. But, I only used 8 gph yesterday and my last two hours today will be over land. So, I can stop and gas up if need be. This morning at Tropical Aviation, again everyone was very good to work with, I refueled at a more reasonable $5.43 per gallon.

Everything is proceeding well, only 20 minutes from Grand Turk and only six hours to go. The airliners are asking for deviations, so there are some big buildups ahead, I just can’t see them as there’s a cloud layer above me. I plugged in my XM weather, and it keep sending me a message that there is no signal. So, it’s trying. Hopefully I’ll have weather soon. I don’t remember, on the way down, where I lost weather.

I could see a huge black mass ahead and had decided to deviate to the left if I needed to. It was smooth as I got closer, so I kept going. Once inside, there were mild bumps then, stronger bumps, but nothing really severe. Lightening strikes started to show on the strike finder, but behind me, I was through the worst of it. Then, ahhh, blue sky.

I just talked with Wes and Jim on HF; we had a nice chat. Wes was at home with his beam antenna in Cocoa Beach, Jim is on his boat in the Chesapeake and I was north of Grand Turk at 8000 feet. Looks like we might all be able to get together in about three weeks. Wes installed the HF, so was keenly interested in how it was working and any problems I might have had. None, it worked flawlessly.

Air Traffic Control just announced a weather advisory for widely scattered thunderstorms. I don’t see any significant buildups right now, but probably will have more ahead. XM weather still hasn’t started displaying, but then I’m still three hours from the coastline.

XM weather just showed up at N23 23 W074 51, just abeam Long Island on the east side. So, it actually covers most of the Bahamas. Nothing significant at this time, which is nice to know. Sure looks like beautiful blue sky ahead; clear and smooth.

Past Nassau, almost over Freeport, buildups all along the coastline. Two hours to go four and half hours of gas, plenty for any deviations. It’s relatively clear in the middle of the state, so arrival should be visual. Talking with Miami center in radar contact, no more distance and time reporting; life is good. Time to put the sandals back on and oh I didn’t have to wear my pilot’s uniform today. Back to normal cloths, shirt and shorts – yeah.

The last hour and a half were deviating around thunderstorms and asking for re-routes. I made it home just before a storm that was brewing around Gainesville, 15 miles south. I got a little rain and a few gusts on final, but am now home and starting an oil change. Wash and wax tomorrow.

In summary, this has been an amazing adventure. I’m so glad I decided to fly my Mooney to Brasilia for the Earthrounders’ meeting. I hope you readers have enjoyed the blog and thank you for your feedback. Next year I’ll be off again. Most likely the website will be http://www.alsworldflight.com/, the same as the world record flight website. We’ll be working on that this summer and fall.

I’ll finish off with a quotation from Mark Twain; it’s also in the book on page 112 and it’s on the Brown Arch, entrance way to AirVenture. He said:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

To Puerto Rico

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Well, here we are again, cruising along at 8000 feet and smiling. I just left the coast behind. It’s smooth up here and only six hours and 20 minutes to go. ;-)

The alarms woke me up at 5am, nice hot water in the shower, which hasn’t always been the case, and an espresso at the reception as I checked out. Taxi arrived 10 minutes early and I’m at the airport with plenty of time for a 7am departure. First stop after the rest room is immigration. They look into the next department and say that no-one is in customs or the payment office so there’s no use in them stamping my passport. I know it’s ten minutes to six, so I’m patient for a while, then less patient by ten past six. Finally he stamps it at 6:15am and my baggage is scanned. The payment office only takes five minutes and I’m headed to the weather office. No-one is around. Finally a person shows up and says nothing has been prepared, it’s shift change time. I tell him where I’m going and say that I’ll prepare the plane while he prepares the weather for me.

As I do the pre-flight, I notice a blue stain under the wings. With the heat yesterday afternoon, the gas must have expanded and vented out. That’s why I prefer to gas up the morning of departure. I check the level and can’t have lost that much. Everything else is ready. Back at the met office, the printer doesn’t work, so he can’t give me anything. I look at the screen and he points at the clouds over Cayenne. I say I’m going to Puerto Rico and point to it on the screen. He says there are only high clouds over head. Good job I checked the weather myself this morning.

I ask for engine start, not knowing if they will give me an early departure or make me wait for the predetermined departure time, like in Brazil. He lets me start and gives me a clearance right away. I’m off 10 minutes early. Yeah.

Had to stop writing for a while as I had buildups, bumps, rain and unpleasant conditions. Now back on course and only five hours to go. There were 15 knot tailwinds at the start, but that’s now down to seven knots, so the flight will be a few minutes longer than planned. Hopefully I won’t arrive too late for customs to be mad at me. It’s a wonder with all the flying, my biggest worry is eAPIS and US customs.

I couldn’t make contact with Paramaribo at the last FIR boundary, so I’ve plugged in the Barbados frequencies to pick them up as early as possible. I picked up some snacks yesterday, knowing no breakfast would be available, so I think it’s snack time. Sorry, no coffee, but I did get some ice tea, in cans, just for a little caffine pickup. More later…

Finally some smooth air for an hour. It’s been a lot of hand flying around buildups. Not as easy as on the way southbound. Hmmm another hour of flying and no writing; this leg is really making me work. Now north of Barbados. I finally made contact with Barbados and didn’t like the look of the weather ahead to the northwest. I asked if he had any weather, but he said no. Then he called another plane and asked the conditions. That plane confirmed a big buildup to the northwest, but negotiable around it. The other areas have only buildups over the islands. I thanked him for the information. On the other side of Barbados, things look better. So, I’ll make Martinique my next decision point. If weather looks terrible, I’ll land there. Only three hours to go, but I don’t mind stopping if the storms look too bad.

I have all the charts ready for San Juan. Looks like just high clouds ahead, the weather is certainly beyond there. Unfortunately, the tailwind has died down it’s only two knots which isn’t helping much at all. I climbed to 10,000 to be above the cumulus layer and it’s much smoother up here. I am going into the smaller airport next to the major international airport in San Juan. It’s like an executive airport. They only have one approach; but hopefully I won’t need it. My alternate is the big airport with ILS.

I talked with Jim, KC4AZ on HF for 20 minutes or so and we had a clear frequency and a very nice chat. He’s in his sail boat in the Chesapeake and I’m flying at 10,000 feet south of Puerto Rica – wow, isn’t HF wonderful. We will try again tomorrow. I had to end the conversation and reel in the antenna as I was heading into bumpy clouds.

The last two hours were in rain and clouds with deviations around the worst weather. San Juan had radar and was giving recommendations to lots of planes. On the north side, it was much clearer and I did a visual approach. It was great to be down after over eight hours in the air.

Customs went relatively smoothly. The first thing the officer said was: “it’s the pilot from French Guiana that didn’t call ahead.” I told him the name of the person I talked to and he said that person was at the other airport. But, at least he agreed that I’d called in. He also said that I did eAPIS correctly. He didn’t say much about arriving 45 minutes late.

A ground person from Tropical Aviation met me before customs and offered their ramp for the night. I said yes I’d go there and gas up as well. He led me there after I’d finished with customs. They saw the decals on the plane and asked about them, wanted to hear more about the world flight and about my trip to S. Amercia. They were absolutely wonderful. I was exhausted. They made a reservation at a local hotel and drove me there and will pick me up in the morning.

Now, I can do my flight plan on line, get my own weather and depart in shorts and T-shirt tomorrow. Life is back to being simple. More tomorrow.

Sorry, no pictures. The setting was incorrect and they didn't work.

To Cayenne, French Guiana

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

At the airport early and weather still looks good. The earliest thunderstorms are forecast by 1pm local and I should arrive at noon. Immigration stamps go pretty quickly, but no-one is at customs. The immigration guy calls next door and tells me to wait. The customs guy finally shows up and lets me in. He copies all paperwork and starts asking about the plane. Then says he’s coming out to inspect the plane. This is a first. I think he just wants to see it. As we are driving to the “back forty” he asks if it’s a jet. Ha, ha. No, it’s a small, pequenio, plane. The driver says single-engine and I confirm.

He wants to look at my baggage – as messy as it is after four weeks of traveling. He asks to get into the compartment behind the baggage area. I said we can’t get into it. He goes through both luggage bags and says everything is ok and I can depart.

I pre-flight, ask for engine start and am off. Overall 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It’s a little bumpy this morning with buildups between 10 and 11 o’clock but great 17 knot tailwinds. The refueling yesterday was at $5.82/gallon without tax. Much better.

I’m already half way there and get some pictures of the coast and clouds along the way. It’s only a three hour flight, but I wanted to go non-stop to Puerto Rico and I couldn’t do that from Belem, thus this intermediate stop. Well, actually I could make it from Belem, but without enough reserve for my risk tolerance. With thunderstorms in the area and possible deviations, I want at least two hours of reserve. So, I get to visit Cayenne, French Guiana.

The last half of the flight was slightly more difficult. I was out of contact with air traffic control for over an hour. Two planes gave me other frequencies to call, but no response. Finally I talked with a local controller on the boarder who switched me directly to Cayenne control. At the same time I was mostly in cumulus clouds, very bumpy and lots of rain.

I got the weather which wasn’t the best, 300 foot broken, 1100 scattered, 8 kilometers visibility. So, I prepared for the ILS approach. The female controller was handling three planes without radar. Looked like I’d be first to the runway. She kept asking for DME and radial crossing – real non-radar work. I finally turned onto the localized and came down the glide path, there was the runway. No pictures of this arrival.

Ah, it is so enjoyable to be able to talk with people and ask where to go. After a week on my own with no Portuguese, it was a pleasure to speak in French. I did the flight plan and meteo and gassed up. Still expensive, even with no tax. The landing fee people were fun to talk with, but still wouldn’t let me pay today; tomorrow at 6am.

I took a hotel in town, with internet, so as to do eAPIS for US customs and to see some of the town…. Maybe a mistake. It took over two hours and tons of patience, not my strong suit, to get the eAPIS entered. I don’t know how much was the problem of the local internet provider, but I had to log back on over 25 times. Then I called the customs number in San Juan, as Wayne said it was necessary to place the phone call to customs as well. No-one answered the private aircraft line, so I called the main customs number. Finally someone took all the information. He didn’t seem to understand why he had to take this information. I got his name and badge number, just in case.

OK, time to go into town, walk around and eat as this morning’s breakfast was only a piece of bread with the coffee. I’m starved. As I walk around at 2pm, all the store fronts are closed. Only Chinese restaurants are open. I finally find a normal bar/restaurant and order lunch. I ask why everything is closed. Their siesta is from noon until 4pm. I remembered that everything in France closed form noon to 2pm, but I wasn’t expecting this. As I walked back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it poured down. As I walked back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it poured down. Time to get this updated prior to visiting the town later this afternoon.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 to Belem

Cruising along in clear and smooth conditions with a ten knot tailwind; what more could you ask for? How about a good night’s sleep. I was awake all night. I think that last cup of coffee, offered by the meteorological guy at the airport at 4pm, stuck with me all night. It was good and I had another this morning!

I didn’t get into the main city, but you can see that the infrastructure is well prepared. The airport has everything, see pictures. New tower, big fuel station and fire station. Nice terminal, with not too many people. The roads are wide, four lanes going into the city. Plenty of room with trees in the middle and on both sides. It’s still very clean.

This morning I walked straight out to airside and the flight plan office, checked the weather and signed the flight plan, had a cup of coffee, with the met guy, and restroom break and was on the ramp pre-flighting in no time at all. Plenty of time, sunny day, very relaxed. The thunderstorms aren’t forecast until after I’ve landed. Let’s hope the next two days go as well.

I got some pictures of the airport after takeoff and you can see the city also. It’s in a beautiful location with hills and lakes around. Very much like Brasilia. I hope this planned city works. I can see fields all around, so maybe this used to be rain forest as well.

I’m talking with Amazonica Center again. As usual, they want time estimates to the next few intersections. With the GPS doing all the calculations, that’s pretty easy. Time to get the Belem charts out and figure out what might happen. Yesterday, clear weather and no-one else in the area, and I had to do a full VOR-DME 11 nautical mile arc to final. Although I had the airport in site, and tried to shorten the procedure by telling approach that it was in site, he didn’t want to hear that until I was on final, then passed me over to tower. The last three landings at Campo Grande and Iguacu, they actually let me do visual approaches; but, no such luck yesterday.

Wow, that was expensive avgas yesterday, $8.41 per gallon. Cheaper than Manaus, but more expensive than other places in Brazil. I should get the last fill-up tax-free, this afternoon, as I’m departing the country, we’ll see. Although, the airport fees here in Palmas were less expensive by $50 than other controlled airports.

There was one big isolated buildup to the northwest as I departed. Now, after two hours and 10am local time, there are a few buildups to the east south east. Nothing ahead that I can see.

I received an email from Wes saying that the propagation doesn’t look good for HF communication today. I tried the net at 13z and there was a lot of static. I called a few times and KD4CMV turned his beam on me and we spoke relatively clearly. At least I heard him well, but he said my transmission was light. At least he got my location and that I’ll call in on Thursday on my way to Puerto Rico.

Well, the weather is 1100 feet broken, so an ILS approach is required, but they give me a shortcut directly to the final approach fix. Wow, that’s nice. Under the clouds, I snap a few pictures of the city and airport and land. The parking if off in the “boonies” nowhere near anything. I’m all set to go and the avgas truck and Infraero bus haven’t shown up. It’s VERY hot with the sun beating down. I stand in the shade of the guard shack and finally the avgas truck shows up. After filling up, Infraero still hasn’t shown up, so I take a ride back in the Shell truck.

I completed all the paperwork except customs and immigration which must await the morning. Hopefully things will go smoothly and quickly.

story from Iguacu airport, Argentina

When I was in Iguacu, one of the airport authority people asked about the decals on the plane and I explained about the 2008 world flight. Later a photographer, Walter, and several helicopter pilots came over and wanted pictures. I was happy to oblige.

Walter just sent me these pictures: the pilots with me and Mooney, Walter with me and Mooney, me and the pilots in front of their helicopter. It was fun for all of us. I hope they can read the website.

North to Palmas

Monday, May 24, 2010 heading to Palmas

Cruising calmly and smoothly at 9,000 feet with a slight head wind and all the difficulties of the morning behind me. It was a very restful night with a good dinner, shower and breakfast. However, on looking out the window during breakfast, there were clouds above this morning.

On arriving at the airport, I went straight to the meteorological office; there was a cold front almost over Campo Grande and headed northeast with high winds and thunderstorms. My destination was clear and good weather. The front was not supposed to be at Palmas by tomorrow. I wanted to get off the ground and head northeast before it hit.

At the Infraero office for payment things went reasonably quickly. They offered me a small cup of their sweet coffee which Wayne and I had enjoyed during our stops on the way south. It seems that each country has its customs, sweet coffee here, sweet tea in India and mahte in Argentina.

After payment, I took the receipt to the flight planning office and asked that the takeoff time be brought forward by an hour. I only had refueling to complete and I could depart. The officer did the change immediately.

As I stepped out of the terminal to walk to the plane, there was a light drizzle and it looked very dark to the southwest. The Shell avgas truck was just pulling out to refuel someone else, so he would stop by my plane afterwards. I did the rest of the preflight and he showed up, just as it started raining more heavily. Slight problem, he doesn’t accept US dollars and I’ve spent most of my reais. Guess I got rid of the local currency too quickly. So, I just filled the mains, gave him all my reais and added a US 20 dollar bill to cover the last 20 reais that I was short. He accepted that. I didn’t want to take the time to go back to the terminal to get more local money from an ATM. That’ll teach me a lesson that Wayne was preaching: never pass up a gas truck, never pass up a bathroom. If I’d taken the gas offered upon arrival yesterday, I wouldn’t have had this problem this morning and would have had enough reais.

I called up the tower on the radio, knowing it was 35 minutes before take off time, but asked for engine start. He said to wait 20 minutes for the clearance. I asked for an early departure due to weather. He said to standby. I got my handheld radio out of the ditch bag so as not to stay on aircraft battery for too long. When I called again after 10 minutes, he let me start up but told me to wait for clearance. That was ok by me, I just wanted to get everything set up and be ready when he was.

Looking at the stormscope, there were no lightening strikes; that was one good point. The rain alternated between light and medium and the wind was a little gusty but not too strong. So, I felt that the front wasn’t over the field yet and I would be ok for takeoff.

A few minutes after getting everything setup, tower called with my clearance, I taxied out and took off. With a right turn after takeoff, I was heading toward clearer conditions and away from the storm. I took a few pictures of the storm behind me. It was bumpy with 15 knot headwinds at 4000 feet, but I was finally cleared to 9000 feet where it is smooth with very slight headwinds. Everything is running well and only four hours to go. ;-)

Margi sent me an email explaining that Palmas is another purpose built city, like Brasilia, but hasn’t really taken off yet. It will be interesting to see this type of city in its early stages. We saw pictures of Brasilia during its construction and early years. This might be similar.

When will I ever learn lesson number one: don’t drink that extra cup of coffee in the morning…I have to pee. As I am preparing, I see deep ravines cutting into the flat fields. What a view. I try to take a picture from my awkward peeing position. Fascinating rock formations. See above; the picture turned out after all. The Brazilian coffee was just too good to pass up. I should be ok for the last three hours of this flight.

At noon, 1600 zulu time, I tries to contact Wes, Sandy and Rusty on the HF radio. I couldn’t reach them, so tuned in the Maritime Net and heard him. I tried calling and he heard something, but not clearly enough to talk. I tried our group again, nothing. So, I had to reel in the antenna. Will try again tomorrow and should reach them during my long flights to Puerto Rico and back to Florida at the end of the week. Too bad we couldn’t talk today.

The winds have picked up, 16 knots on the nose now. So, less than two hours to go, but about 20 minutes longer than planned. There are some clouds forming on the horizon, but I don’t see any huge cumulonimbus buildups. Palmas is situated at 11 degrees south of the equator. Belem, my next stop tomorrow, is at one and a half degrees south and apparently it rains all the time. We’ll see tomorrow.

Onto the ground and gassed up right away, thanks Wayne. Went to the weather office and it looks good early tomorrow morning. Went to the Infraero and paid the bill. The woman at the information station got me a close hotel and taxi driver. I found an ATM and got more cash. Good to go.

Wayne's home in TX

Had a good flight from San Juan and then tail winds from Palm Beach. Getting dirty clothes out of plane and draining oil. Enjoyed every minute of the flying, visiting with people, seeing the wonders of Brazil. Best, Wayne