by Guilherme Schmidt
The Metar above wasn’t the best way to start a trip, but I looked at John Roberts sitting on the copilot side, and he said, “Well, my minimum is that I need to see two stripes on the runway.” We both felt comfortable with the takeoff, so we decided to launch. John is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, and has received the “Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award” for 50 years of safe flying. His wife, Jane, was sitting in the back, already immersed in what proved to be one of the many books she was going to read on this trip.
You may have read my report on the trip I took with my Daher Socata TBM 850 from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Cartagena, Colombia (Feb/March 2010, Midwest Flyer Magazine). This time I decided to stretch a bit, and we were taking off from Flying Cloud in Minneapolis, heading towards Sao Paulo, Brazil, 5,230 nm away.
It was 5:30 pm on a Wednesday. The tower gave our taxi instructions, and asked us to report our position several times during taxiing, as they could not see us due to the intense fog. It takes a lot of discipline for a takeoff under these conditions, and one cannot hesitate to move to the instruments as soon as you rotate. Our taxi and departure were uneventful, and at 7,000 feet MSL, we broke out on top, looking at a beautiful sunset. Oh, how I love flying!
This was going to be an emotional trip from many aspects. Our destination was SBMT (Campo de Marte, in Sao Paulo, Brazil). I learned to fly there some 25 years ago, and I hadn’t been back flying in Brazil since 1993. So it was a bit nostalgic. It was also the first time flying my very own plane back to my former home country, and finally it had been 3 years since I was last in Brazil, so I was anxious to visit my aunts and uncles, who are undoubtedly witnessing the passage of time.
The first stop of the trip was Daytona Beach, Florida (DAB). We climbed towards 31,000 feet, and although we had no push from the winds, at least they were not slowing us down much. It was mostly a crosswind. The TBM is an incredibly capable machine, and we settled at 300 kts, and saw the night fall. There was a lot of weather over Georgia, but the combination of XM weather, stormscope, and onboard radar allowed us to navigate through it confidently. Truth is, we topped all the weather, and landed after 4 hours on the hobbs. It was 10:30 pm, so time to go to a hotel, and rest for our morning leg towards San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We launched the next morning under light rain towards San Juan (TJSJ), climbing again to FL310. We were on top of an overcast, so we could not see much of the Caribbean. We had our life vests on board, a raft for four people, and a survival equipment bag. We were also carrying a PLB (Personal Location Beacon), in case of ditching, that we could bring with us to the raft. The bureaucracy of international flying started here as well. I filed two “traveler manifests” through the electronic Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS) with U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), in addition to my flight plans with the Federal Aviation Administration. Technically speaking, one does not need an eAPIS to fly to San Juan from the United States, but I was afraid that if I had to divert due to weather, and land somewhere else, border protection might be angry with me. So I filed an outbound traveler manifest from the United States to San Juan with an “alternate” of Grand Turk. I also filed an outbound traveler manifest for leaving the United States from San Juan.
The leg to San Juan went by fast. We had tailwinds and we settled at 370 kts ground speed at 44 gph. This is better mileage than my minivan! It took us 3.3 hours to San Juan, and the weather wasn’t cooperating much. We ended up having to shoot an ILS to an 800 ft ceiling under rain. Hey, the Caribbean weather is supposed to be better than this!
We refueled in San Juan, and in no time we were climbing through the rain, and dodging a couple of storms to break out on top towards Trinidad and Tobago, our next stop (TTPP).
The flight to Trinidad was beautiful, the weather cleared up, and again we climbed to FL310. It was beautiful sightseeing even from up there. We flew over many islands – St. Vincent, Martinique, and many others. What a beautiful part of the world! John Roberts and I at that point felt sorry for those who do not fly GA, and miss all these wonderful experiences.
As we crossed the San Juan Flight Information Region (FIR) boundary, we got transferred to Piarco Control, based in Trinidad, and radar serviced was terminated. Now we were required to make the good old position reports over the fixes. Aircraft ID, Fix Name, Time Over Fix, Altitude, Estimate To Next Fix. The other change besides the accent of the controller (adding to mine) is the various accents on the frequency, as most of the carriers are international airliners. After a few position reports, and requests for radials and DMEs from various VORs, we were ready to descend. Note, the controllers do not have you on radar, there is no transponder code to squawk, and they do not know when you need to descend. So you have to advise them of your TOD (Top Of Descend), and request a let down. This leg took us 2.3 hours, and we landed on a beautiful afternoon in Trinidad.
At the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad, we encountered our first problem with the international bureaucracy. They wanted a copy of my traveler manifest. I explained to the gentleman that the traveler manifest is now electronically filed, and all we have is an email receipt authorizing the departure. This apparently wasn’t enough, but after some time he came up with a printed traveler manifest form, and had me complete it on the spot. We filled the tanks – they had my fuel release that I had sent from UVAir, so no need to pay for it on the spot – and I used one of the many cans of Prist (antiice mixer) since their Jet A has no Prist (a common occurrence in all of Latin America). Then off we went to a local Holiday Inn, and after a relaxing dinner at a local mall, I took a well deserved rest
The following morning the weather was beautiful, and we flew to Belem in Brazil (SBBE). This was an 1100 nm leg. We filed for FL310, and 4:00 hours, and we had 4 FIR boundaries to cross. The flight was uneventful, and the weather was nice.
We flew at FL310, initially flying along the coast of Venezuela after departing Trinidad, crossed the South America coast, and Piarco Control transferred us over to Georgetown in the Guiana. From there we kept making position reports until we crossed into Suriname, and were talking to the Dutch-speaking controllers at Paramaribo Control. The next handover was greeted with a “Bonjour N924BB… This is Rochambeau Control. You are in radar contact.” The first radar contact since we left San Juan, and we finally had something to dial in the transponder again. Rochambeau is the Air Traffic Control Center for the French Guiana, and after a few minutes we crossed the border into Brazil, and spoke to Amazonica Control.
The flight was very scenic. We left the jungle of the Guianas, and flew over the mouth of the Amazon River, and crossed the Equator. Belem sits just 1 degree south of the Equator. There were a few storms around the airport, but the landing was uneventful.
I had been advised by many to hire a handler for the arrival in Brazil. After some hesitation, I paid the $300.00 and got a local handler. I am so glad I did. The bureaucracy in Brazil is gigantic. There are no FBOs in Brazil; you taxi up to the airport ramp, unless you contracted with a private hangar. The public ramp is operated by the airport authority, which is a government entity called INFRAEREO. The handler met us there, and from there on they held our hand as we cleared with the immigration police, customs office, then to the Federal Police to clear the plane for entrance into Brazil; then from there to the Brazilian Federal Aviation Administration called the Automatic Number Announcement Circuit-National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), where they asked for my airworthiness certificate, plane registration, pilot and medical certificates, and airplane insurance policy. With all that paperwork, they issued a letter of overflight, which allowed me to stay in the country flying around for up to 60 days.
From there we went to INFRAEREO to pay the user fees. After $200.00 worth of ramp, parking, landing, communication, and aero navigation fees, I was given a release to take to the Flight Service Station personally in order to file my flight plan. Flight plans in Brazil need 45 minutes notice. I filed my International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) flight plan to the next leg, and met John and Jane Roberts, who were at the airport cafe, probably wondering if I was missing in action, since this process took about 2 hours even with the help of a handler. The battle with the bureaucracy delayed us, and we took off by 4:00 pm towards our next stop, SBBR – Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The flight was due south, and we flight planned for 3.5 hours. The sightseeing was gorgeous, flying over savannas, huge dams, forests, and small towns.
Flying close to the equator at 5:00 pm also meant lots of thunderstorms. Evidently our XM weather was of no use in Brazil, but fortunately the TBM has onboard radar, which showed all its value. I had to be constantly working the tilt to avoid over scanning storms, and there were lots of deviations. The arrival in Brasilia was at night, and there were numerous storms in the area. They were mostly isolated and scattered, so between the radar and all the lightning at night, it was easy to avoid. We landed about 7:30 pm, pulled up to the INFRAEREO ramp, and a fuel truck came to meet us.
What became a routine in Brazil, started again: fueled up; used my can of Prist to mix with the fuel; paid cash since they don’t take credit cards (the average price was $7.50 per gallon, although you give the fuel order in liters); then headed towards INFRAEREO and paid $150.00 in user fees; and then to the Flight Service Station to file our flight plan. After that mission was accomplished, we headed to a local hotel for a good night’s sleep. The next morning we had the final and shortest leg of our trip to Sao Paulo.
When filing the flight plan to our destination airport SBMT (Campo de Marte) in Sao Paulo, I learned that the field is now VFR-only, and you have to cancel your instrument flight plan 20 minutes out, and fly the VFR corridors into Sao Paulo. Well my “Jepps” did not have the VFR corridor charts. The flight planning room had one chart that we could look at but not take with us, so John Roberts and I took some notes of visual checkpoints. This was going to be interesting, I thought. I had learned to fly in Sao Paulo in the mid-1980s, but my memory was not very reliable, and procedures had definitely changed.controllers. With our “Y” flight plan filed, we took off. (Yankee stands for a mixed flight plan that starts IFR and converts to a VFR flight plan somewhere along the route).
The flight to Sao Paulo was gorgeous. It took us a little less than 2 hours, not a cloud in the sky, and we flew over one of the richest agricultural soils in the world. We saw lots of beans, sugar cane, and coffee farms. We flew over a small town in the interior of the country where my late father was born. That was a nice touch on the trip. Soon enough we contacted Sao Paulo Approach Control, and they had us descend to 5,000 feet, directed us over the VFR corridor gate, and told us to transition to VFR there. Then the fun began!
Approach control told us to follow corridor “Echo,” fly over the toll of the freeway, and then to the Juliet VFR corridor, and report over the freeway loop to Marte Tower. We confessed that we needed help with headings and distance to these waypoints. They were very helpful, and we were even able to identify the points.
Sao Paulo sits in a valley inside a plateau. As we crossed the visual checkpoint of the freeway loop, the city comes into sight. It is a sight not to forget. Sao Paulo has 14 million people, and Marte – is the only GA airport, located on the north side of the town. I was thankfully familiar with the airport location, reported it in sight, and cleared to the pattern.
I was required to report on base, gear down and locked (a mandatory phraseology in Brazil), and the landing was rough but uneventful. The taxiways are very narrow there, and we had pre-arranged with a private hangar where the manager was waiting for us.
It was nice to be back home to the airport where I first learned to fly. Home and still so far away from home. The trip down took 19 hours, and we left on Wednesday night, and arrived Saturday morning.
My wife and kids came on the airlines. Their Delta flight left 3 hours late on Friday, they missed their evening connection in Atlanta, so they spent the night there, caught a flight on Saturday night to Rio, then connected on a flight to Sao Paulo to arrive on Sunday afternoon sans luggage, and with lots of stress. Unbelievable, but this time around flying the TBM to Brazil took about the same time as the airlines, and they can’t beat the fun!
The stay in Brazil was very pleasant, and at the Campo de Marte Airport, I saw the Piper Cherokee 140 I soloed in in 1986, and it is still flying. I also saw my old flight instructor, which was nice. But soon, it was time to come back.
The return route was very similar; just different landing sites. We flew from SBMT to Palmas SBPJ leaving on Sunday afternoon. Palmas is a planned city in the middle of Brazil. It is the capital of the state of Tocatins. The city is only 20 years old. The airport is modern, huge and in the middle of nowhere. We flew a DME arc approach, landed, refueled and took off at sunset toward Macapa (SBMQ) at the northern end of Brazil.
We overnighted in Macapa,the equator. From Grenada we headed towards Turks and Caicos, definitely one of the most scenic stops of the trip. You could see the bottom of the ocean forever there, and the water has that aquamarine color. Turks and Caicos is part of the English Commonwealth, and included in the landing fees was a $15.00 “Her Majesty Fee.” So I felt I did my bit to help Queen Elizabeth!
It was finally the last leg back to the United States. We slept in Turks and Caicos, and flew to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday morning. This time the weather was clear, and we saw most of the Caribbean. In the flight from Turks and Caicos, you are always within gliding distance of an island. It is very nice. The U.S. Customs experience in Fort Lauderdale (FLL), although not friendly, was uneventful and quick. We were all glad to be back in the United States. The trip and places we visited were wonderful, but it also made us thankful for how easy and friendly it is to fly in theand left in the morning under beautiful weather towards Grenada in the Caribbean. That was a 4-hour leg, and the winds were light and variable as is common around United States. I came back even more convinced that “user fees” are indeed a plague to be avoided.
The final leg from Fort Lauderdale to Minneapolis was a long one, as for the first time during this 40-hour trip, we encountered heavy headwinds, which forced us to stop for fuel in Shelbyville, Tennessee. We were back home on Tuesday afternoon, two days after we left Sao Paulo Brazil.
When I pause and think about it, expanding our flight experiences as general aviation pilots, and adventuring in farther lands beyond what we normally fly, brings us not only more experience, and a better understanding of our aircraft and the aviation system, but more importantly memories that we will cherish for a lifetime!
August/September 2010 Midwest Flyer Magazine
