May 3 (updated)
From Manaus to Alta Floresta
We were given breakfast at the hotel which was some compensation for no hot water in either room and no shower for me. The same taxi driver picked us up and returned us to the airport. He had pointed out the gymnasium, football (soccer) stadium and town hall on our way in last night. On our way out he pointed out the Opera House. Wayne had read about this. It had been constructed in the 1800s during the boom years of rubber plantations. Whole orchestras were shipped in to play for the town.
We walked directly to civil aviation without any bother and got the weather right away. Although there were some widely scatters thunderstorms we would be coming out of the bad weather area and headed towards clear sunny skies. This was good news. As it had rained heavily during the night, I was worried about arriving in a rainstorm with low visibility and no ILS or higher minimums for the airport in the middle of the rain forest. Not to be.
We were driven to the airplanes, gassed up efficiently if not expensively. It was around $6.4 per gallon in the Caribbean and now over $9 per gallon. I had to wait 10 minutes for permission to start up, then the clearance and taxi were efficient. Two other planes were ahead of me and one behind, but all was efficiently handled.
The ceiling was 500 feet, so I wasn’t going to see the rivers joining, let alone get a picture of them. I saw the white/cappuccino colored river, but not where they joined together. Oh well, next time? Ha, ha. I’m now cruising at 9000 feet, above the clouds below with some buildups visible, but not in my path. There are headwinds and the flight will be 3 hours 45 minutes. I have three hours to go.
Wayne just came up on frequency, so he’s not too far behind me. He’s on top at 11,000 feet and doesn’t see any buildups ahead. I have one big black cloud ahead and deviated five degrees east around the lighter looking part, which gave me light rain, but no bumps. Now it’s clear ahead. We’re both doing well, but surprised at the price of fuel back at Manaus. At this rate, I’m going to run out of dollars before I get home. No one so far has accepted credit cards.
Wayne and I were talking during our three hour paperwork hassle last evening. On flights like this, and we’ve each done two around the world flights, the flying is the easy part; it’s the time on the ground that’s difficult. But also, when it’s all over and you’re at the hotel, there’s a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes there is frustration with ATC and communications while flying. Yesterday in Brazilian airspace, the communication was fantastic, clear and understandable, until we were about 60 miles from Manaus. There was a warbling and it was impossible to understand what the controller was saying. There must have been two competing antennae or something like that. Ahead and behind it was perfect, there was just that space, when communication was required for descent, that it was impossible to communicate.
Just passed the halfway point and checked in again. Only an hour and a half to go and I realized that I forgot to take my shoes off. Must be a short flight today! ;-) Boy, there such are a lot of trees below; over 500 miles of nothing but trees. I’m really interested to learn more about the rain forest ecology at the lodge where we’ll stay for two nights.
Down and headed to lodge in 30 minutes. Enough time to get this posted and to say we’ll be up again on Thursday, May 6th. No connection until then. At that time I’ll have more pics and stories of the second half of this flight.
From Manaus to Alta Floresta
We were given breakfast at the hotel which was some compensation for no hot water in either room and no shower for me. The same taxi driver picked us up and returned us to the airport. He had pointed out the gymnasium, football (soccer) stadium and town hall on our way in last night. On our way out he pointed out the Opera House. Wayne had read about this. It had been constructed in the 1800s during the boom years of rubber plantations. Whole orchestras were shipped in to play for the town.
We walked directly to civil aviation without any bother and got the weather right away. Although there were some widely scatters thunderstorms we would be coming out of the bad weather area and headed towards clear sunny skies. This was good news. As it had rained heavily during the night, I was worried about arriving in a rainstorm with low visibility and no ILS or higher minimums for the airport in the middle of the rain forest. Not to be.
We were driven to the airplanes, gassed up efficiently if not expensively. It was around $6.4 per gallon in the Caribbean and now over $9 per gallon. I had to wait 10 minutes for permission to start up, then the clearance and taxi were efficient. Two other planes were ahead of me and one behind, but all was efficiently handled.
The ceiling was 500 feet, so I wasn’t going to see the rivers joining, let alone get a picture of them. I saw the white/cappuccino colored river, but not where they joined together. Oh well, next time? Ha, ha. I’m now cruising at 9000 feet, above the clouds below with some buildups visible, but not in my path. There are headwinds and the flight will be 3 hours 45 minutes. I have three hours to go.
Wayne just came up on frequency, so he’s not too far behind me. He’s on top at 11,000 feet and doesn’t see any buildups ahead. I have one big black cloud ahead and deviated five degrees east around the lighter looking part, which gave me light rain, but no bumps. Now it’s clear ahead. We’re both doing well, but surprised at the price of fuel back at Manaus. At this rate, I’m going to run out of dollars before I get home. No one so far has accepted credit cards.
Wayne and I were talking during our three hour paperwork hassle last evening. On flights like this, and we’ve each done two around the world flights, the flying is the easy part; it’s the time on the ground that’s difficult. But also, when it’s all over and you’re at the hotel, there’s a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes there is frustration with ATC and communications while flying. Yesterday in Brazilian airspace, the communication was fantastic, clear and understandable, until we were about 60 miles from Manaus. There was a warbling and it was impossible to understand what the controller was saying. There must have been two competing antennae or something like that. Ahead and behind it was perfect, there was just that space, when communication was required for descent, that it was impossible to communicate.
Just passed the halfway point and checked in again. Only an hour and a half to go and I realized that I forgot to take my shoes off. Must be a short flight today! ;-) Boy, there such are a lot of trees below; over 500 miles of nothing but trees. I’m really interested to learn more about the rain forest ecology at the lodge where we’ll stay for two nights.
Down and headed to lodge in 30 minutes. Enough time to get this posted and to say we’ll be up again on Thursday, May 6th. No connection until then. At that time I’ll have more pics and stories of the second half of this flight.
Fantastic fun reading. Almost looks like FL flying, except for the rivers :-)
ReplyDeleteWaanh, I wanna go!
Fly safe, and DON'T drink the water!