Around the World VFR (ish) - now complete!

hahahahaha sry but let me laugh…

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:crazy_face:

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Yes,

hope you understand that simply with this functionality isn’t possible fly also longer flights. You need save and load your Flight but also FPL.

OK, so that’s why I save mutliple times. I think it’s about 50:50 whether the flight plan comes back when you reload! If you really need to stop, then it’s better than nothing. I haven’t experimented with saving before entering the sim (from the world map) - which creates a save file and a flight plan, and seeing if that improves the chnaces of the flight plan reloading when you load a later save.

Leg 12 - St Georges, Grenada (TGPY Point Salines International) to Bogota, Colomobia (SKBO El Dorado International)


This leg: 926Nm, 3:43 flying time
Total so far: 11,979Nm, 46:09 flying time

OK, so this is going to get interesting. Whilst overnighting in Greneda (TGPY), we had some routine maintenance and upgrades done to the plane in the form of Patch 2, lifting us to verison 1.8.3.0 - what better way to test out the new improvements than heading into South America. My plan is to head into the centre of the continent and then follow the Amazon from source (ish) to the sea - a long long trek, but hopefully worth the viewing.

So from Greneda, we are heading to Venezuela first, over the Island of Parlamor (SVMG) and the Isle La Tortuga (SVDA) and then on to Caracas (SVMI). From Caracas we are heading cross country to Valencia (SVVA) and then West to Barquisimeto (SVBM). Then we are flying into mountain country. South West to Valera (SVVL), then on to Merida (SVMD) near to Pico Bolivar, Venezuela’s highest mountain at 16,300 ft. Then on to Colombia passing through Cucuta (SKCC), before heading South via Malaga (SKLA), Barbosa (SKET) and finally on to El Dorado (SKBO).

So, quite a long haul - neary 1,000Nm. I’m thinking I will do a couple of stop and go landings too, especially at Merida - keen to see Venezuela’s highest mountain.

I’m going to start early morning, but not too early. Let’s see what the live weather can throw at us today!

So some nice clear skies today - maybe with a little bit of haze on the horizon as we depart Greneda

Given the nice weather, I decide to have a little fun flying at 100ft above the sea…

And here we are arriving at Parlamor - a little island just off the Venezuelan coast - turns out to be quite densly populated and with quite a big built up area


Heading West now to the tiny Isla La Tortuga - pretty sure there isn’t going to be much here to see, even if it does have an airstrip of some kind

As predicted, not much to see here - a pretty barren rock


Some stunning seashores though

Next stop, over the sea again and on to Caracas. OK, I’ve got to do it. Is anyone else having a Gregory’s Girl moment? Remember this?


Ah, the nostalgia. If you’ve never seen Gregory’s Girl, you’ve never lived.

Anyway, back to the plot and on to Caracas - spelt correctly too! Some stunning clouds starting to form as we near mainland Venezuela

First sight of the mainland coast up ahead - it looks hilly!

Approaching Caracas - why don’t we do a quick stop and go - just because we can!



And after quickly stretching our legs, it’s time to get going again as we head inland now to Valencie (venezuela and not Spain!)


Need to climb up to 8,000ft to get over some of these mountains - wow, what an incredible view from up here!

Picture postcard stuff everywhere



Crossing Lago de Valaencia approach Valencia itself

And over Valencia itself - quite high as we are heading back into the mountains

Coming over Barquisimeto now, diving down a bit to get a closer look, before we have to climb back up again - high mountains around in the direction we are going



I feel like I’m just filling this post with pictures, but the view is incredible. This is the view from 15,000ft as we pass over Valera

And now we are heading to Merida, following the valley below as we approach Pico Bolivar and it’s 16,300ft peak

Our destination is at the end of this valley

I have a feeling that Pico Bolitar is that pointy one top left in this picture

I wish I knew where this airport is…

I think it’s up on that ridge! Help!

I see it!

Came in too hot - had to go around, so coming back the other way now. Not sure I’m doing this too well though and those houses look REALLY close to the end of the runway!

Bit high to miss the houses, but oh well, here goes…

Made it - luckily the runway is really quite long

Now time for a quick blast around Pico Bolivar - definitely that pointy one we saw before. It’s a steep climb to get there…

Too steep to go straight up, so circling around as I climb

Approaching the summit

And there’s Pico Bolivar directly below me with Pico Espejo astraight ahead

And looking back the other way

And now back on our journey, heading to the South, following the deep valleys again


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Leg 12 - continued

So next stop is Cucuta in Colombia, heading a little bit Westerly and away from the mountains for now. There’s Cucuta way below as we fly over at 14,000ft

and a spectacular view of the mountains we’ve just flown over behind us as we turn South towards Malag


Heading into some cloudy weather as we enter Colombia

Definitely getting a bit cloudy up here

The clouds break a little as we fly over Malaga, but are heading inot what looks like rain


Stunning views through the clouds down to the hills a nd valleys below




The buffeting through the clouds is quite noticeable now - lots of turbulence

Looks like it might be a bit cloudy as we near Bogota

Turning onto final approach and descending through the cloud


I’m hoping we can do an instrument landing here! Getting thick

On approach now, getting under the clouds


And we are down

Nice!

Next leg - we are off to find the source of the Amazon!

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Leg 13 – Bogota, Colombia (SKBO Eldorado International) to Vicco, Peru (SPVI Vicco), the Source of the Amazon


This leg: 941Nm, 3:29 flying time
Total so far: 12,920 Nm, 49:38 flying time

So I had to look this up. Where is the source of the Amazon? Wikipedia says this:

“The Source of the Amazon River has been a subject of speculation and exploration for centuries. Three definitions can apply to determining the source of a river. The source can be defined as the most distant upstream point in the drainage basin, or the most distant upstream point of the largest stream (the main stem) of the river, or the most distant source of an uninterrupted flow of water. The source of the Amazon River has been attributed to the headwaters of three different Peruvian rivers in the high Andes: the Marañón, the Apurímac, and the Mantaro.

Explorers and scholars have identified each of the three rivers as being the source of the Amazon under one of the three definitions. The Mantaro is the most distant upstream point; the Marañón is the main stem of the Amazon; and the Apurímac is the most distant source with an uninterrupted flow of water.”

So, to keep it simple, I’m going for the middle one – that is the Marañón as the main stem of the Amazon.

You learn something new every day. Here is where the source of the Maranon is (again, TY Wikipedia):

“In 1951 and 1952, two Englishmen, Sebastian Snow and John Brown, joined an expedition to confirm the source of the Amazon. Finding their way to Lake Lauricocha, they found a stream flowing into the lake which they followed through the Raura silver mine to a small glacier-fed lake, called Niñococha, in the Raura mountain range. They declared Niňococha the source of the Amazon. Starting at the lake, Snow descended the Amazon River all the way to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Niñococha is located at 10.458°S 76.764°W at an elevation of 4,964 metres (16,286 ft).”

So 10.458°S 76.764°W it is then! Where is the nearest airfield at 16,000ft in the Andes?

Well, the nearest I can see is a tiny airstrip called Vicco (SPVI) which is at 13,458ft altitude. So let’s go there then!

Here’s a view from Google Maps:

So I think the airstrip is that bit on the left, which looks bigger than the town itself…worst case I can always land on a road right?

So this leg is another 1,000 miles or so, and we start in Colombia, and are heading pretty much straight South into Peru and Andes. And to keep it simple, we are going to straight line it, right over the Colombian Andes, over the rainforest in Colombia and then Peru, and then up into the Peruvian Andes. I have a feeling that the landing into Vicco is going to be interesting.

To be continued…

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Leg 13 - continued

So it’s a nice day in Bogota tdoay as we leave in the early part of the morning. A few clouds about, so we’ll see how it goes over the mountains to the South.

Weather looks good where we are heading. All the clouds seem to be on the West side of the mountains rather than up on top


Looks at the mist/clouds forming in the low valleys to the East




da

Over the mountains now and so we descend to 2,000ft to get below the cloud layer as we start to cross the flat plains

Clouds really thick now over the rainforest. Too risky to fly this low, so climbing back up above the cloud layer



Brief glimpse of the Amazon through the cloud layer?


To be continued…

Fortunately some signs that the clouds are starting to clear as we cross into Peru and begin to climb into the mountains

Heading into the proper mountains now after passing over the foothills. Climbing now to 16,000ft

Landscape becoming increasingly barren

Vicco itself is at 13,500ft elevation, so sticking at 16,000ft for now until I can get a visual on the airfield/rock strip


Picking up quite a lot of turbulence as we pass over the peaks



So signs of a plateau where I think the airport is

Ah! Runway in sight

So coming in a littl fast and high, so going around to come back the other way. Little wind so should be fine

Approach looks good…and we’re down. Smoothly onto the allegedly concrete runway

Cool!

So the next leg, we need to travel about 40Nm to the North West to Laguna Ninococha and the start of the Amazon.

Watched a episode of Mystic Britain all about the Uffington White Horse so decided to fly there.

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I’ve been following your journey. I feel like I’m on a trip!
Also, you are out of smoked almonds in the main cabin. :slight_smile:

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Thanks!

Not sure I’ll be able to stock up in Vicco I;m afraid. There isn’t even fuel available here, so the “magic fuel pump” is needed at this point. Definitely no smoked almonds :smile:

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Victoria falls and Zambezi river in Africa need some work.

Yep, flowing water is a bit of a problem generally although Niagara falls (see Leg 6) isn’t too bad

That’s only about half an hour from me. Awesome place. You should also visit the Cerne Abbas Giant, if you haven’t seen it before…

I live in Canada just a little more than half an hour away! :grin:
Have you seen the Mystic Britain series?

I can’t be sure - there have been many similar series on TV over the years and I’ve watched most of them!

Leg 14 - Vicco, Peru (SPVI) to Chagual, Peru (SPGL) - Start of the Amazon journey


This leg: 243Nm, 0:59 flying time
Total so far: 13,163Nm, 50:37 flying time

So first off, we are flying 40Nm North West to Laguna Ninococha, the source of the Amazon. Then we are valley following - skating over the surface of the river as it descends down the mountains through high walled valleys. LitteNavMap tells me that the river descends 10,000ft over the 200Nm we’ll be following it for in this leg.

So let’s get started. Here we are ready to go at Vicco. Dawn with the rising sun catching the clouds beautifully

An awseome sunrise through the clouds

Hoping these clouds don’t get much worse, or tracking the Amazon isn’t going to be very easy!


The clouds are just spectacular


Well…through this murk is Laguna Ninococha - the source of the Amazon…somewhere

Can’t see the Amazon, but we can see one of the peaks of the Andes!

And suddenly the clouds clear and we emerge from the cloud bank at the peak of the mountains…and below us is the start of the Amazon!


More thick cloud…

Visibility is really an issue here - luckily I’ve got all the waypoints for the river in the computer and the autopilot is doing its thing -and again, we emerge from the cloud into some brief respite



Getting buffeted by the clouds and the wind across the steep valley slopes…but still can’t see anything!

Hoping that as we descend (we are down at 12,000ft now), we will get below the cloud layer. A small break, but more cloud ahead. The Amazon still below (although it is called the Maranon at this point.

Site below - a tiny village called Colquillas

More clouds…but some signs that we are getting below them now


Now finally beginning to get some clear views of the fledgling Amazon

Now this is more what I was talking about!



Spectacular





Approaching Chagual now, and we are down to around 5,000ft. Problem is that it’s not getting any less hilly around here!


So who knows what this runway is going to be like! OK, I think I see it…wow! No idea how I’m going to land on this

This is a tricky approach!

Yeah, not sure about this…

Too fast! Going around

This looks a bit better - coming back the other way - pretty sure you’re not supposed to do that!

And we made it…phew!!

That was a bit hairy at the end, and the start was really cloudy, but a great flight nonetheless.

Time for a breather. Think there’s a pub around here??

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Progress so far…