Leg 47 Ribadeo, Spain through Portugal to Santa Maria on the Azores
DAY10_8.PLN (6.9 KB)
Long flight to Santa Maria, not ending as planned
10-08 Villaframil Airport LEVF 4:51 AM
10-08 A Coruna LECO 5:12 AM
10-08 Aerodromo Naturmaz LEMZ 5:27 AM
10-08 Santiago LEST 5:39 AM
10-08 Aerodromo de Beariz LELB 5:52 AM
10-08 Vigo LEVX 6:03 AM
10-08 Aerodromo do Cerval LPVA 6:59 AM
10-08 Aerodromo de Cabeceiras de Basto LPCA 7:25 AM
10-08 Francisco Sa Carneiro (Porto) LPPR 7:42 AM
10-08 Seia LPSE 8:16 AM N236 “road of death” South West
10-08 Aerodromo Municipal de Ferreira do Zezere LPFI 8:41 AM
10-08 Aerodromo Municipal de Ferreira do Zezere LPFI 9:57 AM
10-08 Pista do Monte do Pombo LEDL 10:17 AM
10-08 Santa Margarida LP77 10:35 AM
10-08 Santarem LPSR 10:45 AM
10-08 Santarem LPSR 11:40 AM
10-08 Alverca AB LPAR 11:53 AM
10-08 Lisbon LPPT 11:59 AM
10-08 Tires LPCS 12:19 PM
10-08 Tires LPCS 12:45 PM Full tank, 756 NM to next stop
10-08 Santa Maria LPAZ 19:24 PM On island, just short of runway
Flight time 11:56 17 stops
That includes a 6 hour 39 minute flight, mostly on auto pilot, to Santa Maria.
First up, North-West end of Portugal Cedeira
Very nice place to go to the beach
Santiago de Compostela, apparently another major pilgrimage site like Lourdes
The Cathedral of Santiage de Comostela
The alleged burial site of the Biblical apostle St. James, consecrated in 1211
On to Vigo, Castelo do Castro, build in 1665 to protect the city from British Royal Navy raids
Cardama shipyard in Vigo
Vigo has a long stretch of coast included in it’s PG area, Praia do Cocho
Porto de Canido
Faro de Cobo Estai, a historical landmark on the right side, a small light house
Monteferro
Parador de Baiona, apparently you can stay there from $124 per night
That’s where the PG area ends, nice stretch of coast
Aerodromo de Cabeceiras de Basto (LPCA) fun challenging place to land
Porto with the super Bock arena at the bottom
Of couse known for its Port wine, I would love some right now
Pedrógão Grande
A terrible tragedy happened here in 2017, 4 forest fires engulfed the town and the N236
Close up of the the dam, Barragem do Cabril
Pista do Monte do Pombo, another fun landing
Flying to Lisbon, the fields that feed the city
Lisbon, Parque Eduardo VII
Zooming above the Tagus
Belém Tower below and Jerónimos Monastery on the right
Belém Tower, the Tower of Saint Vincent, a 16th-century fortification
Jerónimos Monastery, a Unesco world heritage site together with the tower
Tires, my departure point for Santa Maria, full tank, check
Saying goodbye to the mainland for now, I’ll be back
Directly onto course after take off, using FLC mode maintaining 100 knots for a steep climb to start saving fuel by lowering the fuel mixture.
To the Azores, due West, long flight ahead
Lot of water ahead, 11 knot wind mostly from the side but also slowing me down a bit
Follow the sun
Oh some pretty fog, or so I thought
Yep, the plane iced up of course, forcing it down after reaching 15.5K ft. Luckily it was just a little patch which slowly cleared off. After getting down towards 10K ft the ice cleared off and I could start climbing again
Bye Bye sunshine
Very calm up here now, 17K ft. I’m targeting 18.5K but will need to burn more fuel to reach that
Maintaining 100 knots IAS, on average 115 knot GS, long flight
Oh ■■■■, I didn’t order this. Lightning, more clouds
That was too close, and icing up again
Descending again due to icing, quite a show outside
Looks like it’s mostly behind now, bright at night
Still some lightning illuminating the high clouds
Leaving the storm behind, ice cleared up again and back to 18.5K cruising altitude or rather now I can reach it with less than 20% fuel left.
Azores in sight! However the fuel situation is not looking good
I started a long gradual descent 45 minutes before getting there, maintaining 100 knots, slowing the propeller down to 80% and reducing the throttle back to 35%. It’s going to be very close.
Too close. I was aiming to the right of the island since the main runway runs North-South. However there was not enough fuel left to make a good approach. When getting near the island I decided to aim for an old closed runway, better aligned with my travel direction. It was still too far, plus there was a pond in front of the runway…
No lights either, airport pitch black. All I had to go on was the synthetic vision. I stretched it out as long as I could. I waited to lower the landing gear until the last moment to avoid drag, same with flaps. Only out when needed for extra lift right before touching down. The engine died just as I reached the main land, I was down to 800 ft already so not much extra glide time.
I kept it in the air as long as I could and set her down very gently in what I guess was a field. It was pitch black, landing using the view finder. It felt smooth, stopped quickly with the brakes since no idea what I was ‘driving’ on. Just short, so close!
On further inspection I was lucky not to make it any closer. My emergency landing site
Looks like I’ll need a tractor to tow my plane to the runway. Couple repairs, she should be fine.
920 NM range, erm no. I didn’t make it 756 NM, flying as high as possible to save fuel. I was forced down to to between 10 and 11K twice due to minor icing but still, the plane should have made it. I didn’t even have any passengers or luggage on board. Next time leave the co-pilot behind as well…
It should be better on the way back as I’ll be stopping by Madeira splitting it into two 490 NM flights. Good to know not to try anything above 700 NM anymore.