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Flight from Georgetown, Guyana to Manaus, Brazil

29 June 2007

Got a good price on the fuel here, less than US$5 per gallon. We fill the wings completely, both mains and both Monroy long range tanks.

Cleared for Runway 11, we are airborne before the runway intersection, at 09:59 local. It is slightly overcast as we depart Cheddi Jagan International. 10:19 we are level at 8,000. We get permission from control to deviate to Kaieteur for a scenic break, and Gregg does a few 360s while we sightsee and ham it up for some photos.

Within 30 minutes we encounter cloud buildup, and start to pop in and out of the clouds. When we do get a clear view of the ground, it is nothing but broccoli. Lots of IFR and turbulence, so no time to get nervous about the long distances to the closest airports.

We try listening on the HF to a known HF Meteo station, no dice. We are going to have to spend some time troubleshooting the HF radio in Brazil.

By 14:20 we are talking to approach and I am a little fried from my longest stretch of IFR flying. 14:23 approach says descend to 2,000 feet and we start our descent towards Eduardo Gomes.

After recouping in Manaus over the week-end, we decide on Monday the 2nd to pop over to the Aeroclube, locally called Flores, for cheaper parking and a more relaxed atmosphere. We may have given a scare to the pilots on the ground when we banked sharply to cut inside a tower, and used the ultralight pattern for landing. There were a lot of stares when we landed but nobody gave us any trouble.

The aeroclube was ideal for an oil change and for meeting other pilots. The aeroclub treated us very well and we didn't have all the hassle with coming and going to the plane that we typically have in the larger airports.