Flight 19 "Gypsies"

[Willy]

Great flight that took us over the Panama Canal and we ended up at Panama City MPMG. Found a few teething problems with the mini bomber, but nothing that can't be sorted out. And just for the record, that darn bridge over the Canal will drop down and get ya...

 

[Willy]

We left Panama and crossed over the Darien Gap into South America, landing at Turbo, Colombia. Great flight as always.

 

[MM]

A few more snaps of the trip out of the C.Z. to Turbo. (a) Out of Balboa's Albrook while passing over the C.Z. Administration Headquarters in its colonial splendor--must have planted Bermuda grass on the post; (b) some light turbulence being shared with Moses in his L-10A Electra; (c) the ruggedness of the roadless Darien Gap is apparent; (d) MM, Taco, Willy and Moses are being observed by a mystery ship just offshore.

 

[Moses03]

Into Medellin, Olaya Herrera Colombia today. We don't plan to stay very long in these parts.

We buzzed that banana boat mystery ship on the way out of Turbo. That will teach them!

Also, spotted some futuristic aircraft in the airport boneyard. Maybe nick a few parts...

 

[Willy]

Nice flight to Medlin through the hills.

 

[Taco]

Hey there! Wow! Did we fly over some rough country, you bet! Any kind of crash landing here, shucks, they would never find the wreckage or what, and crying out loud no taxi service or bus! Well, anyway here are a couple of pictures taken on last nights flight.

 

[Willy]

Another great flight! This time on down to Cali.

 

[Taco]

Hey There!

Nice flight, but had many, many clouds and really unable to see a lot of the country side, but what we did see was rougher that holy mackerel! Need to do a little TLC on the DC-C, Fuel and Oil etc. Then off again into the wild blue yonder.

 

[Willy]

We flew on to SKIP. We sure won't have to climb very much to get out of here.....

 

[Willy]

Had to go on oxygen on this leg. Made it to Guayaquil.

 

[Moses03]

Some A2A photos before my ADF antenna fell off the other night...

 

[MM]

We flew out of Jaen in northern Peru and turned southwards along the deep canyons of the Maranon River. (The Maranon is one of the main sources of the Amazon.) Among other things, the Maranon is famous for its steep walls and whitewater rafting along the rapids below.

At the end, we turned westwards toward Cajabamba and the Pampa Grande airfield. (Clutch Cargo pilots will remember this grass strip.) In recent years, archeologists have discovered a number of ancient pyramids in this region and have inferred that organized civilization had spread further into the mountains and jungles than previously thought.

 

[Willy]

Some more shots of the flight to Pampa Grande. Great flight, but there's only one way out of here....

 

[Willy]

We headed on across the mountains to Tingo Maria (SPGM). Nice town here once the Flight 19 scenery guys got through with it.

Oh, and Juan Trippe really shouldn't have left this DC-2 parked back at Pampa Grande with the keys in it...

 

[MM]

A few more shots of the flight through the Andes into the jungle town Tingo Maria.

 

[Willy]

We left Tingo Maria and headed across the mountains to Lima on the coast. For my part at least, it was interesting and exciting. Nothing like loosing both engines at 15,000ft to catch your attention. Fortunately, I was able to get going again before I hit anything solid.

 

[MM]

A few more shots. (a) Out of Tingo Maria; (b) at 16,000 feet, the high altitude town of Cerro de Pisco; (c) turning through an Andean pass headed for the coast; (d) descent through clouds and granite; (e) Juan Trippe's boys, Pan American Airways System and Panagra at Lima-Callao.

 

[Willy]

We left Lima for the flight down the coast to Pisco. On the way out of town, I passed the old airport Limatambo. An old friend popped in and we had a nice visit. And I didn't fry an engine this time which helped make it a great flight.

 

[Willy]

We headed on down the coast past Nazca to SPYU. Kind of a desolate looking place that had everyone looking for a coke machine when we landed....

 

[Willy]

We headed on to SPQU in the foothills. Getting ready to head on up to the big hills...

Pics got a little scrambled up.