Oldpropfan's Antics in the Andes

O

oldpropfan

Charter Member
And so the fun begins on another glorious adventure. Got our maps ( mostly on tp and in pencil but guaranteed accurate to the meter ), got our super radio rdf thingies ( not that there's anything to tune them to ), and most important have our case of Tums for when things go really wrong.

Departing La Chinita for Bocono
TOW : 26869
Fuel :3999.5
Cargo :6000

Two adventurous souls at a slim 170 each and 405 lbs of super secret P&W oil.
 
Now that I'm mostly recovered from my dental visit yesterday time to fly the parabola from Bocono to Merida.

TOW: 26194
Fuel: 3324.5
Cargo: 6000
 
Old girl started to get a little cranky at 12000 ft so I cut over to the south side of the ridge line and skipped the high passes. Came into Merida up the valley from the west, flew up past the field, turned around and dropped in between the buildings.


Fuel used: 534
Flight time: 45 min 58 sec
Maint pts: 0

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Wow, can't believe I made it out of Merida alive. Foolishly decided to takeoff with only 3/4 mile vis at the field, figured just the bottom of the valley was socked in and I would break out fairly quickly. Wrong, just enough vis to let me see one side of the valley. Flew runway heading till I could see ominous shapes to the left then started a very slow turn to the right since the valley curves that way. When I picked up the NDB from the El Vigia field it was 305 deg straight to it and we were in the clear.

Smooth flying the rest of the leg and an easy landing at Bucaramanga.

Fuel used: 799 lbs
Flight time: 1:09:57
Maint pts: 0

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After a quick refreshment replentishment may as well make the hop over to Manizales.

TOW: 23972
Fuel: 1102
Cargo: 6000
 
You're doing fine oldpropfan!


You know if you have or take the time ... say with that second cup of coffee ... you can go back through the text file and map or pin the coordinates for your "trip through the pass" .... or just wing it :icon_lol:


Good Luck!
 
Thanks for the encouragement, having what was a really nice flight end like that sometimes just kills the fun of it all. It just takes a little breather and I'm fine.

After finishing some maintenance work on the casa it's time to give it another try. Think I've got the location of that pass nailed, let's hope the vis over there is as good as yesterday.

Departing Bogota for Manizales.

TOW: 23972
Fuel: 1102
Cargo: 6000
 
Found some fuel but probably paid triple the regular rate for it. Think I used up alot of my food budget for this run, anyone know what the South American equivalent to Ramen is?

Departing Manizales for Pitalito:

TOW: 24558
Fuel: 1688
Cargo: 6000
 
Think I finally figured out what's been causing my lock-ups, somehow while playing around with some freeware weather progs my weather settings were all maxed out, dialed draw distance down a few notches and coverage down one notch.

On ground at Pitalito.

Time: 1:22:00
Fuel used: 1032 (fighting a 10 knot headwind sure burns the juice )
Maint pts: 0

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