GSAAA Update #7 Guayaquil, EcuadorJanuary 30, 1996
January 25, 1996
Took off from Vallenar, Chile and within 5 miles were on top of a solid cloud
deck for the next 100 miles. Stopped in Antofagasta, Chile to refuel and took
off with the intention of stopping in Tacna, Peru. By radio, Chilean air
controllers called the pilots and indicated no customs declaration and
inspection had been conducted in Antofagasta and ordered a landing in Arica,
Chile prior to leaving Chilean airspace. It only took a few hours to clear up
the paperwork so Paul and Kevin could travel the 20 remaining miles to Tacna
and stay the night. While in Arica, Kevin and Paul filled both the fuel tanks
and the gas cans.
January 26, 1996
Left Tacna and paid the exorbitant $250 fee at San Jose, Peru to land, fill
the fuel tanks from the cans and continue on to Pisco. The plan was to stay
at smaller airports and try to avoid the high flying fees that are prevalent
in Peru. The pilots flew over the ocean about 5 miles off the coast when
possible to avoid the sand and decreased altitude to 1000 ft to minimize
turbulence and take advantage of a nice tailwind. Landed in Pisco and tried
to pay for fuel with a $100 bill. The fuel manager wouldn't accept the
payment because it has a small tear. I think I can note some frustration from
Paul and Kevin at this stage of the trip; they pushed the payment matter and
ended up at the local bank with the fuel manager in tow to verify the bill was
good. Unfortunately, the bank agreed with the fuel manager that the bill was
unacceptable due to the "damage". This is apparently a common practice
throughout South America; Kevin and Paul have often been asked to replace
slightly worn currency with new, uncreased bills when paying.
January 27, 1996
Flew over Lima and on to Chimbote, Peru. Used the gas cans refilled
concurrent with the payment hassles at Pisco and went to a service station in
town to get enough to top off the tanks. Flew to Tacara and landed with 7
minutes to spare before getting another sunset violation. Since the plane is
not properly equipped for night flying, landing after sunset results in
additional fines. Even though the pilots avoided the fine; they were still
required to pay the customs agent a $20 bribe to get his release. Spent the
night in a zero' star hotel.
January 28, 1996
Tried to file a flight plan for Manta, Ecuador, but the Peruvians wouldn't
agree because the Ecuador authorities wouldn't give permission. At least that
was the excuse they used. Lima finally accepted a flight plan to Guayaquil to
allow Kevin and Paul to get the proper permissions from Ecuador. January 28th
is the anniversary date of the running Ecuador/Peru border war and that may
have contributed to the apparent lack of communication. As Kevin and Paul
taxied to leave the airport, a truckload of Peruvian soldiers was speeding out
to man the anti-aircraft guns at the end of the runway. As a tribute to the
new friends Kevin and Paul made in Tacara, they buzzed the tower as they left
and headed north into some threatening weather patterns.
As Paul and Kevin neared the border, the cloud layer below the plane expanded
to remove any opportunity to get underneath and still stay aloft, and another
bank of clouds was rapidly forming above the plane. About 100 miles south of
Guayaquil, the pilots spiraled through a hole in the upper cloud bank to 6000
ft and tried to go across the upper cloud bank to clear airspace, but the
clouds seemed to billow up and surround the plane. For about 30 seconds Paul
was able to use the artificial horizon to maintain level flight and hope to
run out of the cloud bank. When the artificial horizon iced up the pilots
were able to maintain level flight for about another 30 seconds before
starting a steep downward spiral. Without any meaningful instrumentation and
no visibility to get bearings, the pilots didn't even know whether they were
spinning left or right. Completely disoriented, the pilots faced the
difficult task of leaving the controls exactly where they were and pulling
back on the throttle. If you make a turn to correct the planes attitude your
chances are only 50/50 that you will turn the right direction; a wrong guess
can result in enough acceleration to tear the plane apart or put yourself in
inverted or upside down flight. The pilots had to wait those long seconds to
tumble out of the clouds and see which was the earth is moving to get
bearings. In the first part of this narrative, the pilots mentioned that the
cloud cover was very near the ground, so this had to represent an extremely
tense moment. At about 1000 ft, Kevin and Paul came out of the clouds turning
left, they leveled the wings and flew low and slow through intermittent light
rain, following the shoreline to keep their bearings. They were relieved to
turn inland on a course for the Guayaquil Airport.
After landing in Guayaquil, Kevin and Paul called Lafe Anderson. Lafe dropped
everything to come out and pick them up at the airport. Lafe has certainly
made Kevin and Paul his lifelong friends. Both of them have praised his
generosity, sincerity and expressed their appreciation for all Lafe has done
to help. In any case, Lafe set up a great meal, a few scotches and helped
Paul and Kevin decide to spend two days in Guayaquil to rest and checkout the
airplane.
January 29, 1996
Kevin and Paul spent Monday changing oil, cleaning the Peruvian sand from the
air filter, getting a sunburn and touring Lafe's shrimp farm and packing
plant. Paul said that after doing the laundry his socks didn't make cracking
noises when he put them on. Paul related that the electricity was turned off
in Guayaquil twice a day for 3 hours each time. The people have to plan
around these intentional outages. I don't think this observation will
convince OPPD to make any changes to copy this conservation method. Paul also
noted that the water pressure throughout South America has been low; to cope
with toilets that won't flush waste and toilet paper together, a trash can is
provided in each stall for used toilet paper. I don't think this idea will
catch on here either.
Paul provided a short rundown on costs of the adventure. Since leaving
Tecameh, Paul and Kevin have spent a little over $7,000. The trip has used
about 1,000 gallons of fuel while flying for 125 hours. The largest expense
has been fuel with landing fees running a close second. Hotels and meals have
been reasonable, but Paul noted that the Michelin Guide didn't rate these
hotels. Even if they are the best place in town, the bed may only be a board
with a thin pad over it. The pilots have shared rooms with crickets, fleas
and mosquitos, so far.
January 30, 1996
Spent the morning weathered in, Paul and Kevin are hoping the weather clears
enough to start through Columbia today.