Sunday 6 Jan Bogota Medellin 1:15 flight time 150nm 120kt
Monday 7 Jan Medellin Bureaucracy
Tuesday 8 Jan Medellin Gelabert Panama 404nm 3:46 128kt av speed landed
with 1/4 tank 4 gals - we started with 6 gals in the aux tank and 15.
Panama Controllers helpful and professional - albeit their radios were not
working well and we had issues to Tocumen Approach - one of the other
pilots in the air mentioned that they had been having issues.
Wednesday 9 Jan we planned to go to Limon Costa Rica we took off from
Gelbert and then had to return due to weather 1.5 hours.
Thursday 10 Jan Gelabert to San Jose Costa Rica. Shortly before David
northern Panama the Dynon started flashing Green Red Blue white and black
in succession so we decided to land in David. Gelabert to David is 206 nm
2:53 97kt. The unplanned stop in David caused a lot of confusion with the
authorities and we had to get gas which they don't have on the field.
Everyone was very helpful, for example Operations got a taxi driver to take
the aux tank to fill up at a local gas station. But having landed at 0900
we took off again at 1330. The Dynon came back up within 15 minutes of
landing so we assumed that the fault was due to heat. iLevil and analog
engine instruments backup worked exactly as planned to provide air and
basic engine data. So we decided to continue with a jury rigged shade
for the Dynon.
David - Liberia Costa Rica. We had originally planned to fly to San Jose
GA Airport MRPV but on on seeing towering cumulus we asked to continue to
Liberia which was authorized. 227nm, 2 hours, I dont have any other data
because my ipad shut down due to heat....it was easily 100 degrees in the
cockpit. Costa Rican Controllers were super helpful, even pointing out the
sights to us as they tracked us on radar. We landed in 18ktG25 without the
slightest problem.
The Dynon repeated its fault so we decided on reaching Liberia and talking
to Dynon to return to Miami for the weekend to pick up a new unit which
should be arriving today. Kudos to Don Jones of Dynon tech support but not
so happy as this is the second unit in 100 hours and the second
transponder. The interesting thing is that the unit continued to function
despite the screen failing. The AP worked and we got wifi attitude (when
the ipad cooled down) and voice alerts. I have powerful cold air tube to
the back of the unit but its hard to cool down the front.
We plan to return to Liberia on Monday install the new Dynon unit and
continue. We plan to go to Salvador Ilopango. Then we are at a fork in
the road which depends on weather.
One fork goes Cozumel Key West. This is 385 nm. We have 24 gals on
board. Today according to Foreflight we have a 2kt headwind and will
consume 19.1 gals (2 gals taxi 7 gph climb 5.5gph cruise). this leaves a
reserve of 4.9 gals which if you had options would be fine however the only
option to KEYW is cuba! Also this doesn't include deviations which are
common in the Caribbean due to build ups. So unless we can guarantee a
good tail wind and clear skies I feel that this is risky.
The other fork goes Tapachula Mexico Brownsville and round the gulf to 04FA
Miami which is over 1000nm and we would have to contend with the weather in
Southern USA which can be variable. However I feel that if the weather is
kind we can push on - 3x2 hour legs in a day is perfectly possible.
Lessons learned -
- Heat is tough on the body and takes a toll on electronics. We need
more sun shade and ventilation.
- The back systems worked BUT we hadn't thought about how to actually
use them....It would have been very useful to have a means by which the
Android iLevil PFD back up could have been placed in front of the pilot.
The way we solved this was for the Co Pilot sing out the speeds on approach
(which incidentally resulted in very stable approaches) but it might have
been different if I had been on my own. I would have had to have the PFD
on my lap or something like that which certainly wouldnt have been optimum
and might have been a serious issue in marginal conditions.
- So far we have spent more time on bureaucracy than actually flying.
A request: I know I have asked this before but can you all help me with
suggestions for routes between KBRO and KTMB. Particularly Id like to know
of friendly airports and contacts in case we have further technical issues.
Yours
Will
William Daniell
LONGPORT
+57 310 295 0744
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