Triple Jump leads to Antipode
The alarm was set for 4:30 am and taxi ordered for 5:15 am. today we are trying to catch up on our flights which means that we have three flights today. Today is an important day as we are trying to get to our antipodal point, Neiva, the antipode to Palembang.
On arrival to the airport the handlers have finally got there act together and we manage to get out in reasonable time, only half an hour late. The skies are clear but since we are in a hot sweaty country there are wisps of clouds scattered along the surface, which slowing rise as we head south west towards Barrancamber mejer. To avoid getting caught in a VFR on top situation we ignore our stated filed alitude and fly low level for most of the flight, roughly between 300 and 800 ft the whole way.
At Barrancamber Mejer they turn us around sharp, strangely we have no handler here, maybe this is a coincidence maybe not! The only issue we had was that they wanted to see all the aircraft documents including the weight & balance schedule. The Colombian authorities are certainly thorough.
So off to Neiva we have a headwind and cruise down the valley at 7,500 ft skirting past the restricted area and following Magdalena River, a large river which is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1,528 kilometres (949 mi) through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids. It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.
For a few days now we were anxious that we would not make it to Nieva, however today here we are, we finally made it to our antipode. Here we are met by a representative of the handlers, but we are not paying for handling here! She tries to grab a copy of our credit card, but we refuse, she doesn't seem to happy. We make our way to the tower were we get the tower controller to sign our paperwork for the FIA. This is important paperwork for record!
Paperwork completed we head back to Barrancamber with a nice tail wind and clear skies, we have been lucky today. in fact the weather has been so good this evening that we request to reroute to our next airport Barranquilla. We hope to steal a base and get ahead of our schedule. After initially being granted permission to head to Barranquilla the controller then refuses us permission since SKBQ is not on our filed flightplan. We are not allowed to change our destination us there is a good reason for weather or other emergency. We try to state that it is due to weather that we want to change, it is due to the ggod weather, apparently good weather doesn't count as a valid reason!
Once again we stay at a rubbishy hotel in Barrancamber mejer, but the city is a vibrant city with lots of Salsa and Meringue clubs. While Peter sorts himself out I take a walk around the hotel to grab some items for our breakfast. This gives me a chance to see the vibrancy. The city is full of life!
We had a early start, long day and thus an early night!
On arrival to the airport the handlers have finally got there act together and we manage to get out in reasonable time, only half an hour late. The skies are clear but since we are in a hot sweaty country there are wisps of clouds scattered along the surface, which slowing rise as we head south west towards Barrancamber mejer. To avoid getting caught in a VFR on top situation we ignore our stated filed alitude and fly low level for most of the flight, roughly between 300 and 800 ft the whole way.
At Barrancamber Mejer they turn us around sharp, strangely we have no handler here, maybe this is a coincidence maybe not! The only issue we had was that they wanted to see all the aircraft documents including the weight & balance schedule. The Colombian authorities are certainly thorough.
So off to Neiva we have a headwind and cruise down the valley at 7,500 ft skirting past the restricted area and following Magdalena River, a large river which is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1,528 kilometres (949 mi) through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids. It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.
For a few days now we were anxious that we would not make it to Nieva, however today here we are, we finally made it to our antipode. Here we are met by a representative of the handlers, but we are not paying for handling here! She tries to grab a copy of our credit card, but we refuse, she doesn't seem to happy. We make our way to the tower were we get the tower controller to sign our paperwork for the FIA. This is important paperwork for record!
Paperwork completed we head back to Barrancamber with a nice tail wind and clear skies, we have been lucky today. in fact the weather has been so good this evening that we request to reroute to our next airport Barranquilla. We hope to steal a base and get ahead of our schedule. After initially being granted permission to head to Barranquilla the controller then refuses us permission since SKBQ is not on our filed flightplan. We are not allowed to change our destination us there is a good reason for weather or other emergency. We try to state that it is due to weather that we want to change, it is due to the ggod weather, apparently good weather doesn't count as a valid reason!
Once again we stay at a rubbishy hotel in Barrancamber mejer, but the city is a vibrant city with lots of Salsa and Meringue clubs. While Peter sorts himself out I take a walk around the hotel to grab some items for our breakfast. This gives me a chance to see the vibrancy. The city is full of life!
We had a early start, long day and thus an early night!
Comments
Post a Comment