Leg 003

"Over or under"

Deliver a little kindness once in awhile, huh?

"Which direction are you headed, flyboy?" asks an old Rampcat who is escorting a shiny new Lieutenant around Alcantara Airfield.  I am tempted to reply with the unexpected "straight to hell" response, but elect to exhibit my more polished serious aviator persona, so I reply, "Westward, Sir."

"Would you be interested in moving a pile of boxes for UNICEF to Baião?" asks the bright-eyed soldier.

I am coming off of three fantastic nights with my smoky mistress, so admittedly, I am a bit low on cash.  Furthermore, I had received a tip from my friend Skylark2992 that it would be worth a visit to a little dirt strip on the banks of the Amazon River in Juruti.  Not wanting to run out of gas money between here and there I ask, "Sure, does it pay?"

"How does $4,500 sound?"

"Here, let me load those boxes for you, Sir" I say with a giant grin on my face.  $4.5K buys me 50 hours worth of fuel, afterall.  It seems like Alcantara wants to give me one more pleasant surprise before I depart.  Who am I to say no?

I begin my morning with Wanda, my true mistress of the skies.  She is exuberant in the early morning light.  I take a few extra moments during my walkaround, frequently pausing to admire her lines.  My God, she is perfect.

Here come the goods & the stack...clean wings, let's fly!

Satisfied that Wanda is in pristine condition and hence, now polishing the wing, I am happy to see a silver SUV full of packages pull up.  I've been watching those clouds slowly push upward.  They're north of me at the moment, but the weather between here and Baião has a large dark patch of rain and wind.  This flight will be the first opportunity for me to get Wanda above 5,000 feet.  I cross my fingers that there isn't a nasty storm sitting in the way.  I really want to stretch Wanda's legs and get an idea of how well these Lycomings sip 100LL.  I've leaned the engines aggressively to this point and they have been rewarding me with excellent consumption.  I'm curious if Wanda and I can do better up high.  So, with no time to waste, I begin to load 370kg of care packages bound for the needy children of the State of Pará.

Taking as much cargo as possible, it is important to verify the weight & balance.  We're just inside the limits.  Let's push off!

Wanda gracefully accepts her first oversized load.  I do not notice any leaning or tipping from her.  We'll be heavy today, no doubt.  I am very curious to watch Wanda climb from the traffic pattern altitude of 1,000 feet to our planned cruise altitude of 8,500 feet.  The "book" says she should be able to do it in 9-11 minutes.  Let's find out.

Wanda, check.  Maxwell, check.  Boxes, check.  Let's get a move on.

Since I am only flying cargo this morning, I am looking forward to listening to the Bill Evans Trio's 1960 album "Portrait in Jazz."  Today's flight should be very satisfying.  It will be a laboratory, testing Wanda's lifting efficiency and gas mileage.  It will be a private jazz club, soothing my hangover headache and heart's soft spot left by the Smoky Lady.  It will be my own kingdom in the sky, shared with no one; completely dependent on me and my decisions.  Most likely, thanks to the weather, my decisions will determine whether the flight is smooth or whether it will be enough to rock me deeply.   Again I say, let's find out.  Mixture rich, props forward, pumps on, engines turning...

Like an angel destined for heaven, Wanda leapt into the sky and bounded out of the traffic pattern like a bat out of hell

It's early and traffic is light in Alcantara, so I'm treated to an immediate departure off runway 9.  Wanda's roll is a little longer than usual, but she bounces out of ground effect with a full head of steam.  I'm up to pattern altitude before completing my crosswind to downwind turn.  Wanda and I quickly eat up the length of the long runway, then are cleared to exit the pattern via climb.  I give her full rich fuel, full power and closed cowl flaps, and she leaps upward at 1,500 feet per minute.  Holding 100 knots, Wanda never sinks below 1,000 feet per minute.  I can feel her power surging through the yoke in my hand.  Even fully loaded, this Duchess is born to fly.  Our climb to 8,500 feet only takes 6.5 minutes. The air is smooth and bathwater thick.

During the climb I take a moment to appreciate the panel in the soft morning light.  Sure, the cement guys and I had to use a few bandaids to patch some holes, but I can't help but to think that I have the greatest office in the world.  I love every lever, knob and gauge in here.  There are so many rich sounds and friction-filled resistances to enjoy.  Wanda speaks to me through this collection of instruments.  I am sure to always listen.

Jazz, smooth air & soft light.  Heaven is near.

Wanda and I cruise peacefully along at 8,500 feet for nearly 45 minutes.  I am treated to wonderful landscapes and puffy white low cumulus clouds that cast dark, intriguing shadows.  We cross dense jungle, dark deltas and little villages.  I look behind me to doublecheck the care packages.  All is well.  Not a single box has slid out of place.  What a beauty of a morning.

The map says there should be a long, straight highway more than a mile below me right now...is it there?

I spend these glorious moments looking out the windows, comparing the views to the map on my iPad.  I ponder how fortunate I am to have such a tool available to me.  My hero, Charles Lindberg, flew this continent once upon a time, without a map in the pursuit of creating that wonderful Pan American Airline.  I feel fortunate, but small, compared to Lindy, and wonder what it must have felt like flying over all that jungle without a true idea of when it would end.

As I am deep in this mental moment, my map is punctuated by a long, straight road that seems to appear from nowhere.  Could this be a signal from Lindberg that the map isn't to be trusted?  Is there really a long, straight highway out here in the middle of nowhere?  I gingerly peak over the wing, almost hoping the road doesn't exist, which would give me a fantastic reason to stow the iPad forever, but alas, there it is...Highway 316, bisecting Monte Alegre and Santa Luzia do Paruá.

There's the highway and Monte Alegre.  The confirmation of science is comforting, yet disappointing.  #LindbergForever

I snap back to my 2024 reality that GPS satellites can see everything.  There isn't an inch of the earth that cannot be seen.  While on the road, I've been hooked on watching deep cave exploration disaster documentaries on YouTube.  They come to mind again once I see Highway 316.  Perhaps this explains their anti-logical allure to those men and women who venture there.  Perhaps they want to find the inner parts of earth that cannot be subject to "voir."  And perhaps that is why I am here, above the mapped surface, creating my own invisible sky highway.  Hmmm, perhaps it is freedom.  Perhaps it is money.  Perhaps it is unexplainable.  I increase my Bill Evans Trio volume and decide that some answers can never be complete.

Yet another view of the long, straight, almost mythical highway

As I mentioned before, today's route will feature a mid-way challenge of a dark storm.  I consult my GPS weather (I know, I know...hypocritical at this point.  Sorry, Lindberg.) in preparation.  The storm cell is quite wide - nearly 60 miles - so flying around it could be a pain.  It is difficult to obtain a quality forecast here in this part of Brazil, so I decide to press forward in order to evaluate the storm with my own eyes.  Perhaps I can fly over or under it and save the 20 minute detour.

There is my nemesis. Let’s battle.

Minutes later the storm makes itself known.  There, directly ahead of us, is the invasive beast.  It doesn't seem very tall.  I can clearly see the ground below it and I can clearly see the blue sky above it.  Pro and con time:

If I fly under the storm, I risk being hampered by rain and wind.  If I fly over the storm, I will be at a still-heavy weight, with untested engines and no backup oxygen bottle (not easy to purchase in Brazil).  So, over or under?

Under.  Definitely under.

The bottom of the storm offers us warm sheets of rain, but constant ground contact.  This will work fine.

Wanda and I quickly drop to 6,500, but it seems the storm has a similar idea.  Upon reaching this lower altitude, it seems I am not quite low enough to get under the weather.  A moment later Wanda and I are flying through a thick cloud, with sharp rainbursts and little kicks of turbulence.  I can still see the ground, but we should get lower since there is plenty of room down there. 

Wanda and I make haste down to 4,500 where we find the lower dendrils of the storm, but a clear path forward.  From the look of the radar and storm scope, we should only be in this condition for another 10 minutes.  Wanda, to her credit, is handling the rain beautifully.  We are just under yellow line speed, sipping less than 9 gallons per hour per side without breaking a sweat.  Fantastic, Wanda!

Magnificent sandbars on the Tocantins River

Within a quarter of an hour, Wanda and I leave the storm behind and it's time to prepare for landing.  Baião airport is a tricky strip located on the bank of the Tocantins River.  I slowly feed fuel and prop inches back in, and Wanda and I are established to enter on the downwind for runway 10.  Our base and final legs are low above the fabulous sandbars of the Tocantins.  We make a smooth touchdown, preserving our perfect record of not having any boxes slide out of position.  I taxi to the ramp, fully satisfied with today's leg.

I hope the packages are useful.  I loved flying them to you!

The packages made it to Centro de Saúde de Baião, right on time.  My wallet became fatter and my love for Wanda deepened.  She carried a fantastically huge load up to 8,500 without breaking a sweat.  She took that load and me through the storm without the slightest hiccup and treated us to a greaser right on the numbers at Baião.  Wanda has what it takes to cross this great Brass Globe.  Let's hope her pilot continues to make the correct decisions and is equally suited to the task.  Wanda and I will take a small break here in Baião and will get back on the road again to Juruti soon.