AGAZINE - Midwest Flyer
AGAZINE - Midwest Flyer
AGAZINE - Midwest Flyer
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Home Away From Home In A TBM<br />
by Guilherme Schmidt<br />
De s t i n a t i o n s<br />
KFCM 102253Z 10007KT 1/4SM FG OVC001<br />
04/03 A2948 RMK AO2 SLP988 T00440033<br />
The Metar above wasn’t the<br />
best way to start a trip, but I<br />
looked at John Roberts sitting<br />
on the copilot side, and he said, “Well,<br />
my minimum is that I need to see two<br />
stripes on the runway.” We both felt<br />
comfortable with the takeoff, so we<br />
decided to launch. John is an FAA<br />
Designated Pilot Examiner, and has<br />
received the “Wright Brothers Master<br />
Pilot Award” for 50 years of safe<br />
flying. His wife, Jane, was sitting in<br />
the back, already immersed in what<br />
proved to be one of the many books<br />
she was going to read on this trip.<br />
You may have read my report<br />
on the trip I took with my Daher<br />
Socata TBM 850 from Minneapolis,<br />
Minnesota to Cartagena, Colombia<br />
DAHER-SOCATA TBM 850<br />
(Feb/March 2010, <strong>Midwest</strong> <strong>Flyer</strong><br />
Magazine). This time I decided to<br />
stretch a bit, and we were taking off<br />
from Flying Cloud in Minneapolis,<br />
heading towards Sao Paulo, Brazil,<br />
5,230 nm away.<br />
It was 5:30 pm on a Wednesday.<br />
The tower gave our taxi instructions,<br />
and asked us to report our position<br />
several times during taxiing, as they<br />
could not see us due to the intense<br />
fog. It takes a lot of discipline for a<br />
takeoff under these conditions, and<br />
one cannot hesitate to move to the<br />
instruments as soon as you rotate. Our<br />
taxi and departure were uneventful,<br />
and at 7,000 feet MSL, we broke out<br />
on top, looking at a beautiful sunset.<br />
Oh, how I love flying!<br />
This was going to be an emotional<br />
trip from many aspects. Our<br />
destination was SBMT (Campo de<br />
Marte, in Sao Paulo, Brazil). I learned<br />
to fly there some 25 years ago, and<br />
I hadn’t been back flying in Brazil<br />
since 1993. So it was a bit nostalgic.<br />
It was also the first time flying my<br />
very own plane back to my former<br />
home country, and finally it had been<br />
3 years since I was last in Brazil,<br />
so I was anxious to visit my aunts<br />
and uncles, who are undoubtedly<br />
witnessing the passage of time.<br />
The first stop of the trip was<br />
Daytona Beach, Florida (DAB).<br />
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010 MIDWEST FLYER M<strong>AGAZINE</strong> 17