AGAZINE - Midwest Flyer

We will need some help from the
controllers. With our “Y” flight plan
filed, we took off. (Yankee stands for
a mixed flight plan that starts IFR
and converts to a VFR flight plan
somewhere along the route).
The flight to Sao Paulo was
gorgeous. It took us a little less
than 2 hours, not a cloud in the sky,
and we flew over one of the richest
agricultural soils in the world. We saw
lots of beans, sugar cane, and coffee
farms. We flew over a small town
in the interior of the country where
my late father was born. That was a
nice touch on the trip. Soon enough
we contacted Sao Paulo Approach
Control, and they had us descend to
5,000 feet, directed us over the VFR
corridor gate, and told us to transition
to VFR there. Then the fun began!
Approach control told us to follow
corridor “Echo,” fly over the toll of
the freeway, and then to the Juliet VFR
corridor, and report over the freeway
loop to Marte Tower. We confessed
that we needed help with headings and
distance to these waypoints. They were
very helpful, and we were even able to
identify the points.
Sao Paulo sits in a valley inside
a plateau. As we crossed the visual
checkpoint of the freeway loop, the
city comes into sight. It is a sight not
to forget. Sao Paulo has 14 million
people, and Marte – is the only GA
airport, located on the north side of
the town. I was thankfully familiar
with the airport location, reported it in
sight, and cleared to the pattern.
I was required to report on base,
gear down and locked (a mandatory
phraseology in Brazil), and the
landing was rough but uneventful.
The taxiways are very narrow there,
and we had pre-arranged with a
private hangar where the manager was
waiting for us.
It was nice to be back home to
the airport where I first learned to
fly. Home and still so far away from
home. The trip down took 19 hours,
and we left on Wednesday night, and
arrived Saturday morning.
My wife and kids came on the
airlines. Their Delta flight left 3
hours late on Friday, they missed
their evening connection in Atlanta,
so they spent the night there, caught
a flight on Saturday night to Rio,
then connected on a flight to Sao
Paulo to arrive on Sunday afternoon
sans luggage, and with lots of stress.
Unbelievable, but this time around
flying the TBM to Brazil took about
the same time as the airlines, and they
can’t beat the fun!
The stay in Brazil was very
pleasant, and at the Campo de Marte
Airport, I saw the Piper Cherokee
140 I soloed in in 1986, and it is
still flying. I also saw my old flight
instructor, which was nice. But soon,
it was time to come back.
The return route was very similar;
just different landing sites. We flew
from SBMT to Palmas SBPJ leaving
on Sunday afternoon. Palmas is a
planned city in the middle of Brazil. It
is the capital of the state of Tocatins.
The city is only 20 years old. The
airport is modern, huge and in the
middle of nowhere. We flew a DME
arc approach, landed, refueled and
took off at sunset toward Macapa
(SBMQ) at the northern end of Brazil.
We overnighted in Macapa,
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINE 23