Weblackey's
note...
Some
additional photos of the real life scenery can be downloaded here
Introduction
I
had developed this FOTM based both on Hans’ anecdotal style and
Rik/Alastair nice documented tours. It tells you about my own migration
in Venezuela and about the airports and locations that are important to
me. My friends know me for making stuff larger than necessary, and after
no submitting a single PIREP, I decided to put some emphasis on this
FOTM description. Please grab a drink, take a sit and enjoy!
You
are an ex-pat just assigned to a petroleum company project at Paraguana,
Falcón State, Venezuela. As you have some free days and being a pilot
yourself you have decided to visit some places you have heard about,
using rented/charter/commercial aircraft. These places are mainly
Maracay, Valencia and this FOTM stellar trip: Canaima. The last one is a
personal dream trip. Some duties will show up as you progress. A soaring
introduction with logging is also included. Other destinations will
follow as “A little on the side” submissions to our site.
Preparation
Required
Add-ons:
You
must download and install the file “FOTM0308.zip”
which contains scenery enhancements for Paraguana, a mesh fix and
thermals for Valencia’s Lake surrounding terrain, and the Canaima
National Park scenery, all thanks to the help of very talented
Venezuelan Scenery designers. My gratefulness goes to David Maldonado,
Sabino Yacobone and Neptali Primera. The thermals are by myself.
The
ZIP contains also the support files for these flights, including flight
situations, basic weather, MS GPS and FSNAV4 flight plans. Installation
instructions are included in the file.
I
have included some basic weather options. If you have access to real
weather, go for it. The only warning is to keep an eye on the wind,
Paraguana is very windy most of the year. Also, we have been suffering
some heavy rains lately (did you brought your raincoat?)
I
found some very nice road maps for Paraguana and for Falcón, Carabobo,
Aragua and Miranda states, and a simple one for the Gran Sabana. To get
those, download FOTM0308Maps.zip
For
leg3 you will need an FS glider equipped with Max Roodvelt’s Cambridge
Aero Instruments GPS-NAV & L-NAV. A VET (Virtual Engine Technology)
glider is also highly recommended. If you don’t download any of these
gliders you can equip the default Schweizer 2-32 with Max’s GSP-I
panel. Optionally you can install the FSZwever Flight Viewer to analyze
your flights. All the files are available from FSZwever (www.fszwever.com)
downloads page. Look for the following files:
asw28vet.exe
Schleicher ASW-28 VET (4,377 kB) (does have a beautiful VC)
asw20vet.exe
Schleicher ASW-20 VET (2,739 kB) (doesn’t have a VC)
gsp-1.zip
Generic Sailplane Panel I (544 kB)
beta-2.zip
“Flight Viewer 2” - beta (369 kB)
viewertut_01.zip
tutorial for "Flight Viewer 2" (433 kB)
viewerman.zip
manual for "Flight Viewer 2" (45 kB)
I
also included a modified panel.cfg for the ASW-28 with a pop-up GPS
window. Use shift+9 to open it. It is included in FOTM0308.zip
and includes a backup of the original panel.cfg
If
you wish to further enhance the scenery or use Venezuelan registered
aircraft, try the add-ons listed below in this section.
Arrival
to Venezuela:
For
those of you that enjoy flying to the country featured in each FOTM, you
can arrive to Venezuela at the following airports.
-
Those
coming from USA and Australia, arrive to La Chinita Intl Airport (SVMC)
in Maracaibo, Zulia state, then proceed on a regional flight to Josefa
Camejo Intl Airport (SVJC) in Paraguana, Falcón state.
-
Those
coming from Europe arrive at Reina Beatrix Intl Airport (TNCA) in Aruba,
then proceed on a international flight to Josefa Camejo Intl Airport
(SVJC).
-
I
do not recommend using Simon Bolivar Intl Airport (SVMI) as an entry
point for this FOTM, as SVMI is half country away from SVJC.
-
Those
coming from outer space, please note that spaceships/UFO sightings
reports are very rare here at Venezuela, if you do so please be
discreet, don’t start a fuzz, with Chavez we already have enough.
Optional
add-ons
The
following Venezuelan related add-ons are available at FlightSim.com
(FSC) or at AvSim.com (AVS). The ones at the top are the ones closely
related to this FOTM, the rest are just for reference if you wish to
keep flying around Venezuela. If sim version is not evident, it is
listed together with the file library.
Scenery:
svcm2002.zip
La Chinita Airport, Maracaibo by Edgar Irigoyen (AVS)
Aruba_2002.zip
Reina Beatriz Airport, Aruba
by Sabino Yacobone (AVS)
Vale2003.zip
Arturo Michelena Airport, Valencia by Sabino Yacobone (FSC)
Chara.zip
Oscar Machado Zuloaga Airport, Charallave by Sabino Yacobone
(fs2k, FSC)
Charails.zip
ILS fix for chara.zip by Sabino Yacobone (fs2k, FSC)
ils2k2.zip
Missing Venezuelan ILS signals by David Maldonado (FSC)
Svmifs02.zip
Simon Bolivar Intl Airport, Maquetia by David Maldonado (fs2k2,
FSC)
Svmigates.zip
AFCAD file for svmifs02.zip by Armando Ortega (fs2k2, FSC)
Svlr2k2.zip
Los Roques Venezuelan islands by David Maldonado (FSC)
Andes2k2.zip
Venezuelan’ Andes sceneries by David Maldonado (FSC)
Svbmfs2k.zip
Barquisimeto City scenery by David Maldonado (FSC)
Mesh
scenery (not needed for this FOTM):
Ven_mesh.zip
Mesh files for some Venezuelan regions by David Maldonado (fs2k,
FSC)
Ve3aec00.zip
Mesh files for Venezuelan Andes by Pablo Miliani (fs2k2, FSC)
ATC:
Atcvzla.zip
ATC calls for Venezuelan airlines.
Venezuelan
Aircraft:
There
are several repaints for Venezuelan airliners available at the
libraries. Just
do a search on Avensa, Servivensa, Aeropostal, Aserca, Laser, Avior,
Lai, Santa Barbara, Viasa, etc. I
will like to point two specific ones, that you will see as static
scenery at the Canaima airfields:
Serv_dc3.zip
Servivensa Textures for Jan Visser’s DC3/R4D, by Juan Alcala
(fs2k, FSC)
Avec58.zip
Air Venezuela textures for Greg Pepper’s Convair 580, by Glen
Hall (fs2k2, FSC)
Cv580.zip
Required for avec58.zip
Other
aircraft/FX:
sstarshp.zip
Beech Starship 2000 by Mike Stone (1.5Mb, FSC)
c207mggs.zip
Cessna 207A by Mikko Maliniemi (6Mb, FSC)
fsdpc601.zip
Pilatus Turbo Porter by FSD (24Mb, FSC)
fsdpc602.zip
Pilatus Turbo Porter by FSD Ski version, requires fsdpc601.zip
(6Mb, FSC)
fs-gb-i.zip
GB-I Parachute by Michael Garbers and Wolfram Beckert (300k, FSC)
para.zip
Parachute FX by Gianni Vakirtzi.
These
are only recommendations. In fact, aircraft selection will depend solely
in your personal taste (I know this will have its consequences!). Keep
only in mind that there are a pair of long legs. For leg1 I recommend a
fast GA aircraft like club’s PC12. For leg4 I recommend a fast
medium/heavy.
The
Flights
LEG
1 – From Paraguana to Maracay
Welcome
to Paraguana Peninsula! Paraguana is an indigenous name that means
“plantation between waters”. The name fits perfectly, don you think?
You can’t confuse its shape if you see it from the heights. I was born
and raised there. Today and for years, Paraguana has the importance of
hosting in her land the major Venezuelan petroleum refineries, which I
understand form the World’s biggest refinery complex. Being surrounded
by easily accessible beaches, some with very strong winds like Adicora,
the peninsula is a major international tourist attraction, especially
for windsurfers. It also became very popular due to the 1998 total sun
eclipse, as one of the best observation points. I experienced that
marvel myself with my family at my father’s house porch!
If
you live in Paraguana, biggest chances are that you work for a Petroleum
company or a related services company. I worked at Maraven’s Cardón
refinery from 1992 to 1995 in the PARC project. There I had my first
chance to meet several people from other parts of the world (USA, UK,
Italy and Canada) and learn about them. I can easily recall people like
Dennis Moyer, Keith Trahan, Nick Broderick and Evan Conley. What
surprised me most was that several of these peoples were real pilots,
and while in Venezuela, avid simmers. It was finally time to share my
aviation passion with people feel about aviation like I feel. Funny
enough, the FS Flight Club Intl. Members, my current sim partners, fit
the petroleum company employee role quite well! We have a chemist, a
craftsman, a fireman, a health & safety officer, a (corporate)
pilot, an ethylical converter (he just deal with an smaller refinery!)
and a writer (yes, you must write lots of stuff while there).
As
a side note, while researching links and pics on the net for this leg, I
came across Randy Trahan Amuay website. Amuay is the other refinery in
Paraguana and Randy happens to be Keith Trahan’s brother. This and
other links on Paraguana are at the end of this leg text.
Our
destination is Maracay, Aragua state capital. I went to college there
(at IUPFAN, now UNEFA). Maracay is the center of the military
aeronautical activity in Venezuela. Our Air Force was created there 82
years ago and the city hosts the Venezuelan Aeronautical Museum, which
you plan to visit. Base Sucre AFB (SVBS) runway 23 landing approach runs
over IUPFAN installations. Practices for air shows were a delight to
see.
The
airplane I choose for this leg is the Rutan Long Ez (longez.zip) by
Robert Christopher. I edited the textures to add the YV-08X registration
and redid the instrument panel. YV-08X was the registration of Julio
Cesar Moron real Long Ez, the first one I ever saw and one of the forces
that sent me to IUPFAN. Anyone that knows me will easily learn how much
Rutan has influenced my aeronautical tastes.
This
leg flight (finally!)
From
the “select a flight” menu, choose the category FOTM0308, then
choose the enclosed flight “Leg1 Paraguana to Maracay”.
The
flight will put you at Joseja Camejo’s runway 09 in the default Beech
Baron. I went airborne for the first time ever there, 20 years ago.
Forward and slightly left is “Cerro Santa Ana” (Santa Ana Hill), the
very only prominent landmark in Paraguana. It raises up to 2732 ft MSL
surrounded by lands at a few dozens feet. A very inspiring sight for
anyone living there.
Depart
from runway 09 and immediately turn left to circle the airport and head
southwest towards Amuay refinery. This FS version is an small but
welcome depiction. Take care of not fly over the refinery as it is
prohibited (in real life, a S.A.M. will take care of you!). Before
reaching Amuay, turn south to 200o to fly over Cardón. At
your right you will see Carirubana, Punto Fijo and finally Punta Cardón.
Once you reach Cardón refinery turn east toward Cerro Santa Ana and
start climbing to 5000ft.
Upon
reaching Santa Ana from your left, turn to about 159o toward
Coro and follow the peninsula isthmus. Coro is Falcon state capital, and
one of the older (if not the oldest) “new world” cities of all
Americas. The first Christian mass in America was carried out at Coro,
and the city has been declared world’s historical patrimony due to
rich its colonial architecture. At both sides and at the end of the
isthmus you will see “Los Medanos de Coro” or Coro’s sand dunes,
our own scaled down Sahara.
Leave
Coro by turning left and track Coro VOR (COR, 117.3) radial 109o.
Set your standby frequency to Punta San Juan VOR (PNA, 112.9). At your
left you will see La Vela and Puerto Cumarebo towns. At DME 25nm switch
to PNA VOR and keep tracking 109o. Punta San Juan (San Juan
de los Cayos) is part of one of Falcón and Venezuelan wonders, the
Morrocoy National Park. I really need to team with someone to create
scenery for this, the sim simply doesn’t do it justice.
Before
reaching Punta San Juan, set your NAV1 standby frequency to Puerto
Cabello VOR (PBL, 117.7, Peraza Batista Luis?). Depart Punta San Juan on
radial 162o and then switch to PBL. You will be flying near
Chichiriviche and Tucacas, big tourist attractions due to their
beautiful white sand beaches. As you reach Puerto Cabello, pay attention
to the highway running southeast from there, it goes “straight” to
Valencia. Puerto Cabello, which maritime port is the second most
important in Venezuela, host our Navy main installations together with
some historical places.
Before
landing at Base Sucre near Maracay, we will fly over Valencia’s
airport. Tune Valencia NDB
(VLC, 380). You will reach SVVA at 21.5nm PBL DME. Turn left
toward Valencia’s Lake. If you are flying a GA or STOL plane depart
VLC NDB 86o outbound, fly over Valencia’s Lake and after
spotting SVBS turn to 51o for landing at runway 05. In real
life, you will end facing IUPFAN!!! If you are flying a heavy depart VLC
NDB 75o outbound, fly toward the small peninsula north of
Valencia Lake’s and then turn 101o for landing on runway
10.
RELATED
LINKS:
Paraguana
http://www.venezuelatuya.com/occidente/paraguanaeng.htm
Paraguana
http://www.striderusa.com/venez.html
Paraguana
http://www.spacekids.com/hotshots/earthkam/04/
(For kids)
Santa
Ana http://www.coroweb.com/csa_e.htm
Adicora
http://www.adicora.com
Amuay
http://www.randytrahan.addr.com
Coro
http://www.coroweb.com/coroe.htm
Morrocoy
http://www.morrocoy.org
LEG
2 – From Maracay to Charallave and back
Oscar
Machado Zuloaga Intl, El Caracas, Charallave; several names for the same
airport: SVCS. Near the end of college, we had to find a career related
practice job and spent 6 weeks there working under college supervision.
My friends and me contacted AviaServices, the Venezuelan Beechcraft
representative and repair shop. A great experience, at SVCS we met very
nice peoples working on promoting Venezuelan aviation, especially from
Aerodesarrollos Cimaut, which were working on homebuilts. I am still in
touch with Valerio Remiddi; sadly, Pino Turco(†) is gone. And guess
which plane was based at SVCS: YV-08X! Will you believe the following?
Someone stole all the photo film rolls from those 6 weeks; I was left
without a single picture!
At
Charallave you are going to meet with Valentina Quintero, who will give
you details for your trip to Canaima. Valentina is very nice mature
woman from Caracas, whose TV program “Bitacora” shows the beautiful
Venezuela for Venezuelans. What’s the big deal with this? Before
“Bitacora”, the rest of the world seemed to be better informed than
most of us about the beauties and features of our country. You were able
to find English and German languages books about Venezuela for tourists
but not Spanish ones. Valentina has her own book in Spanish covering all
the country and although it makes emphasis on our natural wonders, it is
not limited to them. I have yet to meet Valentina personally, but as an
anecdotic note, when the book was released it immediately was at
everyone’s desk at work; why? It happened that Valentina’s brother
was a close coworker!
Valentina
has an increasing taste for adventure, and she has asked you to take her
to San Juan de Los Morros (SVJM) on your trip back to Maracay so she can
repeat her skydiving jump. She had already made arrangements with Peter
Belov of Cliff Skydiving School so they have all the gear ready.
You
will meet also with Manuel “Mendi” Mandenblum from the VeneAviones
FS group. He will give you some Beech King Air B200 manuals I am
needing. We will met later at Valencia.
For
your return to Maracay, try to use an airplane appropriate for
transporting the skydivers. Great examples are FSD’s Pilatus Turbo
Porter and Mikko Maliniemi’s Cessna C207. Or try the jump yourself,
using the GB-I parachute!
San
Juan de Los Morros airport in Guarico
state is a nice airport for GA/sportplane enthusiasts. Cliff,
Venezuela’s main sky diving school is located there; I hope to enlist
with them in a future. Giovanni Annunziato, my closest friend since
college, and his father, keeps their ultraligths there. Unfortunately
there is no scenery for the main landmarks, the “Morros”, a group of
very tall peaks.
The
flight - Leg 2a:
From
the “select a flight” menu choose the flight “Leg2a Maracay to
Charallave”. The flight will put you at Base Sucre runway 10 in the
default Beech King Air 350. You will land at SVCS ILS Runway 10.
Tune
your plane NAV1 to Tuy VOR (TUY, 115.2) set the course to 95o
and go ahead with the take off. Climb to 8500ft. At 10nm TUY DME tune
the ILS (ITUY, 109.7) and set the approach course to 102o.
Good landing!
The
airplane I choose for this leg was Mike Stone’s Beech Starship
(sstarship.zip). I learned a lot about the development of the Starship
2000 while at AviaServices (it wasn’t certified yet) and years later
had the chance to see one closely in a local airshow in Maracay again
thanks to AviaServices.
The
flight - Leg 2b:
From
the “select a flight” menu choose the flight “Leg2b Charallave to
San Juan to Maracay”. The flight will put you at El Caracas runway 28
in the default Cessna 182S.
There
are no nav aids at SVJM so you have to rely on your ADF skills to find
the airport. Tune Nav1 to Tuy VOR (TUY, 115.2) and set the course to 235o;
also tune San Sebastian NDB (SSB, 318). After take off, turn south and
track TUY radial 235o and start climbing to 10000ft (jump
altitude). After some minutes, you will be able to the see the Camatagua
dam at your left.
Expect
to reach SSB NDB after 28nm TUY DME. Turn west and track SSB NDB radial
265o outbound. SVJM is about 14nm west from SSB NDB. Once
over the airport, circle it twice and proceed with the jump. Happy
landing Valentina!
If
you opted to stay at the aircraft controls, tune Base El Libertador
VORTAC (BAL, 113.9) and track radial 338o towards the
station, while descending. Before reaching El Libertadore you will see
the Taguaiguay lagoon. Be sure to report your presence to El Libertador
AFB Tower! Fly over the station and continue 4nm DME from the station.
Finally turn left to 281o for a landing at SVBS runway 28.
For
this leg I used FSD’s Pilatus Turbo Porte. I borrowed the textures
from the ER Ski version.
RELATED
LINKS:
VeneAviones
http://www.univargas.com/veneaviones/
LEG
3 – Soaring from Maracay to Valencia
Since
I graduated from college my mind has been soaring, and seems to be no
way to stop it from doing it. From Maracay I went back to Paraguana and
worked at PARC; lots of simming, no real aviation at all. Later I moved
to Valencia, and things changed drastically. My job was a block away
from Valencia AirClub entrance, even some suppliers to the company were
also aircraft owners/pilots. There I had the chance to meet the Leon
brothers, Ruben and Carlos. These guys are the Wilbur and Orville of
Venezuelan Aviation. They built the TwinCozy, a modified Cozy MkIV,
which is powered by two auto engines. At Valencia, my real aviation
experiences reached higher levels.
But
still there is something missing. At all the places I have worked,
people have wondered about a die cast & plastic scaled trailer I
always keep over the computer. It is a tiny toy sailplane, which wings
can be removed for storage in the trailer. I will love to try soaring
for real. Real gliders are very scarce in Venezuela, and very few people
fly on them. My closest options to powerless fly are delta wings and
paragliders. Both sports are practiced at Aragua. Fortunately, a few but
very talented people have taken care of this aspect of our hobby.
Here
you will have the chance to fly an advanced sailplane from Maracay to
Valencia. I have already programmed the Cambridge GPS-NAV computer with
your start-end waypoints and with some “Tasks” (route waypoints).
These are “Mariara”, “San Joaquin”, “Guacara” and
“ff28”, your turn point to final.
The
flight - Leg 3:
From
the “select a flight” menu choose the flight “Leg3 Soaring from
Maracay to Valencia”. The flight will put you at Base Sucre runway 28
in the default Schweizer 2-32. See those raising clouds in front of you?
Those are thermals waiting for you!
Lets
prepare our GPS-NAV navigation instruments for the trip first. This is a
bit tricky, but hey! that’s the way the real thing works! The GPS-NAV
is the squared dark faced gauge. The L-Nav is the rounded silver faced
one. We will operate the L-Nav only a little. Follow these steps:
1.
Turn the GPS-NAV “ON”.
2.
Start the L-Nav clicking on the on/off knob, and wait until it
shows the current altitude. This knob controls also the VSI beep volume.
3.
On the L-Nav, click on “GO” and then the right arrow. The
L-Nav is now programmed to show the altitude in reference to that
starting point.
4.
Back on the GPS-NAV, click the right arrow six (6) times until
the it reads “Task Selection”
5.
Click “GO” twice. The screen should read “Task A, Declare?
No”
6.
Click the down arrow to change it to “Yes”
7.
Click “GO”. The screen should read “Task A, Start? No”
8.
Click the down arrow to change it to “Yes”
9.
Click “GO”. The screen should read “On Task TP:0, Mariara”
You
are ready for take off. If you are using the Schweizer 2-32, slew to
2000ft above the airport (3350ft) and let go! If you are using an VET
glider, follow the indications below:
1.
Click on the green lamp with a switch at its left. A release
altitude selector will appear.
2.
On the release altitude selector set 2000ft (600m)
3.
Flick the switch. The lamp will turn yellow and start to blink.
4.
You'll have about 20 seconds to sit back and grab the stick.
5.
Once the lamp stops blinking the ASW will start moving.
Once
the release altitude is reached the lamp will turn red and you will hear
the release sound.
So
now you are in the air! Retract your landing gear and turn right to
Mariara, just center the arrow. If you are ascending or descending at an
important rate, the L-Nav will beep increasingly to tell you. Compare
the readings with the VSI.
Once
you get close to the Task point (<= 2.0 km) the displays will change
to “Close to” (watch the arrow) and then to “Arrival !”
(<= 0.5 km). Watch your vertical speed and altitude, look for
a close thermal if you need it.
Now
to your next waypoint. On the GPS-NAV click the right arrow twice for
“Task TP:”, click “GO” and again chase the arrow. You should
repeat this for each waypoint, including Valencia. You can do it from
the VC by opening the GPS-NAV pop-up window, just press shift+9. You
will find plenty thermals to reach your destination without problems. If
you have done it right, you will even have the chance to past fly SVVA
and turn back for a landing on rwunway10.
Once
on final start the approach and lower the landing gear (easy to forget,
you are advised). Control your descent carefully by using the spoilers
(don’t sacrifice your altitude). Remember that this gliders are happy
flyers.
Finally
you are in Valencia. I will be waiting for you at the airport.
For
this flight I used Peter Franke’s amazing ASW28.
RELATED
LINKS:
Max
Roodvelt http://www.fszwever.com
Sabino
Yacobone http://www.venespa.com/yacobone/
Sabino
Yacobone http://www.avsim.com/pages/0403/bear_3-22-03/bearracing.htm
TwinCozy
http://www.infortel.com/cozy/
LEG
4 – From Valencia to Canaima
I
prepared this leg in order to connect you to Canaima from Valencia as an
introduction to Canaima. Note that the flight is long and the navigation
a bit cumbersome, but the landing is a very nice one. So I have made
this flight optional for you all.
The
real trip to Canaima is one I will love to do myself. You get there by
air and explore it by air, land and water. It is simply awesome. From a
Canaima tourism guide:
“CANAIMA
NATIONAL PARK: In this vast region full of mythical reminiscences, black
water rivers, stormy skies, impenetrable jungles, the infinite stillness
of the undulating savannahs contrast with the tepuys (Venezuelan flat
top mountains) in their imposing walls, over which cascades plunge from
prodigious heights” “On June 12, 1962, the Venezuelan Government
issued a decree establishing Canaima National Park, whose surface area
- originally covering 1 million hectares- increased to 3 million
on October 10, 1975. Its size makes it one of the largest national parks
of the world” “The territory included in Canaima National Park is
characterized by having some of the oldest rocks in Venezuela and South
America”, more than 1.5 billion years old. Successive processes of
erosion have carved the ancient base of the archaic lands in its
periphery, leaving isolated the high mesas which Pemón Indians call
tepuys, meaning hills. The presence of the tepuys account for the great
variations in altitude in Canaima National Park. Here, one finds valleys
around 400 meters (1300 ft) above sea level and, in contrast, the top of
some tepuys surpass the 2400 meters (7900 ft)”
The
flight - Leg 4:
From
the “select a flight” menu choose the flight “Leg4 From Valencia
to Canaima”. The flight will put you at Valencia airport runway 28 in
the default Boeing 737-400.
The
flight plan is based on Low Altitude Airways and involves flying to
several fixes. I am not quite sure if the following navigation
directions are properly dictated. Anyway I am sure they will let you
find the way to your destination.
Tune
the ADF to San Sebastian NDB (SSB, 318), Nav1 to Puerto Cabello VOR
(PBL, 117.7) and set its course to 116o.This will help you to
find the first fix, ATAMU (10 o 00’N, 67o 52’
W).
Execute
the take off. Once in the air turn left to do a 180o and
track SSB NDB radial 102o inbound, while ascending to 8000ft.
You will reach ATAMU at 31nm PBL DME.
Keep
flying to SSB NDB 102o inbound. Tune Nav1 to Tuy VOR (TUY,
115.2) and set its course to 235 o to monitor your approach
to the SSB NDB. You will reach SSB NDB 42.6nm after ATAMU.
Depart
SSB NDB 95o outbound. Next fix is ANGEL, 52.7nm away from
SSB. Set the Nav1 course to 127o to monitor your approach to
the fix. ANGEL is at 36nm TUY DME. Upon reaching ANGEL, turn right to
track TUY VOR radial 127o. Follow it for 140nm (176nm TUY
DME) towards San Tome NDB (SOM, 220).
Depart
SOM NDB 154o outbound, and start descending to 5000ft. Tune
Nav1 to Ciudad Bolivar VOR (CBL, 115.1) and set its course to 171o.
Depart CBL VOR on this radial. You won’t mistake Ciudad Bolivar as you
have to wide cross the big Orinoco River in order to get there.
We
are finally flying to Canaima. The landing fix is 108.9nm DME from CBL
VOR. Before reaching the fix you should be able to see the Guri dam at
your left. Guri is a big hydroelectric power plant that provides power
to some regions of both Venezuela and Brazil. Its main contributors are
the Paragua River, the first one you encounter, and the Caroní River.
As soon as you spot the Caroní check the DME, as you should be reaching
the fix, so reduce the speed and start your descend in advance. You
should be able to spot Canaima airport slightly at your right. Turn 180o
on the fix and prepare for landing.
On
landing, be sure to use your spoilers, brakes and reverses as necessary.
WELCOME
TO CANAIMA!
The
planeI choose for this leg is the default 737-400 with an Avensa
paintjob and a custom analog panel/VC. Sorry. I don’t have the
filenames/authors of these ones at hand.
RELATED
LINKS:
www.gransabana.com
www.lagransabana.com
LEG
5 – From Canaima to Kavanayen
Well,
finally we are in for it. This is what you were really looking for.
Before embracing the mortals trip to “El Salto Angel” (Angel’s
Falls) you are going to explore the National Park by air. “
From
a Canaima tourism guide:
“SALTO
ANGEL (ANGEL’S FALLS): Indians call Angel’s Falls Kerepakupai-Merú,
which means ‘fall from the deepest place” in Pemón language.
Nevertheless, it was named after the American pilot and golddigger Jimmy
Angel, who in 1937 dared – and managed – to land his (Ryan
monoplane) on the top of the mountain. However, the aircraft got stuck
in the muddy terrain and could not take off. After a very difficult
descent on foot that took him eleven days, Angel and his companions
arrived exhausted to the Valley of Kamarata. Even thought Angel is
credited for having discovered the falls, the honor belongs actually to
Ernesto Sánchez, a retired Venezuelan Navy office who found them during
an exploration of the area in 1910. Testimony of his deed are the maps
left in the Casa Blohm, in Ciudad Bolivar” “The Angel’s Falls is
the tallest waterfall in the world. The long, 980 meters high silver
braid seems to fall down from the sky. Angel’s Falls are indeed one of
the planet’s wonders”
“OVER-FLIGHT
OF ANGEL FALLS: Visitors board the plane at the landing strip in Canaima
camp. After flying over the Canaima lagoon, the plane heads east. Below,
the serpentine path of the Carrao (river) meanders through the lush
jungle. Once again, the great block of the Auyán-Tepuy shows up,
usually topped with clouds. Heavy rain is quite frequent in these
areas.” “If weather is good, the plane will be able to fly over the
irregular top of the mesa. Close to the western edge, is the so-called
Wall of the Thousand Columns, an area on the mountaintop where air and
water have carved strange sculptures. Looks indeed like nature has
created those formations to challenge the explorer’s imagination.
Partly hidden, torrents of reddish-colored water flow among pinnacles
and turrets. They owe their strange hue to high tannin concentrations.
The whole landscape seems to come from a science-fiction tale” “The
plane flies over Angel Fall’s. In Devil’s Canyon are found other
falls of lesser height, yet captivating: Churún-merú (long time
mistaken for Angel’s Falls) is a cascade 400 meters tall, ten
kilometers to the south, at the beginning of the gorge; there is also
Salto Cortina (Curtain Falls) in the upper left branch, sliding down 300
meters of Precambrian rock wall.” “After wandering up and down the
canyon, visitors are taken back to Canaima camp.”
The
flight - Leg 5:
Although
the tepuys scenery add-on enormously increases the level of detail of
the are, it still falls short as to duplicate the flight described
above. The Carrao and Churún rivers, needed visual references to find
the falls without nav-aids, are still missing. So we are going to take a
different approach. Prepare for the adventure.
From
the “select a flight” menu choose the flight “Leg5 From Canaima to
Kavanayen”. The flight will put you at Canaima airport runway 18 in
the default Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. The Caravan is widely used on
this trips, is fast and docile, so it is not a bad idea to stick to it.
Tune
your Nav1 radio to Canaima VOR (CMA, 117.5), set its course to 130o
and the ADF to the Kavanayen NDB (KAV, 398). You are ready for take off.
On
take off, turn left to 100o and intercept the predefined
course, while ascending to 8500ft. You will be flying towards the Auyán-tepuy.
As you advance, forward right you will see the Devil’s Canyon mouth
and to your right is the Wall of the Thousands Columns.
As
you approach the Devil’s Canyon, on the distance, forward right, you
will see Angel’s Falls. At 32nm CMA DME, start a shallow turn to your
right to heading until you face the falls and fly towards it. Remember
that the tepuy height is 7960ft. From here you have several options:
a)
Change the history and name the falls after yourself! I you fly
over the falls, you will be able to spot a hidden landing strip (please
ignore the other structures on the top). Use your better bush pilot
abilities and set the plane on the strip. And remember, if you fail, it
will take you eleven days to get back. Good luck!
b)
Continue flying to Kavanayen and land on its airfield.
c)
Continue flying to Kavanayen and then proceed to Uon Ken, Uriman
and back to Canaima.
If
you go for option a) there is maybe a shortcut. Angel’s Falls is the
greatest place for sky diving base jumps. The skydivers just jump form
the edge of the Tepuy near the fall. It is a thrilling exhilarating
sight. So grab again your GB-1 and go ahead (and way dooooowwwwnnn…)
If
you go for options b) or c) ascend to 12500ft and fly towards KAV NDB.
Distance is 61nm from CMA DME. You will pass fly the Auyán-Tepuy before
reaching Kavanayen. Land to a complete stop or execute a touch and go.
You
can continue to Uon Ken following KAV NDB 194o radial
outbound. Fly following the left wall pattern. You will end facing the
runway end. It is a 25nm trip. To proceed to Uriman tune the Uriman NDB
(URM, 220) and turn west to track radial 287o inbound for
60nm, follow this time the right wall. To return to Canaima from Uriman
turn North and just follow the Caroní river.
The
plane I choose for this trip is the Carenado Bonanza. David, the Canaima
scenery designer, is using this same plane to do very long flights just
in the club fashion. Although it is an early FS2002 development and is
commercial, it is a great model. The cockpit reflections in the VC are
just amazing.
RELATED
LINKS:
David
Maldonado http://usuarios.lycos.es/davidmaldonado
Angel’s
Falls http://www.angel-falls.com
Angel’s
Falls http://gosouthamerica.about.com/library/weekly/nangel.htm
Angel’s
Falls http://www.aerialfocus.com/angelfalls.html
Base
Jump http://www.aerialfocus.com/angelinfo.html
Base
Jump http://www.aerialfocus.com/angelpics.html
Well,
this is the trip end. I hope you enjoyed these Venezuelan flights!
Alejandro
Irausquín
July/August
2003 |
