Mark's report about HG Trip to Brasilia, Brazil, Aug 2019

[wmelo]

All,
I'm gonna try to compose a trip report that I hope will be informative AND entertaining.
I might even include some photos and links to the Ayvri website that creates some pretty cool flight graphics using the IGC files from my Flytec 6030
(thanks Pat).
Please keep in mind that I am a known pin stretcher and that a good story requires some truth stretchin' as well.

As some of you might know, I achieved a long delayed dream of flying in Brazil last year after receiving a blanket invite put out on the CHGPA list server from my new best friend Walt Melo.

Walt grew up in Brasilia, and after college pursued job opportunities around the world until he finally arrived in the USA some 20 years ago and became a US citizen. He is a seasoned world traveler and most excellent guide for all things Brazilian.

Last Oct/Nov Walt and I hooked up with Beto Schmitz -former Brazilian National Champion and World Class pilot- for an XC Clinic in the State of Bahia at the tiny town of Santa Terezinha a couple hours west of the city of Salvador. We spent a couple of days on the beach in Salvador before and after the XC clinic so the flying was somewhat limited- I think I only had 7 flights- but will say that 5 of those flights were spent at cloudbase, and very satisfying.

This year, I took 3 weeks to fly in Brasilia, Walt's home town.
The city of Brasilia, the National Capital of Brazil, was built in the 1960's as per government decree, so as to develop the interior of the country. The previous Capital was Rio de Janiero on the coast.

It turns out that the flying season in Brasilia starts getting good July-August-September. The rainy season starts ending in May/June and the Central Plateau of the continent gets dry during our summer here in the USA. This means that the rainy season begins in earnest in November and escaping the north american winter for a flying trip to Brazil could be sketchy...............

As I see it, Brazil is a country of two halves. The Amazon basin in the Northwest, and the higher Central Plateau in the East/Southeast.
It's a huge country, and the Amazon is a thousand miles from Brasilia, which is generally centrally located on the Plateau.

This year, Walt and I tried to get our short packed gliders on American Airlines- but were denied
(too long - they would only accept max of 10.5 feet and ours were short packed to 13.5 ft.)
We had a "PLAN B" and were able to do a quick run from Reagan National to John Middletons' place to stash our gliders and hope to rent something in Brasilia.(thanks John)

After the long overnight flight with cancellations, delays and transfers, we arrived Brasilia at 7AM the next day to find the checked bag with my harness was lost....
Fortunately, Walt's travel experience and native Portuguese helped me navigate the bureaucracy and language barrier to fill out the lost bag report.

No glider - No harness - to start a 3 week flying trip.

I hoped for the best.......

Walt's plans had changed since we had booked the flight a couple months in advance.
He had Family Commitments for the first couple of weeks, so I was on my own.
One of the pilots I had met the previous year - Carlao - had invited me to stay at his Pousada. (Inn)
He spoke a reasonable level of English ( Far superior to my Portuguese) , and was at the Brasilia International Airport waiting to pick me up.
Walt's wife Keila had arrived on an earlier flight and kidnapped him from the airport, and so we parted company for the next couple of weeks.

It turns out that Carlao doesn't really have an Inn....
I stayed in the first house that he had built, which was on a street that his extended family owns and have built houses on. (very safe and friendly)
The house was pretty empty and bare bones, but had a bed, a fridge and hot water. (and "marsupials" in the ceiling all night)

Casa de Marsupials
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EBTPzM ... V2rJX/view

It was a couple houses up the street from where he now lives. The compound was amazingly secluded and woodsy, considering it was 20 minutes from the center of the city. His current bigger home is on the edge of some Cerrado (woods) and very Brazilian.

casa de carlao:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HIO084 ... 54sGf/view

more casa de carlao:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17RlVkB ... oLgG0/view

even more casa de carlao:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wSYvTv ... ei9gX/view

Carlao also helped me get fixed up with a SIM card for my phone and took pretty good care of the
Gringo throughout the trip.
I spent the first day running around a bit with Carlao and recovering from the long flight.

Carlao:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hZA0us ... 5zpMZ/view



The next day, Thursday 8th, I got a text from the luggage folks that they had found my bag !
We sped over to the Airport and grabbed it-
Then rushed over to Beto Schmitz house to rent an old Airborne Sting X, and then blasted out to Formosa to fly

It was the start of three weeks of always rushing and being late-ish.
I also have to mention that the reputation of reckless Brasiliano drivers is earned because of the specific driving skills exhibited by Carlao..........
In his defense, we only came extremely close to having a serious accident 3-4 times and only locked up brakes twice.

Fiat: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TrcmUc ... FtsbO/view


The flying-

The town of Formosa is about an hour east of Brasilia, and has a launch (@ 3k msl) that is only 600-800 feet above the main LZ.
I hurried to set up the unfamiliar Sting and get my instruments and hang strap figured out.
I was pretty well prepared for different set-ups with extra hang straps, instrument mount options and the like- but it took some time, and I ended up launching last.
I climbed well, and tried my best to follow the other pilots, 'cause I didn't have any real idea where I was going.
Got to cloudbase @8500 a couple times, and ended up at the edge of the well known 'jungle' area for 23 miles.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjz3 ... 65ppgaodiq

Our driver, Wellington, was there before I could get it in the bag. On a side note, that field looked great- but had gone fallow with 2 foot tall weeds that left me with an uncountable number of tiny prickly burrs all over my harness and shoes, etc. I got most of them out over the next three weeks and chose better LZ's from then on.
Carlao - for the first time in his 12 years of flying made the Goal of landing in the Esplanada in the center of the City of Brasilia (@45 miles). It's very much like landing on the Capital Mall in Washington DC.
He was very happy, and several other locals made Goal that day as well.

Happy Carlao and others at Esplanada:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1peb-s1 ... O6QJe/view

Esplanadeiros: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11czrvX ... tp0vI/view

Friday Aug 9-
The next day we rushed around and got to Formosa again where we found very light conditions. As I set up the Sting, I found that I had lost a corner bracket bolt from the day before somewhere in that burr field....
Fortunately, the Brasilianos are very resourceful and we rigged up a fastener that all deemed adequate.
I then proceded to sled it like most everyone else, except that I somehow found a way to whack the Sting....I really don't get what went wrong, but it was pretty embarrassing, and thankfully no aluminum was sacrificed.

The next day, Saturday Aug 10-
We DNF. It was family day for Carlao, and I think conditions were pretty sketchy again anyway.

Sunday Aug 11-
Same old rush around, except that Carlao had scored me a Moyes RX topless to rent !
We went to Formosa, and I again launched last having to figure out how to get set up on the RX. This time however, I had a nice lowish save which did my ego good, but only got me as far as the Formosa airport for a couple miles.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 65g46lo68j

Monday Aug 12-
We went to the better site called Vale ( for Vale do Parana). This site is a bit higher (3900msl) than Formosa, about 20 miles north up the valley (of Parana) but the turn around is an hour and a half if you bomb out to the LZ and it ALSO offers a really long glide out.
I had gotten reasonably high at launch, but Carlao bombed out about a mile over the back, and because we were the only pilots there that day, I elected to land with him.........
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 65dj1e09yf

Tuesday Aug 13-
We went to Vale again and had the company of another 6-8 local pilots. I finally had enough of my shit together to launch 4th or 5th. I again climbed out good, but Carlao bombed out to the LZ and transmitted over the radio that we would not be going to Chapada that day.
Chapada is the other Goal, heading north up the main road to the National Park type area where the Mountains choke off the XC potential at around 80 miles.

Vale launch: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUCK_b ... InYnD/view

However, Jesus decided to smile on me, 'cause another pilot I was climbing with radio'd that he would make sure I got picked up, and away we went!
(thanks Jesus)
My new best friend Fernando, was on a Sport2 and led the way. I pimped him for 45 miles until he finally got scraped off and I went another 5 for my longest flight of the trip.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzb ... 65bi7evnet

Wed and Thursday were Blown out, and pretty boring.....

One of the main things that made this trip less enjoyable was the fact that the Competition that was to be held that first week Aug 10 - 18, was moved to a place about 12 hrs east called Andradas. It had originally been planned to take place at Vale do Parana, but the land owner shut it down. We were flying there anyway, on account of some kinda local bribery to the care-taker, and the fact that there weren't 60-80 pilots and vehicles showing up at launch every day. I decided to stick with the original plan and stay in Brasilia for a lot of reasons, one of which was that Andradas was reported to not be that great for flying...............

Bribery: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LIVvDn ... AbGJB/view

That being said, there wasn't a lot of after flight entertainment and partying, because the local pilots were working during the week and not out of town at a Comp. We did have some company most days, 'cause of course if it looked good, a few pilots would play hookey from work.
After flying though, everybody had to shag back home to their wives and kids and regular lives, including Carlao.
He did his best to entertain me, and we spent several enjoyable evenings drinking wine, (not a big beer drinker) and also went out and about with his wife and kids several different times, but he has a normal busy life like everyone else, and so often I would be left to my own devices.

On one of those days I took a long walk to the Botanical Gardens a couple of miles from Carlao's compound and spent 5 hours of wandering around in the woods of the Cerrado. I'm sure during the rainy season it's much more verdant, but not so much in the dry season.

Cerrado1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dxZ5jk ... TpKRM/view
Cerrado2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-gn3_l ... 9xEqy/view
More termites: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T88Ooq ... -HCzf/view
Banaa Tree: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W3otGW ... MWmrG/view

Friday Aug 16-
The guy renting me the RX (can't remember his name) got a day off work to fly, so I was offered a U2 145.
Sounds good right?
Turned out the last time it was flown, it was crashed on launch. Also, there wasn't any placard on it, and I was then informed that it was a 154 (which doesn't exist) I determined later that was a 160.....................
It seemed to launch and thermal OK, but if it wasn't climbing, it went down like a brick.
It was a reasonably good day at Formosa, and I mostly climbed -until I didn't.
I decided to try and make it to the airport just a couple miles OTB, but it was a harrowing, plummeting glide on that pig. I DID make it though, and it landed surprisingly well ! go figure.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 65n3sf0k8b

Another side note- The guy renting me his Moyes RX 3.5 did a downtube on HIS landing (non-VG side thankfully) and Carlao again saved the day by having a spare.
The replacement downtube had been previously repaired in some way and looked pretty suspect, but worked out fine the rest of the trip.

Brazilian hillbilly downtube:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u3zerC ... xjkqe/view

Saturday Aug 17- DNF.

Sunday Aug 18-
We went to Formosa, but conditions were so poor, we decided it wasn't worth risking aluminum for a sled. We broke down on top.

Monday Aug 19-
My boy Walt joined us and rescued me from the restless nocturnal marsupials !
I was invited to stay with him and Keila at their cousin's house (Eurides) on the other side of the city. I desperately needed a break from the evening boredom and all night entertainment from the unknown furries in the attic.

We went to Vale on an odd looking day. All the days previous to that had started out crystal blue starting at 630 in the morning and started popping nice cue's around noon. This day started with a milky sky that lasted all day.
Regardless, it turned out to be pretty damn good. I climbed out immediately, but then lost it and had a lowish save that I finally took to 10k.
I still got stuck at the jungle tho' for only about 18 miles............
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzj ... 65lbun7oi5

Walt decided to try the U2.
I had hoped that maybe my being so light on it could have been a reason that it sank so horribly, but he found the same issue -it climbed and landed good, but with a long glide to the LZ, it was a serious concern.
Like me he initially got up- then nothing but a long nail biting glide to the LZ.

Walt at Vale setup:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1quWR0Z ... m3Eov/view


Tuesday Aug 19-
Vale again with the same milky sky. A similar flight as the day before except that the locals that showed up did not want to sled it and endure the long turn around. Two pilots finally manned up and both were soaring (a little). I went third and did the same as the days before- initial climb out and then nothing.
It was looking pretty ugly, but I pushed down the ridge to where the other two pilots were climbing. I was lucky enough to get some, and ended up climbing out. Near the end of the flight I achieved the highest altitude of the trip @11k and also finally made it past the Jungle to get a view of Brasilia through the milky haze about 15 miles away.
A real man woulda pushed on through the cloudless haze and hoped for a climb on the way to the Esplanada in the middle of the city. I checked it out a bit, but in the end decided caution was the better part of valor and landed in a huge field for @30 miles.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 6545lsoy3w

Walt -DNF. He got stuck behind Carlao who put down roots, and then backed off.
Turns out that I was the last to launch-
These are strictly thermal sites and without any cycles coming through- nobody else was willing to bomb off launch.

Wed Aug 20- Vale
The sky looked much better today, but Carlao had to bail out for a Family day. He generously gave us the use of his fiat, so it was just me and Walt with our driver Wellington.
I think Walt launched first, and had the same flight as the day before, launched in a nice thermal, and then the long plummet to the LZ on that pig of a U2.
I had the same exact flight going, but on the way to the LZ to join Walt, I got a really low bug fart and climbed out !
At one point I could have pushed back onto the Plateau, but since there was no reasonable drift, I decided to stay local. I continued to blunder into several good thermals and flew around the Valley for an hour or so waiting for Wellington to arrive in the LZ as per the long turn around.
I finally landed with Walt and on the way out from the LZ, we stopped in to a tiny little country watering hole to have a beer. After weeks of convenience store type places not much different from the USA, I was finally able to enjoy the real countryside of Brazil.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 65s74eecod

Thurs Aug 22-
Vale - The sky looked good and we had Carlao back and a few other pilots.
The only things I really remember about this day is that Walt had given up on the U2 and rented what was reported to be a brazilian type falcon from another pilot we had met from Santa Terezinha last year. I took a look at it when we were setting up and all I can say is that it's condition was cause for concern.
In the end Walt wisely decided NOT to give it a go.

Gilder in similar condition:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R6rqFL ... kfC3m/view


As for me, it all started out good, and I had a couple other pilots in the air with me to mark thermals, but for some reason, I just couldn't make it work.
I ended up with @ 8 miles never getting anywhere close to base, and landed where a local kid 'Davey' had drawings of all kinds of hang gliders.
He spoke no english, but finally conveyed that he knew all the local pilots and was going to be a pilot someday. He gave me a couple of drawings and I gave him a couple bucks.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/cjzz ... 6579wm49u4

Davey: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QYnv-j ... _-DYy/view

Friday Aug 23
Vale- A repeat of the day before, but Walt bailed not wanting to risk life and limb flying the available wings. Also no other pilots showed, so it was just Carlao and me.
Same as the day before, but without thermal markers, I somehow managed to squeeze out a few extra miles using a combination of raging frustration mixed with pissed off tenacity for 13 miles.
https://ayvri.com/scene/6vk1py6mkx/ck02 ... 65f1vikoiv

Saturday Aug 24
Coulda-shoulda-woulda, but it was the last day in Brazil as we were up at 5AM Sunday to catch the plane.
I had been flying hard for 3 weeks (which is what I wanted) in the heat of the day ( but a dry heat ) with (Demolition Derby) Carlao and I decided to quit while I was ahead.
Mostly I just didn't want to miss the Saturday bar-b-q at Eurides home. ( it was fantastic!)
My biggest disappointment was that Walt didn't have any good flights due to the junk available to rent. I don't know how I lucked out with getting the RX, but I do know Jesus loves me. ( I think he's lookin' at Walt with raised eyebrows)

Viva Las Vega

by Mark Gardner

[krryerson]

Thanks for sharing. Great write up and some good stories.
Like the "Glider in similar condition:" picture that Walt rented.
Knut

[rlweber]

Yes , thanks for sharing the adventure.
Randy