Soaring over Arojo Spain (foto: )
14th September 2001Cuatro Vientos (Spain) Cascais (Portugal)
Before I could depart for Lisbon, I did battle with the computers in Briefing Room. Although no expert, I am by no means computer illiterate, but the program for making flight plans in use at Cuatro Vientos (different, of course, from any other I have used in Europe) seemed to defeat logic. Without help, I would still be there in Madrid.
The distance to Cascais is just 280 nm (510 km), normally speaking a flight of less than 3 hours, but I stipulated 3½ hours on the flight plan. Far too little it turned out, and not because of detours to avoid storm cells, or arguments over airways or unexpected headwinds. It took me 4½ hours to cover this distance for one simple reason. The pleasure of flying. On that hot afternoon, the conditions for gliding were absolutely superb, allowing me long spells of silence. Occasionally, I would encounter an up-draught – Natures elevator – raising me at 1000 ft per minute. I joined groups of vultures and enjoyed circling with them. They were unafraid and even curious. If my propeller had been in motion, I would have had a heart attack on more than one occasion!
Then came the ridges and Monfragüe National Park, a long natural wall almost perpendicular to the northerly wind at ground level. I maintained my westerly course in a straight line without losing altitude. I bet I could have reached the Atlantic coast without turning on the engine. I was having a wild time and could have stayed many more hours. But the flight time function on the GTX 327 digital transponder informed me I had been airborne for over three hours and hardly halfway to Lisbon. Since I had spoken to no controller since leaving Madrid, I was concerned about someone launching a search for me. I flew full throttle towards the border town of Badajoz and amended my ETA through the Tower frequency.
As I approached the Lisbon control zone, I advised I was unfamiliar with the VFR procedures. It was exactly the same situation as when I had arrived at the Madrid TMA. But the Portuguese controller was more amenable, immediately assigning me a transponder code and a vector straight to Cascais airport, passing over four other airports. Until the Tower told me the winds for landing 27 knots constant, gusting 30 I had not realized how strong they were. As approached on final, being tossed up and down like a leaf, I planned to fly along the runway (fortunately long) to see if the gusts would let me down or not. My experience in Iraklion let me to pass over the threshold high and aim further down the runway. Good idea. I felt the plane sink: 1500 ft per min on the variometer, partly because the speed brakes were almost full out. I had found that in high wind situations, it was the only way to bring this plane, with its huge 17 meter wingspan, close to the ground. I put on full power to avoid crashing, but the poor Ximango received a sudden upward gust that bounced us back up higher than we wanted to be, at a dangerously low airspeed.
This obliged me to put the nose down to gain acceleration and I found myself inches from the ground. Instinctively, I did a sort of flair and the wheels gently touched down but I knew we would be bounced up in the air again unless I took drastic action like full speed brakes and controls down forcing the plane onto the tarmac. It worked. The wind was so strong that I was almost at a standstill by the time the procedure was over. The problem then became taxiing the aircraft. It may sound simple, but believe me it took lots of engine and wheel brake work to aim in the desired direction.
In the parking lot, I had to battle first with the canopy, and then with folding the wings, in that terrific wind. When at last the wings were finally folded back, I was concentrating on tying the plane down when I heard loud and fast banging noises. Both folded winds were repeatedly lifting and falling. I ran to ask for help to hold them in position until I could rope them down. I had discussed the possibility of this occurring with the Aeromot personnel in Porto Alegre before starting the flight round the world. We all concluded that the folded wings would never lift on their own! This was the first time it had happened.
Due to new rules implemented as a result of the New York tragedy, António Faria e Melo and Delfim Costa were not allowed out onto the tarmac, despite the fact that they are pilots and are known in Cascais! Paranoia has set in. They were waiting behind the security gate, together Victor and Antonio from Victorinox, and Gonçalo, director of the Aero Club de Portugal who presented me with a commemorative plaque. I met António and Delfim a year ago at the Earthrounders meeting at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. António, confined to a wheelchair after a surgical error, flew around the world solo in a Bonanza in 1995, the second wheelchair aviator to do so. No matter how clever we think we are, there is always someone else out there to teach us a lesson of humility.
Este texto foi escrito por: Margi Moss
Last modified: setembro 14, 2001
