Flying a C-185 Amphib From Montreal to Southern Chile

[flying_pat]

I will be ferrying a C-185 Amphib from Montreal to Villarrica Chile and would appreciate suggestions on best route... I would prefer flying down the islands into Venezuela and from there across to Peru and down the west coast... does that make sense? Thanks!

[Cat Driver]

Two problems come to mind for that routing.

The vast Amazon basin to fly over.

And crossing the Andes mountains to get to the west coast.

[Louis]

Is it possible for a Canadian plane to legally file a flight plan from Florida to Cuba?
Is 100LL available on the island?

You could cross into Mexico, reach the Pacific coast somewhere in either Mexico or Central America, and then fly down to Chile...

[flying_pat]

So what would you think about refueling in major Columbian airports? I have herd a few horror stories about Columbia... that's pretty much why I wanted to come down the islands into Venezuela... to avoid Columbia... What would you do? THANKS

[kevinsky18]

You're going to have a bit better "welcome" going through the islands. Some are more "civil" than others but still there are always headaches with customs.

Columbia isn't anywhere near as bad as the news reports. But Mexico is getting to be a nasty place to fly and float planes are looked upon as definite drug trafficking vehicles so you will get paid extra special attention and you will not be given permission to land anywhere on the water. I cancelled a recent plan to fly into Mexico with my amphib specifically for those reasons.

I have flight planned to the Caribbean and South America a number of times. And have very recently looked at all the routing possibilities. Let’s connect off forums and I'll do my best to bring you up to speed with what I know.

I'll send you a pm with my e-mail

[kevinsky18]

. double post

[wallypilot]

So what would you think about refueling in major Columbian airports? I have herd a few horror stories about Columbia... that's pretty much why I wanted to come down the islands into Venezuela... to avoid Columbia... What would you do? THANKS

main airports in colombia are not a problem(cartagena, baranquilla, bogota, etc....not saying anything about security in the towns, but airports are not problem.

personally, i'd stay east of the andes until more or less abeam your destination, then cross. the rocks aren't so big once you are down around pucon and villarrica.

of course, you could stay west of the andes the whole way....as CAT suggests, the Amazon basin is HUGE and long legs between airports. you could head down through the islands, around the outer archipelago, turning west around margarita island, through aruba, baranquilla, cartagena, then down the west coast, etc. don't know about your range, but there are decent airports down the west coast.

[just curious]

Caymans, Baranquilla, Panama City, Equador- Guayaquil is great, Manta might be better.

Try to avoid Lima Peru. Arica, Iquique, hell all of Chile's coastal airports are great!