Latin American Bureaucracy; Fuel Problems Slow Him Down

It appears Gus McLeod is a few miles closer to his polar crossing, but complications of one form or another have slowed his progress a bit.

On Wednesday, Gus took off from Panama City enroute to Tumbes, Peru, when he was diverted to land in Ecuador. Gus was forced to land by the Ecuadorians, who forced him to stand before a tribunal and explain how his aircraft -- called the Firefly -- was not a military machine. Apparently, when the Panamanians filed his flight plan to Peru, they somehow listed his trip as a military flight, hence the Ecuadorian confusion.

Gus was finally able to sort out the misunderstanding and the Firefly departed Peru Thursday morning after difficult dealings, mounds of paperwork and fees with the airport there. As with most trips of this nature, he arrived at the airport at 6:00 am hoping to get an early start, but the maze of bureaucracy held him up until later that morning. So, with only a few hours of sleep and all the bureaucratic headaches out of his way, Gus set course for Santiago, Chile.

Along the way, Gus noticed he had a fuel problem, where the left wing tank appeared to be full, while the right wing tank appeared to be losing fuel quickly. After some troubleshooting, Gus realized the crew in Peru failed to put the fuel cap on the tank after re-fueling the plane. To his amazement, the fuel was literally being sucked right out of the tank. This made for an agonizing trip.

To slow the flow of fuel to the left tank, Gus flew at an angle, while lowering the right wing. By the time he arrived in northern Chile later in the day, Gus was completely exhausted and had hoped to continue on to Santiago. however common sense took control and he opted to rest in Chepica, Chile for the night.

However, the biggest problem encountered was on Saturday, while Gus was enroute to Ushuaia from Santiago. He experienced a harrowing moment at 13,000 feet when fuel from the auxiliary tanks stopped flowing to the engine.  For what he describes as an eternity, but actually only a short time, the plane was gliding and descending. Gus reacted quickly, switching the fuel valve back to the main tanks and once the plane descended, the fuel started flowing again bringing the engine came back to life.

Because he also discovered that one of his main tanks in the wings would not flow properly Gus elected to make a cautionary landing - at midnight -- in Rio Gallegos, a small village in Argentina only 180 miles from Ushuaia.

In the morning, Gus made some adjustments to the plane and flew on to Ushuaia. On Sunday, Gus landed safely there, where he's having the airplane serviced by Mike Snyder, a mechanic from Velocity Aircraft.

During a test flight, the auxiliary fuel tanks inside the cabin released fuel into the cockpit and right onto Gus. He admits it was a bumpy flight that left him rather shaken.  While the technical team workout the details, Gus will get some much-needed rest and wait for good weather at the South Pole. 

Because the South Pole weather reports indicated rough weather until yesterday, Gus has opted to remain in Ushuaia until Mother Nature lends a helping hand. While he rests, engineers from Korea Aerospace and a mechanic from Velocity are preparing the airplane for the dangerous flight around the South Pole and back to Ushuaia.

FMI:  http://www.gusmcleod.com