Journey Impressions: Antofagasta

Preparing the second leg

1. The DEMCA’s 100-hour servicing at AEROSERVICIO in Santiago has been completed. Before we pilots arrived, the servicing team had to make some minor repairs such as removing a few patches of rust. De-icing fluid was ordered and oxygen refilled. The autopilot was experiencing problems, as already reported, so this did of course have to be repaired too. I asked Moritz Rudolph from MR-Flugtechnik in Hildesheim to get in touch with AEROSERVICIO and he asked them to send the fault log. This showed that the software had to be reinstalled, so Avionik Straubing sent it to MR-Flugtechnik who passed it on to AEROSERVICIO. We’re hoping that reinstalling the software will do the trick, but we’ll only know for sure once Marie is up and running.

2. Special capabilities were required for the DEMCA regarding the flight to La Paz: at 13,300 feet or 4,053 metres, La Paz is home to the world’s highest airport and the air there is extremely thin. Landing and taking off presents a serious challenge to the plane and the pilots. To get there, we’ll have to fly over the Andes’ high mountain ridges and ascend to at least 22,000 feet or 6,700 metres or higher to 24,000 feet or 7,315 metres. Our Cessna T206H is capable of that and it’s the only single-engined plane without a pressurised cabin that can even ascend to 27,000 feet or 8,229 metres.

To apply for a permit for the flight to La Paz, alongside pilot's licences and medical examinations, we had to present high altitude performance charts for the Cessna T206H as evidence of its ability to handle high altitudes.

3. From upwards of 18,000 feet or 5,500 metres, we pilots would have to fly with oxygen masks instead of cannulas to ensure we had a vital supply of oxygen. That was something we’d already tried that out at home.

We would also have to carry tablets for headaches and altitude sickness with us to cope with staying in La Paz at its altitude of over 4,000 metres. We don’t know how our bodies will react as we normally fly with oxygen cannulas at 10,000 feet or 3,050 metres already.

4. And then we had the immigration requirements for the US to contend with. We knew that we would need a B1/B2 visa to enter the country with our own plane. In addition to answering a 17-page questionnaire (which included providing our parents’ dates of birth), we had to produce documents like a passport that was valid for at least six months after entering the country, a curriculum vitae (in English if possible), details of our financial circumstances (the last three bank account statements), the last pension statement and proof of a rental contract or extract from the land registry. The ground crew (my wife Marie) organised all that with the help of the very professional American Dream – US Visa Service GmbH. The application then culminated in a personal interview at the US consulate in Berlin. The US official who asked us the questions wasn’t dismissive at all, but enthusiastic about our project and approved the application. The visa was sent to us two days later.

When entering or leaving the US with your own plane you also have to send information via an online portal to CBP (Customs and Border Protection) beforehand. And you have to register in the APIS (Advance Passenger Information System) first. But we also managed to get that sorted out too.

5. FSW (Flight Service Worldwide) obtained the other rights to fly over foreign airspace and to land.


Wednesday, 25 April 2018, Departure:

Now we’re on our way with Lufthansa to Marie in Santiago de Chile and will enjoy a good long sleep. Once we’re there, we’ll have a few days to check the Cessna for the challenging flight over the Andes to La Paz. This will mean checking engine performance, the oxygen system, autopilot and all the avionics (navigation software).



Report from Marie, the ground crew:

Thomas strode purposefully towards the check-in desk, presented his ticket and asked in passing where the area for first class passengers was. A grumpy-looking and indeed cross female employee said tersely: “You’ve just missed it”. “What, where is it then”, asked Thomas. She made an unfriendly gesture towards the sign in front of the entrance point. So he turned round and went to the right entrance point with Kurt. He asked me to stay until he’d really got through security without any problems because he was unsure whether everything in his carry-on baggage really was permitted. So Aniko and I stood in front of the pane of glass and could see right into the area where his bag was on the conveyor belt. The security officer spoke to a colleague and Thomas was asked to open his bag. It took a few minutes, but we saw everything live. He removed a few things and then everything seemed to have been clarified. We could see the area where the security team sat really well, but they were all busy with Thomas’s bag. Then Thomas spoke to one of them who proceeded to nod and Thomas and Kurt strolled over to us to say goodbye again through the pane of glass. We suddenly heard a very loud but firm voice: “Get out of the security area immediately, you shouldn’t be here!” Thomas turned around straight away, but Kurt didn’t twig as quickly and waved to Aniko until the security officer bellowed out words to the same effect. It wouldn’t have taken much and he could have been arrested…


2 May 018, Santiago:



Today’s our last day in Santiago. We had decided to visit the aerodrome in Santiago again in the afternoon to inspect Marie. Above all, we wanted to go and see the staff in the tower to discuss our flight plan and the ins and outs of the flight the next morning and pay our debts of course. We met Louis, Michael, Cesar and Carlos in a jubilant mood; our plane was located in a separate hangar. All the formalities with the tower were handled very professionally and in a very friendly manner. As a result, we were able to get back in the taxi again in the afternoon to make the final preparations in the hotel and go out for something to eat.



By then, we’d recovered from the shock we’d had in the morning. Kurt and I ordered a cappuccino in the bar and were talking about the afternoon when all the pendant lights suddenly started to jiggle about, a deep rumbling could be heard and our table started to shake. But what had happened? The barkeeper said it was a minor earthquake of the type that often takes place in Santiago. Apart from us, nobody seemed to be nervous about it at all. Kurt also confirmed that it was his first earthquake. It had such an impact that it made the whole of the hotel vibrate. Apparently, Santiago has about 30 earthquakes a day that are so minor that you don’t notice them in big buildings. But this time it was clearly a bigger one.



After eating in an Italian restaurant, whose owner turned out to be Chinese, we decided to go to the airfield the next morning. At this juncture, in other words on 2 May, we still didn’t have a permit to land in La Paz. In particular, the civil aviation authority was requiring high altitude performance charts that prove that the plane can land safely at an altitude of over 13,000 feet. Moritz Rudolph in Hildesheim had actually got hold of these charts and sent them to the civil aviation authority requesting a permit.



Bye for now.

Antofagasta: approx. 0.346 m inhabitants (2011)
Chile: approx. 17.7 m inhabitants
Population growth (2010-2016): 1.1%
People per km²: 24
Gross national income per person in 2014 PPP: 14,900 USD )