FS9 World Tour: May 2012

Panama City to San Cristobal, Galapagos

DAY 10, LEG 57 - Panama City to San Cristobal

We begin our South American journey on this leg and visit the Galapagos Islands. Our flight leaves Panama shortly before dusk so we have to land at San Cristobal, the largest of the three airports in the Galapagos, because it is the only one that is lit at night. This leg is a good opportunity to test the aircraft performance over long water legs since our next major event in this tour is crossing the Pacific Ocean which will involve a 5 and a half hour over-water flight to Easter Island. This will be the longest flight I have ever flown in the B1900D so I will probably need to fly it up to its maximum certified ceiling of Fl310 to increase range as much as possible. Therefore this leg will be a good chance to test fuel consumption at a range of levels to see which works out the best. On arrival it is time for a day off on these magical islands!

Take off from Panama City over the Atlantic Canal

Climb out over a cloudy Panama

Sun setting as we head out on our 800nm cruise to the Galapagos

Night time shot of the aircraft in the cruise

Long final to San Cristobal

Short final

MPMG - SEST stats

Take off time: 1730

Landing time: 2035

Flight time: 03:05

Fuel used: 1102kg / 2424lbs

Tegucigalpa to Panama City

DAY 10, LEG 56 - Tegucigalpa to Panama

More sightseeing today as we head to Panama and take the chance to view the magnificent Panama Canal. The canal took 34 years to build and has far exceeded it's design specifications in terms of the ships it can hold. It remains a crucial cog in world trade. Our route takes us along a land route across Costa Rica. We will land at Gelabert airport which is not the main international airport for Panama, but is closest to the canal and serves domestic destinations.

Taxi out at Tegucigalpa

Cloudy skies over Honduras

Lake Nicaragua

Cruise ship on the Atlantic side of the Panama canal

The northernmost lock of the canal

Overhead Gelabert international

On base to land at Gelabert

MHTG - MPMG stats

Take off time: 1450

Landing time: 1705

Flight time: 02:15

Fuel used: 1000kg / 2200lbs

Port-au-Prince to Tegucigalpa

DAY 10, LEG 55 - Port-au-Prince to Tegucigalpa

This leg takes us to the famous Tocontin airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The airport lies 3,297ft above sea level and has a relatively short runway for commercial airliners. For our 1900d it presents no problem however. Take-off performance may be an issue with terrain surrounding the airport but that is for the next leg!