Saturday, 26 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

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