Tacna, Peru to Santiago, Chile
This is part of my virtual aviation journey.
Date: 12th December 2024
Aircraft: Airbus A310-304 (N819PA) Clipper Northern Light
Route: Coronel FAP Carlos Ciriani Santa Rosa International Airport (SPTN) - Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCEL)
I got an old Pan Am Airbus A310-304. Last owner abandoned it to Coronel FAP Carlos Ciriani Santa Rosa International Airport in Tacna, Peru. So I had to fly it to Santiago, Chile. Friend of mine had spare parts there in his hangar so we could maintain that old beauty back to its old glory. I had plans to take that flying beauty to the World tour with me after the maintenance would be done.
The plane was in better shape than I imagined. I was quite confident about the coming flight to Chile despite the flight route being quite lengthy 980 nm. All the flight plans and checks to the plane were done the night before the actual flight took its place on 12th December 2024.
The weather was great, the sky was clear and the temperature was 23 °C. It was a pleasurable day to take a flight with stunning views in Southern America. I had my trustworthy copilot Lorena Costa flying with me as so many times before. We got the ATC clearance to taxi to the runway 02 after we had engines up and roaring. I disabled parking brakes and off we went. Taxiing to the runway was fast. There was only a short taxiway ahead of us and we were shortly ready to get take off clearance.
Take off was nice and smooth. Engines had more power than I had imagined and the plane accelerated quite fast to its rotation speed. The old plane already had beaten all my expectations and we had just left the runway behind us. After a short while we turned to the right and headed to the South.
We reached our cruising altitude FL200. I engaged autopilot and I took a relaxed position and enjoyed stunning views with Lorena. The cockpit was old I can say that, but still it was cosy and I got a nostalgic feeling from it. Pan Am was an airliner from the past and now I had a chance to fly one of those Pan Am jets.
After two and a half hours we had flown over Chile we heard from ATC to contact the Santiago approach. We started our descent and made all the procedures to get ready for the landing. The weather was still great and the approach was smooth and nice. After touch down we rolled to the taxiway and started taxiing to the general aviation parking.
All in all the flight was good with the stunning views over Chile. Plane worked well despite it being old and needs maintenance. Lorena handled all ATC communications flawlessly as always.
We left the plane to my friend so he can handle needed maintenance. I took a rest and started planning the World tour. Next stop will be Argentina where we start our tour and take some customers with us.
Flight hours logged: 03:10
Total flight hours with A310-304: 03:10
