Hello all,
I am currently in Sao Tome, enroute in our Aeroplus AcrossAfrica Challenge!
You can follow our progress on this blog: http://acrossafricachallenge.com/
We will try to update with at least one blogpost every day.
When we are airborne you can follow us live through our SAT-tracker, and even send us a message to wish us good luck ;-).
https://share.delorme.com/SjoerdJanterWelle
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask, here or on the blog!
All the best,
Sjoerd Jan
Hi Sjoerd,
Good luck and have great fun. Found it rather brave to be crossing the med at 1000 feet in February, but then again, it is probably a limited risk in the overall context of the trip. 
Could you share a few more “technical” details of the trip?
-where did you find fuel that was “regularly” available, where did you have to make “arrangements” (like shipping fuel in)? Where did you use mogas and what was the experience so far?
-which legs were flown VFR and which IFR? And what was the reason for the choice?
-which were the most difficult places in terms permits and handling fees?
Thanks!
Hi,
Crossing the Med wasn’t bad at all actually. All the bad weather had concentrated itself over Eastern Europe around that time. (:
We did make quite some arrangements in advance of course. Most airports were able to offer 100LL, although some asked insane high prices. We did use some MOGAS from time to time already, and it was no problem whatsoever. Even with the tropical temperatures we had no things like vapor lock happening. But whenever avgas is available, we take as much as we can stow in our tanks and jerrycans, also for future flights.
Now, IFR and VFR actually do not differ very much here. I do use IFR routings when filing the flightplan, but that is mostly for my own reference. Usually, you are out of radar coverage within 20 minutes and out of radio coverage within an hour, especially when flying at altitudes like we do (1000ft AGL). So almost all flights are flown VFR. Also because this is the best weather for VFR I have ever had in a February ;-).
Handling and permits until now have been quite smooth. But the most important thing is realizing you are in Africa. Today we saw an Airbus being pushed from the gate straight onto the active runway. When the captain asked over the radio what they thought they were doing the controller calmly replied: Relax, you’re in Africa man! That pretty much sums it all up. (-:
Sjoerd Jan
Today we saw an Airbus being pushed from the gate straight onto the active runway. When the captain asked over the radio what they thought they were doing the controller calmly replied: Relax, you’re in Africa man! That pretty much sums it all up. (-:
Geez … goose bumps!!
Fly safe!
We just added some new post on our latest flight from Sao Tome to the Congo republic!
http://acrossafricachallenge.com/relax-youre-in-africa-man/
we were very kindly offered one 200L barrel for 6000 USD … After a long talk (another two hours) with airport management we managed to arrange some fuel at more reasonable terms.
So you got the barrel for only 5000 USD? 
The highest I ever paid was $5.2/l in Egypt. That was the official country wide price set by the military that has the monopoly on 100LL sales.
Completely unrelated to flying but then it may as well be related …
It always makes me very sad to hear about those stories like the one about AVGAS for 6000 USD for a 200L barrel. I’ve lived in a few parts of Latin America for a while and learned my fair share of attempts to take advantage of our presence (me and my family). After a while a strong preference to not venture out into the world develops. I would love to visit places like Africa or India, etc. the GA way. But why should I set myself and my family up to suffer?
I do understand a bit the mechanics in the social fabric of these places that leads to that kind of behavior. Doesn’t help in dealing with it though…
Well… I don’t really expect a reply. Just wanted to get the thought off my head.
I speak to many pilots who fly to the 3rd World and the predominant story is that stuff ranging from “necessary bribery” to outright extortion is the default position out there. The locals are mostly very poor (the rich ones are very rich and are probably shopping in Harrods, or checking out Swiss banks) and “rich foreigners” are a fair game.
Even in Europe, where we are used to high levels of transparency in corporate behaviour, the more south you go the more it becomes a matter of personal contacts (and/or speaking the local language well) lubricating the proceedings. In Europe, I like that, because who would want say Greece to be like Germany But in Greece things still function perfectly well for trips down there.
I had a quick look at Aeroplus’ trip blog and cannot see details of the logistics, but most people who do these trips use an overflight agent who sorts all the permissions and the crew visas. One ferry pilot I know well who does this a lot uses this firm and you can see their charges there – not unreasonable on the scale of flying costs.
the more south you go the more it becomes a matter of personal contacts … lubricating the proceedings.
Given that I live about 150NM south of you, I am offended We actually score two points better in the corruption index (better = less corruption).
