Training Mission to Ecuador

2004

     Back in November, 2003, a little before Thanksgiving, I was contacted by a fellow (Fabian Borrero) in need of training. His case was unique in that he was from South America and was only in the U.S. for the Holiday season working in South Carolina. Where he lives is at high altitude in the Andes mountains and he had bought a Chiron elliptical chute for the maximum performance. He had been searching for an Instructor to teach him how to fly the elliptical, but was not having any luck finding one close to where he was.

     Someone that he contacted on the east coast gave him my name and number and when he called we began to plan for a good time for him to come to Kentucky for lessons. He was operating on a limited budget and limited time schedule, and the weather in Kentucky was pretty bad for any flying this Winter.

     Knowing that he had a time schedule to stick to, and also knowing that during the winter you may have to wait a week or longer for a 30 minute window to fly, I informed him of that possibility and proposed that I go to Ecuador to train him. Cost wise it would be no more for him to purchase a round trip ticket for me than for him to buy airfare and ground transportation to get to my place. Then he would have also had lodging and meals as well as my regular fees to pay, so really it would cost less for me to go to Ecuador to train him. It turned out to be the best thing that he could have done also as we got to work with his specific machine, which needed a lot of work to be safe and to get to fly right. So, I volunteered my time for 2 weeks in return for room and board and a round trip ticket from Nashville.

     Fabian found another fellow in Quito that had a PPC and needed training and they split the costs of my trip. The other fellow was a retired Colonel in the Ecuadorian Military. These are the only two known PPCs in Ecuador. The plan was to train Fabian and the Colonel for a few days or a week, and then take the second week and go explore the country.

     Arrangements were made and I left the States on February 27th, 2004 bound for Quito. After traveling all day I arrived at about 10:30pm. The city was beautiful at night all sprawled out in the valleys between the volcanoes and mountain peaks of the Andes. Here is a map of Ecuador with the roads that we traveled and towns visited marked in red. It is a good reference to use throughout the story to know where we were. Windows viewer or other software will allow you to zoom in for a closer look.

     Fabian met me at the airport and we went to his family's home, where both his PPC and the Colonel's were waiting for my inspection. I knew that both of them had been in accidents with trees when they attempted to fly without proper training. I was beat from the flights, but I could tell that the SR-2 of Fabian's was in rough shape.

    The next morning (day 2, February 28) Fabian and I went to work on his plane, as we had planned one day to fix it up. I knew that it needed spring rods, and I brought some with me that we had cut down to the small diameter of the SR-2. I also made him a new fork and brought it to him and we installed it. That was all of the damage that I was aware of before I saw the plane, but it was very obvious that it needed a lot more work. The prop guard had been crunched and a section of it was cut out and removed leaving the ring too small and out of round, on top of that the whole guard was shoved over 4" too far to the right side. That was the obvious, but the engine and it's mounting would later teach me a valuable lesson.

     Day 2, Jan.28 was spent inspecting and changing the fork, prop guard, etc. and chasing parts in Quito. Parts are hard to come by down there and AN hardware is not to be found anywhere. Even the grade 8 bolts are all black steel with no corrosion protection, but that was the best we could do. I did have some AN bolts with me for the airframe, but nothing large enough for the engine mounting. 

     After we got a chain fall and pulled the prop guard back over 4" to the left and centered the prop we fired up the engine. The plane had a 52" Powerfin prop on it, and I knew it would never fly one man safely at high altitude, much less two, so we installed a 62" Ivo prop that he had. The engine moved so much on it's mounts that we were afraid it might get into the prop guard tubing. I knew that the engine was mounted very strange compared to any PPC that I have personally dealt with or seen in the past. When I asked Fabian about it he said that he was told by the local pilots of other types of craft that the original engine mounts were not enough, and that he needed some Quicksilver mounts to dampen vibration. He did not know any better and followed their advice when installing the 532 that he had acquired. 

      I suggested that we remove those mounts, but Fabian wanted to leave them in, so we installed some large bolts along the back edge of the engine plate to limit it's travel. It seemed to help and we were able to do full power run ups and still maintain clearance at the prop tips. 

     While doing the engine run ups I discovered that the radiator was spewing coolant out of the overflow tube at the filler. There was no overflow bottle installed on the plane and it only had the tiny little Rotax dual radiator setup. I have always heard that those radiators will get hot on a PPC. I warned Fabian of that, but he was convinced by the other pilots of other types of craft that these were the best setup to use with a Rotax engine. 

     Truthfully, if this had been in the States, I would have refused to even attempt to fly a machine that looked as bad and had as many problems and unknowns as this machine. I would have told the owner that he had to find out the specs and bring the machine back to them before I would try to fly it. I mentioned that to Fabian and he really could not quite grasp just how bad it was. Almost every tube on the machine was bent to some degree from the accident he had trying to fly it in it's condition and without proper training. The only ones that were not bent out of shape were the ones that he replaced on the pylon and outriggers.

         We did manage to locate an overflow bottle for a car and got it installed, and reinforced the prop cage with an additional tube as well as numerous other small repairs including changing the solid rod out that he had installed on the landing gear, back to a fiberglass spring rod. I also found time to inspect the Colonel's PPC. It was a 2001 Destiny and it was in pretty good condition. I did a preflight and run up, and setup his units of measure and limits on the EIS. That afternoon I also met Colonel Patricio Haro for the first time and we discussed the plan for training at the beach.

     The plan was for Fabian and myself to go with his father to the coast the next morning early, but even though we worked long and hard we did not have Fabian's machine ready in time. The Colonel would meet up with us with his PPC in two days on the beach and spend Saturday and Sunday.

     Day 3, Jan.29 we finished the work on Fabian's machine and finally got on the road to the coast by about 4:00 in the afternoon. Getting things done in Quito on the spur of the moment is a real challenge in itself, especially the off the wall stuff that we needed. :) Leaving late meant that we would be driving down the mountains and through the rain forest at night. I had no idea what I was in store for.

     A little ways outside of Quito we stopped at this enormous monument to the men that first located the exact line of the Equator. It marks the Official Middle of the World. I snapped these photos while Fabian checked his trailer.

     It got dark not long after we left the monument, so I did not get any really good photos on that part of the journey. The roads were very narrow 2 lane roads with no lines painted on them for most of the way, and they were considered to be very good highways in Ecuador even though they were full of pot holes, there was the occasional land slide, and you had to watch out for people walking as well as riding everything from Burros to Mopeds. :)

     On Day 4, February 1 I awoke and went outside of the Hotel room to take a look at the beach. We had made it to Pedernales in the Province of Manabi. This morning I realized just how much of a role security plays in Ecuador and South America. There are armed guards at every gas station wearing flack jackets, and also at the Hotels and just about everywhere there is business conducted. It took some getting use to. Here is a picture of the courtyard of the Hotel that I took before we got the guard to open the gate so we could continue our journey to the fishing village of Cojimies about 70 miles north.

     First we went to check out an airstrip at a local Shrimp farm. This was touted as an excellent condition runway. Here is a photo of it.

     It was made of loose fine gravel or "chat" as we call it in the States. It could have easily chipped up a prop and it was very narrow to train a new pilot, so I recommended that we continue on to the beach at Cojimies. We had breakfast, scrambled eggs with shrimp, like a western omelet, but I guess this was a coastal omelet. It was very, very good! Then we continued on our way to Cojimies.

     We drove down this dirt road all the way as the tide was in and we could not take the beach. It was really quite beautiful with all of the Palm trees and scattered country houses.

     Here is a photo of one of the country homes that was a little better than the typical bamboo structure that most of the country folk live in.

     When we got to the Hacienda where we were staying it was beautiful and we had a brand new Cabana. Here is a photo of it. It looks directly out onto the beach.

     Fabian's machine was covered heavily with dust from the dirt road when we got there, so we washed it and preflighted and we were ready when the tide went out just before dark. We only had to push the machine out to the beach and I climbed in for what was suppose to be a shakedown flight to tweak the machine before dual training in it. I didn't bother bringing a camera just in case of an engine failure over the surf on that initial flight.

     The wind was coming from the southwest so I setup oblique with the beach so I would be as much into it as possible. The beach was a bit narrow right there and this also allowed for the most use of it. The local folk had never seen such a contraption before, and of course, they were gathered to watch the crazy gringo fly it.

     Well, I didn't let them down, but it was the strangest takeoff that I had ever made. Fortunately I was prepared for anything and everything to go wrong and kept a cool head, so everything went OK. When I applied the throttle the chute came up fine and I went to full power to takeoff. The cart seemed to roll for a long time before lifting off, and when it did the rear wheels came off first leaving the cart rolling on the nose wheel and me looking down at the sand as it rushed by. The wind was a bit gusty and switching to the west so I did not try to abort and chose to ride it out. After gaining some altitude I backed off the throttle some and the cart leveled out and flew OK, but with a stiff pull to the left. I had set the CG as close as I could in Quito and made sure that the left side was longer to counter the engine torque pull, but it was not right, or so I thought.

     I radioed to Fabian that I was having trouble and he replied that he could see that when I took off. The beach at the town of Cojimies was about 3 or 4 miles from where I took off and I decided to head there so I could land on it directly into the wind. With the engine speed reduced the nose attitude was good and I made a beautiful landing. As I circled down over the river in front of the little village the town's people saw me and before I could cut the engine upon landing they had me completely surrounded. The crowd was mostly kids and their parents and there must have been over 150 of them. It was a strange feeling to have that crowd gather that fast and run full steam out to see me land.

     Here is a photo of the beach and town of Cojimies. The beach to the right side of the town and in front of it is where I landed.

     I was a bit puzzled, but thought that adjusting the CG tubes would help so I closed them up a couple of inches and tried it again after I made a line in the sand around the plane and told the crowd not to cross it for the sake of everyone's safety. Between Fabian, his father, and a couple of other men they were able to keep the crowd spread out enough for me to have a runway out from the middle of them. 

     When I applied throttle this time I had a lot more open beach in front of me and I knew that the machine would fly OK so I felt better about it. The crowd did make me a bit uneasy though. This was my first time to have that many people surrounding me, touching the plane, etc. and they had no sense of the danger of the prop, chute lines, etc. so I made a quick liftoff. Once again it took off with a long rollout and with the nose way down. I played around with it for a few minutes, but it was still flying all weird. With the power off it would have a nose up attitude but when I applied the throttle it went nose down and had a terrible left pull. I made sure that the chute was rigged correctly, etc. and landed on the big beach again. 

    The crowd was still there watching everything. The nicknamed me "El Gringo Loco Volador" which translated means "The Crazy Foreign Flyer". They thought it was very cool and had no idea that I was having problems with the machine. The sun had set and I was really uneasy with the crowd. I sure did not want anyone to get hurt and I felt like it was a good possibility, so I drove the PPC back to the hacienda down the beach for about 4 or 5 miles rather than go through the crowd to takeoff again. The beach at the hacienda was pretty narrow also for landing a machine that was not flying right.

     Day 5, February 2 we located a local mechanic in Cojimies that had an A-frame and chain fall for removing engines that we could borrow to hang Fabian's PPC and set the CG. We were doing this in the street and it was quite the spectacle and drew another crowd, but much smaller this time. I had expected that the nose would be hanging low, but to my surprise it was actually showing too high. To set it properly it ended up back in the original holes where we started the day before. Now I was more puzzled than ever, but knew darn good and well that the CG was set correctly.

     The tide was up when we got finished with Fabian's machine so we went back to the Hacienda to wait for the Colonel to arrive with his Machine. After he got there we went to work on it preflighting the craft and rigging his Chiron to it. We sat around in the afternoon and ate cebiches (a sour shrimp cocktail that was excellent) and chatted about takeoff and landing procedures as part of our ground school as the winds were up and the tide was in.

     When the tide was going out it was late but there was still a couple of hours of daylight left, so we went to the beach and found a wide spot even though it was very windy. We were hoping that it would calm down before dark, but it did not. A Trike showed up at the beach, and it was some of Fabian's friends from Quito. Fabian and the Colonel had a hard time accepting that the Trike could fly, but we could not due to the winds. I knew that the air was laminar and would be smooth and attempted to layout the chute. It would not stay on the ground at all and they saw for themselves that we could not safely fly.

     Here is a photo from that evening. From left to right is Fabian Borrero, Steve Thomas and Colonel Patricio Haro. If you noticed the dark clouds in most of the photos it is because it is the tropics and the rain squalls move from the Andes across the rain forests and towards the coast. Sometimes it makes it all the way to the coast and sometimes it doesn't, but it is usually cloudy somewhere you look.

     Day 6, February 3 we got up early and met at the beach in front of town at Cojimies while the tide was out. Fabian was not under the same time restraints as Patricio and since Patricio's PPC was ready to fly I spent the morning flying his machine, first solo to check it out, then dual to familiarize him with the controls and techniques needed to fly the elliptical wing. 

     The guys with the Trike were there too and we both used the beach for a runway. It was nice, and after the tide started coming in we landed and packed it up. The decision was made to drive to the city of Santo Domingo de los Colorados and use the airport there. The thought was to get away from the strong winds on the beach and the constant battle with the tides.

     This time we drove down the beach as far as we could toward Pedernales to avoid the dirty and rough road. We probably drove about 50 miles before the tide got too high and we had to go up to the road. It was a pretty drive and very smooth on the beach.

     Here is a photo taken out of the window of the car as we drove inland towards Santo Domingo. Everything was so green!

     Fabian, his father and I arrived at Santo Domingo first and got setup to takeoff from the parking area next to the runway after clearing it with the airport manager. Here is a photo of the building at the Santo Domingo Airport.

     As you can see in this photo, the asphalt is in terrible condition for a PPC to use. It is fine for a fixed wing, but a PPC's chute lines do not like it. I was aware of the rough surface and tried to minimize the effects by laying out the chute in the tall grass to try and get it inflated with minimal contact with the asphalt, but it had problems. The trailing edge lines got caught on the pebbles sticking up in the asphalt and the chute went up and did a 180. I aborted immediately and we found that one line was cut in two and two or three others had the outer cover nicked.

     Patricio arrived just before the aborted takeoff and we all had a discussion about this pavement and Fabian came up with another strip about 35 kilometers south of Santo Domingo. After a few phone calls we were on our way. Patricio was suppose to be at work the next day, but decided to play hooky for a day so he could solo. He stopped and put his sons on a bus back to the Capitol and found his way to the hacienda where the strip was.

     Fabian and I had already arrived and met the owners. They are Mr. and Mrs. Hans Andersen, the parents of the wife of a famous Photographer in Ecuador named Jorge Anhalzer who flies a fixed wing U/L. This strip was there in the middle of this lush and beautiful tree plantation in the rain forest region.

     It was getting late when Fabian and I arrived and Mr. and Mrs. Andersen took us for a tour of the Hacienda Margarita so we could check out the airstrip. I was in 7th heaven! This was the most beautiful sight that I had seen so far since being in the country. Being a "country boy", I am partial to things that are natural anyway. Here is a photo of the road we drove on to get to the airstrip.

     The Andersen's are very generous hosts and as kind hearted as they get. They welcomed us and showed a lot of interest in our flying machines. When we returned to the main house Fabian's father and Patricio were there waiting for us. The Andersen's invited us up to the house for some beers and we chatted for a while, then we parked the machines under the carport and Patricio, Fabian and his father and I drove to Santo Domingo and had supper and checked into a Hotel. They knew that there would be a lot of fog early in the morning over the hacienda so we did not plan to get there too early. 

     Day 7, February 4 I awoke at 5:15 and took a shower and went for an early morning stroll for about 4 kilometers taking the sights and sounds of the city coming to life. It brought back a lot of memories for me from 25-30 years ago when I wandered aimlessly throughout Central America.

     After breakfast we drove back out to the Hacienda Margarita and I made a test flight in Patricio's PPC. The strip was fairly narrow and lined with trees, but it was the best strip that I had seen in Ecuador so far. It was approx. 1,000' long and was rolling instead of flat. It was sewn down in grass and cut short so that was nice.

     I made the first flight solo to check things out. It was a beautiful location and I took it all in and took a few photos. Here are a few of the photos taken at and from above the Hacienda Margarita. They grow Bamboo, Palm, Lemon and Macadamia among other fruits.

This first one is the machines parked next to some giant Bamboo along the runway.

     Here is an aerial view of the runway at Hacienda Margarita.

     This is a shot taken as I flew low over the trees near the runway at Hacienda Margarita.

     After a good shake down flight by me solo, the Colonel got in the back seat for some more dual instruction. We used up all of the runway getting out of there, but we made it fine. I had him control the chute via the steering lines while we did a ton of touch and goes. The he operated the throttle for some. I made a strong point to him that this would be very different from flying at the beach due to the narrow tree lined runway, and wanted him to get easy with it before he tried to solo.

     At midday the winds got up a bit and they were crosswinds to boot. We took a break and the Andersen's let the hospitality flow again with macadamia nuts, beers for those not flying, and cebiches and fried plantains, yum-yum!

     In this photo on the porch of the Andersen's at lunch is, from left to right, Hans Andersen, Patricio Haro, Steve Thomas, Nelly Andersen, Gerardo Borrero. Fabian was sitting in the chair to the right and only his legs made it in the picture (sorry).

     After our lunch break the Patricio and I went back to the airstrip. He was itching to solo, but I was still not 100% certain that he was ready and took him up for another hour of dual instruction making touch and goes on that strip.

     By the time we finished the whole gang was back out on the side of the runway and watched some of the action. After refueling I gave Patricio one last round of ground instruction and answered any questions that he had. Then it was his time to solo for the first time in his machine.

     He soloed with my guidance via radio commands and did O.K. for his first time on a strip like that. He got up and then could not get the plane to descend as he expected it to react the same as it did flying dual. Once I finally convinced him to shut the throttle all the way he began to slowly descend and eventually got low enough after about a dozen passes to do a touch and go.

     Fabian was watching and swears that Patricio was clipping the trees on his approach, but I was standing in the middle of the runway and never saw him get that close. Sometimes looking at a plane low to the ground and across the runway can be very deceptive. Anyway, it got Fabian to thinking about trying to fly his machine that had given us nothing but trouble, from that strip.

     The Colonel flew until it got late and made a full stop landing. It was a bit rough, but still acceptable for his first time. Here is a picture of him coming in on final approach.

     After the flight we went back to the main house at the Hacienda and I got to cut the Colonel's shirt tail. Fabian took this photo of the cutting, Left to right is Steve, Patricio and Mrs. Andersen.

     Again the hospitality flowed and we ate supper and chatted until it was late. Mr. and Mrs. Andersen were very excited about what had taken place at their airstrip. They invited us back anytime. I will always remember them and their beautiful Hacienda Margarita. I sincerely hope to get back and visit them again.

     Fabian had been thinking hard about flying his machine at the airstrip at Hacienda Margarita and asked if I thought that it would be better on the beach. Of course I said it would, but we would have to be patient and fly when the winds and tide permitted. He decided that we would go back to the beach and try again. Boy was I ever glad that he did later!

     The Colonel headed back to Quito and Fabian, his father and I headed to Pedernales again. When we got there Fabian's machine had a flat tire and he had to find someone to repair it late at night so he would be ready in the morning when the tide was low. He was just not having any good luck at all. We checked into a Hotel and I walked around the town for a while enjoying the culture.

     Day 8, February 5 we got an early start while the tide was out and went just on the outskirts of town on the beach and found a spot to setup. Since the last flight in this machine I had reset the CG by hanging it and doing the standard setup procedure. It hung with a good nose up attitude, but I was puzzled because after the first flight I had shortened the CG tubes to raise the nose, but when I hung it I had to reset everything to the original settings.

     The first flight this morning was just like the previous flights. The roll out was long and the rear wheels lifted way before the front wheel. When I would back off of the throttle the nose would come up, but when the throttle was applied the nose would point way down. It was so bad that as I was taking off I was actually looking straight down at the sand on the beach instead of across the horizon. There was still that awful left pull also. I took this photo of the beach before I landed to readjust the CG. This was the only photo of Pedernales that I got and it was above the beach that I used for the test flights.

     I really did not have good feelings about this machine now for sure, but went ahead and did what I could. We shortened the CG tubes again and I added two extra quick links to the left riser since we were out of holes to adjust with at this point. That had the left side some 5-6" longer than the right between the tube length difference and the links. I knew that this too was extreme, but I felt like I had to try and make it fly halfway right if at all possible.

     On this second takeoff I got a bit scared as it did as before, but with a twist this time. The nose still stayed on the ground long after the rear wheels were up and now the left pull was even worse than before. Once committed in this position I felt it better to gain altitude and then regroup for a landing, and it had worked every tie so far. My feeling was that trying to abort when taking off on the nose wheel could have easily resulted in rolling over and doing even more damage to this already weak airframe. This time though the left pull was so severe that I had to apply right brake full with the steering tube and grab as much line on the right side as I could possibly pull in, and even then I just barely made it up the embankment that on my left and I went between two electric poles that did not have any wires on them yet. 

     I have to say that I was shaken by that experience and I was thankful that I was able to gain some altitude, back off the throttle and let the nose come up, then make a good landing. I was at a loss as I never expected to have to deal with anything like this. This was my first encounter with a machine that had been modified by someone that had no experience and was following what was told to him with the best of intentions by other pilots of other types of craft. Since these are the only two known PPCs in Ecuador they had no one to get PPC advice from and were depending on the advice of Trike and Fixed Wing pilots. Well folks, there is a world of difference in our types of craft even if they do look similar.

     At first I was ready to hang it up, as the last thing that I wanted was to end up in an Ecuadorian hospital or worse. After a head clearing walk on the beach to ponder this screwy thing, I did some measuring on the craft where the engine mounts and told Fabian that I found the engine to mounted off center to the right, and that was probably why we had the hard left pull no matter what we did. I thought that lengthening the left side even more to counteract the torque pull was not wise as the left side of the PPC was already flying way lower than the right.

     The engine had been mounted using two plates and 4 Quicksilver type, very large mounts. I had questioned them from the first moment that I laid eyes on them, but Fabian was assured that they were right from his friends. He had specially ordered them and paid big dollars for them when he swapped the original 503 engine out for a 532. Now I had to tell him that the mounts needed to go. He had a hard time accepting that and after some conversing he agreed to rework the mounts to center the engine at the very least. I had told him that I would not fly the machine again like it was because it was simply not even safe for me at my experience level.

   Fabian found a local mechanic again, this time in Pedernales and he went to work removing the engine and repositioning it. Gerardo (Fabian's father) and I walked around the town and did some shopping and conversing while Fabian was working on the rig. He is a young 30 year old man and full of spunk and energy, and I am a 45 year old down in the back bad, older man, so I was getting pretty tired of the long hours and constant work to try to get this plane to fly and needed a breather.

     Later that day Fabian was finished with what he was doing and we went out and fired up the engine with the plane on the trailer. What he had done was to set the engine in the exact center from left to right, where it should have been. The thing was that in order for him to do that he had moved those huge mounts closer together. Now when we added power the engine would twist and flex way over to the left and forward. It must have literally been moving the tip of the prop at least 8" or so and I knew this would not work. Fabian saw it too and agreed to pack it up and head back to Quito where we could get some supplies and try to make this work.

     I was planning to go on a trip to the jungle the next week and just try his plane at a field outside of Quito at high altitude, and train him there since time was now running short and Fabian was getting low on funds for traveling around.

     After we got back to Quito from a week of hot, humid beach and rain forest traveling and flying we went to a night club and partied down. This place was flat out hopping, and it was only a Tuesday night. I had a great time and it was good to let off some steam dancing and drinking a few beers. We even got raided by the Quito Police and the whole place came to a standstill while arrangements were made to get them to move on. They checked a few people's papers and I imagine got what they wanted from the management and left. Then the place partied even harder than before!

     Day 9, February 6 my hips were sore from all of the dancing the night before and I think that Fabian had a slight hangover, so he took us to a Country Club to use the Eucalyptus steam room then a soak in a hot tub, followed by a dip in a freezing cold tub. Now that will wake you up! We had a good breakfast at the club and then went to work gathering tools and supplies to rework the engine mounts.

     Fabian did not want to lower the engine because the prop would not be centered in the rings and he could not use his 62" Ivo prop. So we removed those mounts and installed aluminum spacers that we had made in their place. This would at least keep the engine from moving around on the plate. We worked on that machine until 3 am and at daylight we were off to a field at 8,500' msl. The Colonel met us there so he could get some high altitude training in the morning before he went to work.

     I setup Patricio's PPC at the far end of the over 1800' grass runway. It was a good runway but had a set of high power electric wires at one end and down one side and had a Military Helicopter base at the other end. I was setup to takeoff toward the power lines. It was a chilly 40 something degrees and very wet with heavy dew also.

     On the first attempt at taking off the chute did not want to come up and when it did it simply turned 180 degrees and I had to abort. The cart could not get enough speed to load the chute and make it fly. It had a 582 engine, but a small 62" prop, and at 8,500' it makes a big difference.

     I reset the chute and told the Colonel that I would try it one more time. I think that he was glad that I made the decision to fly his machine first to check things out instead of allowing him to solo it from there first thing, now that he had seen what happened. This time I held the nose brake as long as I possible could and used my legs to hold it back too. When I let go of the brake and lifted my feet the cart lurched forward and the chute popped up, but not very far. I let the cart get up to speed and then I applied brake using the rudder tubes to drop the chute a little behind the cart and then released them to let the chute pop on up overhead.

     The chute came on up and this time I had enough forward speed to control it. Now however the machine took it's sweet time about lifting in the thin air. Finally after eating up about 1200' or so of precious runway it begrudgingly lifted and began to climb very slowly. Knowing that the power lines were there I could see that I was not going to clear them and there was not enough room to abort. I was able to keep the engine at full throttle and make a hard left turn while climbing and avoided them.

     I radioed down to the guys on the ground and broke the word to them that they were not going to be able to do any training at this field. It was not long enough for either of them to solo from and it would definitely not allow for dual flight in either of their machines. They were both let down, but Fabian had to be about ready to cry. I know that I would have been by this point.

     I flew the Colonel's machine for about 30 minutes since I was airborne and took some photos of the mountains and the airfield before landing. Here is a couple of them. This first one is a view from 1,500' agl or 10,000' msl.

And this is a picture of the private airfield that I took off from. It really was a very nice airfield, just a little too tight for PPC training at that altitude.

     Upon landing and talking with Fabian, we decided that we were going to go back to the beach one more time, just he and I this time. I was willing to forego my trip to the jungle if there was a chance at getting him flying. That was the main reason for my trip to begin with. I agreed to go with him to the beach as long as we would be patient and wait around idle if need be to wait out winds and tides and stop the flopping around the country. I also wanted to stay at a descent place where we could enjoy the culture, etc. for the remaining time that I had to spend in the country.

     We spent the rest of the day getting his car in shape for the trip and packing up all the gear. Then we got a good night's rest.

     Day 10, February 7 Fabian and I headed out in the morning for the coast one more time. As we were leaving we stopped in a remote area of the city and ran up the engine. I could see that the engine was not moving all over anymore, but I was still concerned that it was sitting too high up above the CG attachments. We discussed it along the way and prepared ourselves to have to lower the engine as far as possible as a last resort.

     Along the way we encountered a landslide and this was not uncommon on this, the major road to the coast. Here is a photo of one of them as it was being removed.

     This trip to the beach was going quickly compared to the last time since Fabian and I were alone and he was driving 80+ mph down those mountains. Here is a photo taken as we were doing just that.

     Fabian was working that shifter so much that one of the cable ends came off at the transmission and we had to stop and get a local mechanic to repair it in Concordia at the bottom of the mountains. It took 3 men working for 2 hours to get it fixed and the charge was $4 for the welder to weld the piece back on and $10 for the labor!

     While they were working on the car I strolled into town and had a refreshment to get some exercise. We had stopped right next to a restaurant that specialized in Lentil dishes and we had a good lunch.

     Back on the road through the rain forest I took this picture of a common site. The roads are busy with many travelers on horse and donkeys, as well as walking.

     This time when we got to Pedernales we turned south and headed for our destination of Canoa. The beach there was suppose to be wide and a good place for flying. Fabian knew of a fellow there that flies a Hang Glider from the cliffs. The drive to Canoa was very nice even though it was a bit wet that day. This was suppose to be the rainy season in Ecuador, but it had not really began in earnest yet for some reason.

     Canoa reminded me of a Latin American version of a 1960s Key West or similar tourist town full of "free" souls. We checked into the Hostal Bambu and I realized that 90% of the guests were foreigners, although I only met one other person from the States. Here is a photo of one of the rooms that we occupied.

     Later that night I wandered around the village and followed my ears to where the loudest music was coming from and found an underground night club in one of the hotels. It was dark, loud, and full of Ecuadorian and foreign visitors that were partying down! I danced again until 1:30 in the morning and decided that I had better get some sleep so I would be in shape to test fly Fabian's machine at sunrise. My feet were sore for several days afterwards too from the blisters that I got on both them from the all night dancing. I was probably the oldest fellow in the place, but I had fun.

     Day 11, February 8 we were on the beach shortly after sunrise and setup to give it a try. The wind was coming from inland and there were cliffs along the shore that created mechanical winds. The first 4 or 5 attempts to kite the chute ended up with me aborting as the chute would go up and twist around the risers. Looking at the windsock we saw it turning in circles and I knew that was the culprit. Eventually I caught some steady wind coming down the beach and was able to make a good kiting of the chute and got airborne.

     The machine still flew the same, but with less of a left pull since the engine was now centered. Every time I would add throttle the nose would take a dive. Eventually it would go back up due to the pendulum effect, but I got bit. I took advantage of the airtime as usual and flew the beach taking some photos. On my return towards the car where Fabian was waiting I tried some low flying to see how I was going to fare trying to land with the squirrelly winds. I made an alright touch down, but I was way far from him and I lifted back up and flew closer before trying to land for good. As I was on final and close to the ground the wind gusted from my side and then let up. This is not normally a big deal, but I reacted out of instinct and applied throttle to cushion the landing when the wind slacked off, and that resulted in pushing the nose down hard. When the front wheel hit the sand it bounced back up and the rear wheels slammed down pretty hard breaking one of the spring rods. The flimsy prop guard also flexed down into the Ivo prop and buggered the tips a little. It was not too bad though.

     We changed the spring rod and loaded up. Then we drove to the nearest town of any size, San Vicente, and went looking for another mechanic with a chain hoist. This was a Sunday and the mechanics were closed, but allowed us to use the hoist. After we figured out what we needed we tripped around town to every store that had bolts and were able to dig up enough Grade 8s and washers to do what we needed to do. In the end we only lowered the engine about an inch and a half, because to do more we would have had to cutout the mounting plate and do a lot more fabricating.

     I was not convinced that it was going to work because of all that we had tried and been through so far, but tomorrow would tell the tale. I only had another 3 days in the country before my flight home, so this was about the last attempt that we were going to get. That evening we chilled out at the hostal and enjoyed the company of a few of Fabian's friends that had a vacation home on the beach that came to visit us. Fabian also racked his brain trying to figure a way to get the attachment outriggers higher as we could not lower the engine anymore and he now understood what the problem was. There really was nothing else that we could do.

     Day 12, February 9 we were back on the beach early and this time found a good open spot where the cliffs would not make the severe mechanicals that I had to deal with the day before. It was a dreary morning with winds from inland again and rain squalls moving out from the rain forests to the Pacific Ocean. It was raining lightly and I really did not think that we had made much improvements, and figured that one test flight and we would be done when it went coo-coo again.

     I have flown in light rain before and it is not a big deal, so I went for it. The plan was that if it flew OK I would fly down the beach toward San Vicente out of the rain squall and land. I powered up and expected a super long roll out as before, but to my surprise the chute went right up and the machine took off like it had good sense. I yelled at Fabian over the radio and let him know how happy I was. I could not believe it! Fabian and his friends drove the cars down the beach and I flew beside them.

     They got there before me and setup the windsock. The wind was coming down the beach nicely for a landing into it, but the rain was not letting up. I landed and then hustled and laid out the chute as the rain got stronger and stronger. It looked like a pond on top of the chute as I buckled up and hit the throttle. That wet chute came up very nicely even though we had changed to the little 52" Powerfin prop when we lowered the engine. 

     I then flew for about an hour to check the machine out real good. I flew up the valley leading to the rain forest for a few kilometers and then back to Canoa and finally back to the beach where Fabian and his friends were waiting. Here is a few photos from that flight. This first one shows some local fishermen hauling in a net.

    This one is approaching Canoa from the south.

     In the center of this photo on the edge of town along the beach is the Hostal Bambu where we stayed in Canoa. It is the one with all of the lush green trees.

     In this picture I was just flying along offshore enjoying the fact that Fabian's machine was finally flying right, and enjoying the view too!

     This one shows some of the rain squalls that I was flying into and out of. I did not take any pictures in the squalls to avoid damaging the camera. At times the rain was so hard though that there was a river of water running down the chute lines.

     After I landed, we refueled and checked the machine over, then Fabian got in and we did the first dual flying in his machine. The little SR-2 did pretty well and had sufficient lift even with the dinky 52" prop on the 532 engine. We flew up and down the beach doing touch and goes and getting him use to everything. He already had some Paragliding experience and he took to it good. He also had a couple of years to think about how to fly the rig and we had gone over the routine several times when chatting since I had been in the country. 

     When we landed there was still some beach left, but the tide was coming in. Fabian knew that we only had right then as a sure time for him to solo as he weather was unpredictable and with the rainy season upon us he wanted to get it done. We chatted a little and he refueled and did his preflight. Under radio guidance he did a fine job of taking off and soloing for his first time. He had time to get use to the controls and do several touch and goes before the water got too high and I asked him to land and pack it up. Here is a photo of Fabian flying solo very nicely down the beach to come around for another touch and go.

     Day 13, February 10 we spent the morning on the beach and Fabian made several full takeoff and landings as well as a lot of touch and goes while I was giving instructions via the radio as needed. He did well, but did learn a valuable lesson. The winds got up at the end and I had gotten him to land before they got too strong. I thought that the winds had gotten too strong for a new person, even if they were doing as well as Fabian was and recommended that he pack it in. He insisted that he was going to fly in those winds anyway and setup to go. I did stay with him on the radio and he did OK with it. At least the winds were coming from offshore now and it was pretty clean and laminar. The trouble was that it just continued to get stronger and gusty.

     I knew what would happen and just had to wait about 5 minutes for Fabian to ask me what he should do to land in those winds. He was getting tossed around a little and I am sure did not feel too comfortable. Together we got him down and without incident, but I think that he realized that he should not have gone in those winds at his experience level. At any rate, all is well that ends well, and this ended great! It took 12 days of hard work and long hours, but we finally got his machine to fly right. Then it only took a couple of hours before Fabian was flying solo.

     We packed up and got back on the road to Quito. Along the way we stopped next to this sign marking the Equator for a photo.

     On the way back to Quito we stopped at La Concordia to have the car linkage repaired again. It was not quite right and Fabian needed all the gears to climb the mountains. The same mechanic did the work and I ate at the Lentil restaurant again, this time during a monsoon rain down pour. It was raining so hard I had to move to the center of the patio in order to stay dry. The mechanic took $5 for this repair job and we were on our way again. Fabian tells me that this is not typical and we got lucky in finding a descent mechanic that would not gouge us when we were desperate for repairs.

     Day 14, February 11 we got up early and hit the road without the PPC for the first time. I wanted to see some of the mountains and Fabian drove me north along the sierras through several cities to get to Otavalo. Otavalo is famous for the largest indigenous market in the country. I spent hours shopping and getting stuff for the family from the Indians. Then we went further north to Ibarra and checked out the airport. 

     The Ibarra airport has a control tower and commercial flights, but they said we could use it as long as we had a radio. I checked the runway and it was as terrible as the one in Santiago for PPC use. It was about 2 miles long, but had pebbles exposed that would make short work of the chute lines. I took this photo of the runway as we checked it out.

     We took another route back to Quito and the scenery was nice. It was totally different from that of the rain forest or the coast. I saw the Rose farms that covered the valley floors as they grow and export some of the world's finest roses due to being under the equator. The direct sun rays makes them grow fast and straight. In Quito you can find roses for sale everywhere for $1 for 25 long stems! This photo shows what the farms look like from the ridges overlooking the valleys. They keep the plants shaded and protected from the strong winds as much as possible.

     We got off the main road and took a dirt trail up one of the smaller mountains and took this picture.                                                                                                                         

     My last thrill ride in Ecuador wad riding with Fabian while he drove over 100 mph down this stretch of the highway in the sierras on the way back to Quito.

     We got back to Quito in the afternoon and I met up with Patricio and exchanged some information and said our goodbyes. I said my goodbyes to Fabian's family and got all of my luggage packed and ready for the long flight home. Fabian and I had a good meal downtown and then he dropped me off at the airport. 

     The airport was a real "trip" in a few ways. First I had to wait in line over an hour to get to a ticket agent, then spend another 45 minutes to get my luggage insured for the $19 that I paid on the flight down there. They wanted to charge me over $100! I won that one eventually. Then I paid my exit tax and proceeded to go through a second level of security. No problem there, but between that security point and the next one at the gate I was stopped by an agent and asked some questions and cordially allowed to pass.

     The surprise came when I got to the gate and an agent in a trench coat looked at me and said sternly "give me your Passport and ticket"! This was the first rude person I had encountered. I guess it was part of his job? He took my passport and ticket and told another agent to take me to my luggage. He handed me back my papers and told me in English that they were going to X-ray all of my stuff. I was chuckling inside, but knew that this was serious business. 30 years ago they might have caught me doing something illegal, but not these days.

     The agent wearing latex gloves led me into an elevator and outside of the terminal. I was beginning to wonder where the heck she was leading me. We went right out to the tarmac and they already had my 2 checked bags sitting there along with a half dozen agents and a sniffer dog. They asked if they were my bags and I told them yes. Then I opened the first one, the big heavy one with the chute in it, and let them have at it. The fellow was nice and careful not to tear anything up or disrupt my packing job too badly. He searched it well though, even went through my toiletry bag, took spark plugs out of their boxes, lit some Bic lighters, etc.

     When he was almost done with that bag I asked him if he knew Colonel Patricio Haro. Patricio was not only my student, but he is also the head of security at the Quito International Airport. He said that he did know him, but that he was not at the airport at that time. I responded and told him that I knew that because I had just seen him a couple of hours earlier. Then I explained that he was my student and what I was doing traveling with all of my strange equipment. The fellow relaxed a little, but still searched the other bag, though not nearly as intensely as the first one.

     I packed the bags back up and the fellow thanked me for my time. Then the agent that brought me down there, led me back to the gate and past everyone in line. Now my shoes set off the alarm in the metal detector and they made me remove my shoes. This guy tried his best to pull the soles off of them, but of course he could not.

     Finally I was through the layers of security and waited for the plane which was an hour late. This flight went from Quito to Guayaquil in the south of the country, then continued on to Houston. After disembarking passengers in Guayaquil, security agents boarded the plane. This time they checked all of the luggage compartments, seats and bathrooms and removed any baggage that was not claimed by the passengers on board, if there was any.

     Upon arrival in the U.S. I was not checked or even questioned by anyone! That was shocking to me, but it was O.K. with me too. I just wanted to get back home.

     Looking back on the trip now, I am very happy that I went down there. I know that I helped these two fellows out immensely, and especially Fabian. I only wish that I would have had more time to spend with them. I have heard from both of them since I have been back and they are doing well, flying at low altitude and have had a few questions that I have helped with via e-mail. I will continue to help them as long as they ask also. It was a challenge, to say the least, but I do enjoy a good challenge and I learned a lot at the same time. 

     I would go to train people in other countries again in a heartbeat, especially in a country that speaks Spanish or English. Really anywhere, as I know that I would find a way to communicate. If anyone out there is in need of training and you just do not know where you are going to turn to get it, contact me and we will work something out. My home phone is 270-767-9814, cell is 270-293-5909 and my e-mail is steve@americanspiritppc.com

     Until the next big adventure................... You All Have A Good One!

Sincerely,

Steve Thomas