Long-distance International Trip Planning - KMSN to SBRJ

[gfb]

Hi Folks,

I'm giving some thought to do a trip from Madison, WI to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next year (and back.) I'd really like to do a couple flights in/out of SBRJ in my airplane

Curious what kinds of resources are available to help plan this kind of thing. I have found numerous sites relating to services for dispatch/handling for exec jets for this kind of thing but they are priced accordingly. Anyone have pointers on piston-priced handling services? Or even just weather planning services?

Initial things I'm curious about:

• what kinds of visa requirements do I have in each of my stops? How do I handle customs, what are the fees?
• What kind of long-term weather forecasting should I be looking at? Is there a bad time to do this? I'm thinking Spring 2020.
• Do I need to sort out fuel ahead of time for these stops? How do I do that?
• I'm not tied to any of these stops, they just seemed to make sense geographically. I'm sure there are better/cheaper/faster ways to do this and I'm very open to them.
• I have an instrument rating and plan to do as much of this as I can on an IFR flight plan. Any concerns?

Here is an initial thought on routing:
https://skyvector.com/api/loadplan?i...&lon=-67.86035

Thanks!

[snoop9erdog]

GFB,

Interesting that you posted this as one of by bucket lists is to hop the islands down the Bahamas and tour Brazil for a month. So I will be all ears on the responses as far as trip planning....fuel, weather, survival, satellite phone, navigation, etc.

I just went to Fortaleza, Brasil last month and had to have a visa, however, in June the visa requirements are expiring and you will no longer need that.

Type in "Brazil" into the search and you will find a few posts about routes as a couple of Brazilians have made the trip as well as "sharkbait", but he hasn't posted in a long time on here.

Do you speak Portuguese?

Sounds like a fun trip

[kaweeka]

I am planning my trip down the Caribbean from Florida through the windward and leeward islands for next year and have found both Caribbean Sky Tours as well as Caribbean Flying Adventures valuable resources and worth the joining costs.

[gfb]

It seems almost impossible to find landing fees, etc for Brazil. Nobody at airports replies to emails, I might start making phone calls.

I'm using Caribbean Sky Tours for the Caribbean part of the planning but they indicated they don't have much info for Brazil and I should hire a handler at each airport. That sounds insane

I reached out to the other site and have not heard back.

[xblueh2o]

You just hit the nail on the head regarding why people use handling agents.
They can be pricey but the good ones are worth their weight in gold.

When we do direct communication we find we have much better luck getting people to answer calls and emails if the communication is in the local language. Yes, English is supposed to be the international language of aviation but you don't have to travel very far south of the border before the truth is revealed.

[Vlad]

If you can reach Andre Nunes he is a great help. He bought an RV and ferried it to Fortaleza his hometown. Below is a copy/paste from one of his posts

I made this trip 2 yrs ago flying the RV7A I bought from Radomir. My route was Miami, Provo, St. Marteen, Grenada, Georgetown, Cayene, MAcapa, Belem, Sao Luis and Fortaleza (my home). Our entry airport was Macapa. After that, only the small fields, as the fees for using the big airports are very expensive. The biggest problem he will face when in Brazil is fuel. Very few airports have it. If the guy needs some help, fell free to contact me. If he wants to visit our city, Fortaleza, our flying club - Catuleve - www.catuleve.com.br - has a private field - SJCM - with 820 m (2500 ft) runway and avgas. I pay the first beer. My phone is 55-85-9175-0003. e-mail: andrenunes@vetromani.com.br