Radios optional

It rained all nite. Hard. I woke up at 7 am and it was still raining, hard. Nevertheless in spite of the crappy weather we motivated to the airport and got there by 830. There we checked out.

La Ceiba, Honduras

Pilots: Honduras charges for flight protection. the amount they charge is $0.30 per km. The distance is the distance in Honduran airspace from your international destination. This does not have anything to do with actual flight distance. For example Mexico only has a calculated distance of about 42km. Since we were going to Nicaragua, the distance was about 350km. Thus the total amount for flight protection was about $105. This was the retail price. They told me that it would be $65. I disputed this since it seemed arbitrary to me. I spoke with El Jefe of the airport in La Ceiba and he explained the way the charge is calculated. However, this is negotiable. I told them that since I was returning to Honduras, I wanted to pay less. I negotiated $45 each way from Managua. SO yes prices are negotiable, but yes, they do have a method to their madness.

Ramp fees were $19 for an overnight stay.

After taking care of all that, we were whisked through customs and immigration. Pilots are given the VIP treatment; we bypassed all lines. It was great. Still raining cats and dogs, we went to our plane, which I parked 200 meters away. By the time we finished preflight, we were soaked. And, the airport was closed; too much rain. So we sat in the plane for about 15 minutes before they reopened the airport. ceiling was maybe 1000' and it was pouring. Now, the mountains around La Ceiba are high. MEA just outside of La Ceiba is 10,000. We took off IFR, headed east over the Caribbean, and I began to climb to 10,000. it is important to get to 10,000 before proceeding. If not, you will run into mountains. We were in complete IMC; total whiteout, raining hard. At 10,000 it was still raining hard, we were still in the soup. I turned west, direct Bertha, and requested 12,000. We climbed to 12,000, and we were still in it but I could see sunlight. And it was still raining hard! and the temperature was 35!! Definitely my adrenalin started pumping; mountains all around me, to 11,000, in the soup, raining, and close to freezing temperatures. Awesome.

in the soup at 12,000

Nicaragua

In about 20 minutes we broke out of the clouds, finally. Still in IMC, we tracked to Toncontin VOR then to some other waypoint. With a tailwaind we were doing 155 knots ground speed. We were moving. About 30 minutes outside of Managua, we could see mountains and volcanoes. The skies had cleared somewhat, but we then had another problem; the radios starting acting up. I had had a similar problem months ago on the day of my IFR flight exam; it was not a good problem. Managua ATC had a hard time hearing us. They were not happy. However I successfully communicated to them a request for a VFR approach into Managua and we landed without incident, even though it was blowing 15-25 with a crosswind and shear.

Upon landing we were once again given the VIP treatment, with a van meeting us and whisking us past a couple hundred people in the line for Customs. I then went to the operations center, gave them a copy of the appropriate papers (flight plan, airworthiness, registration, etc.) and we were on our way.

Pilots: We did NOT have to pay the $100 departure fee by wire prior to our arrival. That is a misperception. When we leave, we will then pay the $100 fee. That is also for flight following. In general the employees at Manauga airport are professional and courteous. I was impressed.

I spent about 2 hours screwing around with the damn radios, with no improvement. I cannot take off until this problem is resolved, so tomorrow I will return to the airport and try to resolve.

We took a cab for $8 from the airport (across the street) to the Uca bus station, where we hopped on a bus for Granada. It cost $1 and took an hour. Granada is a fantastic town. Tonite, I finally gave away some of the soccer balls I got from Andy. I have about 15 balls, mostly soccer balls. We gave away maybe 6, to a group of maybe 20 kids, ages 5-12. It was really cool, they were playing in the street, and me and Collin and a couple of girls from the same hostel held a goal shooting contest to see who would get the best ball. We then played with the kids for an hour or two. They wouldn't let us leave; kept asking when we would be back. The only downside was that, while I was playing goalie in the street, i was barefoot, and someone stole my flipflops. The kids were really cute about it and one of them asked their parents to give me some so I now have a tiny pair of pink sandals that I am wearing, until tomorrow, when I can get some more from the market. I plan to go back tomorrow evening with some more balls for the kids. It was a new experience for Collin, he had never done anything like that before. I am sure he will pay it forward.

Granada and Nicaragua are both really great. I will have to come back just to visit those kids.