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Santiago, Chile, Sunday, 1995-12-03 23:50 local (Z-3)
I'm sitting in the back of the upper deck on one of Tower's freighters. We just got here from Buenos Aires, and there'll be a 3 to 4 hour wait here while they unload/load freight. It's a beautiful, clear summery Sunday evening here—shirt sleeve weather outside even though it's nearly midnight. Not quite as warm as Buenos Aires was last night, but still very nice.
Friday evening we left Miami in another freighter, made a fuel stop at Lima, Peru, and then went on to Buenos Aires. That whole process put us into B.A. at the hotel about 6 p.m. I was pooped and went right to bed. At midnight I woke and since I felt better, decided to get up and wander around to try to sync up with the next leg. So, I walked around downtown B.A. from midnight to about 4 a.m.
The portenos—that's what the citizens of B.A. call themselves (there's a tilde over the “n”)—stay up late, especially on a Saturday night. The discos don't open until 1 a.m., and the streets were nearly blocked in some places by crowds waiting for their opening. There were also lots of lines of people waiting for space in restaurants—all this in the middle of the night. I walked down the Argentinean equivalent of Broadway in New York and happened to hit it just as the theaters were letting out. The crowds leaving the theaters were actually blocking traffic, and it's a wide street.
B.A. has lots of parks, and as you walk by the parks, you get to observe a phenomenon we don't see in the U.S., at least not to the degree you see it here. The parks are filled with necking couples—all bench seats taken. These are the couples that don't have cars. They couples that have cars are in those cars parked alongside the parks. Here's the situation: the Argentinean national custom is that children don't leave home until they marry—so kids in their 20s, 30s and up at home are common. So, most single adults in Argentina typically have no apartment to which to take a date. Hence public necking is quite acceptable. C.J., remember the parks in Tokyo we walked through at night and how crowded they were with neckers. Same here except the park benches aren't quite as close together as they were in Tokyo.
The trip from Miami to Lima to B.A. was interesting. We were maxed out at 731,000 pounds taking off at Miami. The airplane is the oldest 747 flying, and it's in really bad shape. Being an old one, it's maximum takeoff weight is 734,000 pounds. Anyway, during the takeoff roll the e.p.r. (exhaust pressure ratio, the primary power indication for each engine) on #4 engine starting fluctuating. I looked down the the fuel flow and saw it was also fluctuating. I thought for a bit that we were going to lose the engine. That would have been interesting. We were already above 100 knots when the fluctuations started, and they continued until past V1 (the rejection speed). However, the engine settled down after we got airborne. We talked about it afterward. All of us had seen the problem, and each of us alone had decided it wasn't bad enough to say anything. The procedure during the takeoff roll is to only point out that which is worthy of an abort.
The route from Miami to Lima was one that I had never flown. It took us across the western edge of the Amazon basin, over the headwaters of the many rivers that finally flow into the Amazon. Quite amazing really, two thousand miles from the sea and the rivers were already large. Man hasn't gotten up this far yet in the Amazon with his road construction. We flew for hundreds of miles without seeing any sign of man below. I liked that.
When we started over the eastern slope of the Andes, I could see very small villages with no roads into them. There were probably footpaths, but from 31,000 you can't see them. I also saw small, dirt strips for aircraft. Those strips were most certainly for the purposes of moving cocaine paste out of the area. Finally I started seeing slightly larger villages connected by dirt roads. Then came the crest of the Andes—they are really high—and the approach into Lima.
We refueled in Lima. I got out and walked around the airplane just to say I had set foot in Peru. The weather was poor there insofar as visibility was concerned, so I really couldn't see much of the place during either landing or takeoff. What I could see was incredibly poor, just shacks basically.
The route from Lima to Buenos Aires was also new to me. It's all desert until you once again cross the Andes, and it's an incredible desert, strikingly beautiful even from high altitude. There are a lot of dirt roads though, and ample evidence of oil or mineral exploration all over the place. I didn't see any cities, not even any small towns or villages, but there were numerous mining sites. Also lots of alkali, a few green lakes (almost a fluorescent green). It impressed me as a place that would be a lot of fun to rattle around in.
The leg was my leg, and we encountered the sharpest temperature fluctuations at altitude I have ever seen. The air temperature kept cycling between -35 Celsius and -42. The change would take place in a matter of a few seconds. Since engine power fluctuates with a temperature change, just keeping the power settings was wearing me out. Originally these airplanes had auto-throttles on them, but Tower has taken them off all but two of the aircraft.
Hmmm...they just told us the freight is late. What now. Do we wait. If so, on the airplane or at a hotel. We're already scheduled for a duty day of 18 hours. They're calling Miami to find out what to do. This is a wet lease to Fast Air; they control the flights and their headquarters is in Miami.
Later...Terry
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