Brazil to
AirVenture, three hours at a time
By Randy Dufault
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Brazilians Luiz Carlos
Novi (left) and Paulo Rivetti stand in front of Novi’s recently
completed RV-9. Photo by Phil Weston |
Luiz Carlos Novi
considered adding extra fuel capacity to his RV-9 before heading out
with it on a trek from near Sao Paulo, Brazil, to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2006. But test flights of the airframe and engine combination showed it
boasted endurance of well more than four hours, and according to his
friend and companion for the trip, Paulo Rivetti, that was more than
enough to make the trip safely.
Rivetti, a retired
airline captain who’s made the trip between the United States and
Brazil several times in single-engine light aircraft, knew the longest
leg would be less than four hours, with plenty of reserve for any
contingency.
The trip took the pair up
the center of Brazil, along the coast of the Guyanas, then across the
water to the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. After waiting an
unexpected additional day in the Bahamas for the waiver necessary to
bring the RV into the United States, they landed in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. Two days later they touched down here in Oshkosh.
According to Rivetti, the
biggest difficulty with making the trip is weather information.
"There are a few METARs, but sometimes they are not updated,"
he said. "The best thing that you can do is leave early in the
morning, keep an eye on what is happening, and have an alternate. The
key is planning."
This is Rivetti’s
second trip to AirVenture. In 2001, he and another companion flew to the
United States in an 80-hp FK9, but they made it only as far as Florida.
Because of weather and other delays, there was a chance they’d miss
AirVenture altogether, so they took a commercial flight on the last leg.
This is the first visit
to AirVenture for Novi.
According to Rivetti, a
potentially much larger problem in the future will be the availability
of fuel along the route. "In 2001 we stopped at St. Kitts for fuel.
On another flight two years later I called ahead to St. Kitts, and they
told me they only had Jet A," he said. "Many of the islands
now either only have jet fuel or no fuel at all," he added.
Aviation gasoline is
still widely available in Brazil, though the equivalent cost is nearly
$8 per gallon.
Novi and Rivetti planned
on a week for the trip. "We planned for two flights a day, though
one day we did make three," he said. "We also wanted to get
here by the 22nd [of July]. We had the NOTAM, but with the language
difference we wanted to land before it got too busy."
They actually arrived on
July 21st. Plans are to attend AirVenture until Friday, when business
commitments will require a commercial flight back to Brazil. They will
return in August to retrieve the RV.
Novi’s RV-9A is one of
30 to 35 either completed or under construction in Brazil. He chose the
design primarily because of the large number of RVs flying. Another
important factor in Novi’s decision was the ability to mount a
certified engine. He decided on a 160-hp Lycoming IO-360 for the
project.
The RV took about a year
to build, after a month-long ordeal getting the kit through Brazilian
customs. It now has 155 hours on the airframe after eight months of
active flying. Novi also owns a Beechcraft Baron that he uses for
business travel.
According to Novi,
experimental aviation is very popular in Brazil, a large country with
few well-developed roads and airline routes only between the major
cities. Although Brazilian amateur-built airplanes are limited to
daytime VFR only, they are a good option for traveling to the
less-developed areas of the nation.
Novi and Rivetti’s trip
required 37 hours, 42 minutes in the air. They traveled 5,399 nautical
miles, averaging 143 knots groundspeed.
According to Rivetti, they had good tail
winds until they reached North America. Those tail winds will become
headwinds for the return trip, a fact that will add three or four hours
in the air.
