INTERNATIONAL
VOLO PER VERITAS / FLYING FOR THE TRUTH Juliana Torchetti Coppick | jutorchetti@yahoo.com.br
Thrush Switchback Ferry Flight to Brazil — Part 3 Sunrise before departure at Aeroporto de Puerto Rico.
A 20 | agairupdate.com
In the last edition I told you about the second part of my ferry flight between Fort Lauderdale and Puerto Rico. Following up, I will report on the next leg, Puerto Rico to Barbados. The island of Puerto Rico is one of those places that make us want to take a vacation, but there was nothing at that moment that I wanted more than to continue flying towards South America. Unfortunately, I still had an impasse to resolve. I could fly about 1,700 miles nonstop for 12 hours straight from Puerto Rico to Boa Vista and not have to worry about taking a Covid test. Or, fly from Puerto Rico to Barbados with a much shorter and safer flight leg, but with the inconvenience of having to comply with Covid examination protocols when arriving on the island. Passing through the Guyana region around
noon is a headache for sure because as we well know, the famous Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the Northern and Southern trade winds come together and often giant cumulus buildups over widespread areas form. It is not exactly the preferred scenario for those flying in the range of 10 or 12 thousand feet. The only way to get there earlier, when taking off from Puerto Rico, is to leave around 4 A.M. However, the sun rises at 6:45 (local time). Flying over the stilldark Atlantic Ocean didn’t sound like a good idea, considering it was my first time on that route. After pondering, I decided that it would be more prudent to deal with the bureaucracy imposed by the pandemic than to risk flight safety. I made plans for when I arrived in Barbados I would isolate myself in a hotel room. The idea ➤
