El Oso

Update 1. Haven't made it up to mid-country to try the trike, but did round up a C-172 and instructor at an airport a bit closer to home. Spent 1.5 hours trying to remove some 8 non-flying years worth of rust from the 172. It's amazing how badly an airplanes performance deteriorates when the pilot has been away from the controls for a while, even a rental airplane that is in the air every day. It did pretty well on the air-work, but it"s first few landings were simply terrible. I finally demonstrated to it that if it were to fly final approach at the correct airspeed then it would be rewarded with one of those touchdowns where it"s hard to tell when the flying part stops and the taxiing part starts. Seriously though, it was a real treat to be back in the air after a long break, now to find a local doctor certified by the U.S. who can issue a new medical. I understand there is a guy across the river in Buenos Aires, Argentina who does FAA physicals. That will give me about 3 more hours and two international border crossings as well. This is getting to be really fun

MartincaF1 - wow, 30tt and 1 solo! The first steps on what hopefully will be a long and pleasant journey. With luck yours will be as rewarding as mine, we'll share stories slong the way Jammartinez760 - good to meet you as well. Curious - given the apellido I'm wondering if you are from the southern cone also Jerry

That's what perfesser Google tells me. I'd love to learn more about the history there, just barely scratched the surface when visiting. At the moment am hip-deep in figuring out some of the lore of this place. Fascinating. Too much to soak up, need a few more lifetimes

Interesting --- have heard of Ayers Rock but never Uluru. Visited Sydney around 35 yrs back but didn't get any further than Manly. Guess another trip is in order...

Thank's, it's good to be here

Thanks for the response, much appreciated. I'm new to the Uruguayan flying environment so won't be able to speak from any great base of knowledge in this corner of the world. From what is visible so far this place is a pilots dream - no mountains, highest point in the country is about 500 mts asl. Temps range from 0-30C, we get around 1.1 - 1.2 mts of rain per year. Occasional T-storms are avoidable, some significant winds in the Sept time-frame are about the only caution item that stands out. All in all it's vastly more friendly flying here than in my former home in the southwestern U.S.. I spent the biggest part of 40 years accumulating around 2000 hours of business/personal flying time there - lots of mountains/turbulence/questionable wx etc.. Have to say it's a pleasure to look forward to the offerings in the southern cone. A little taste of time locally in a C-182 reveals an ATC system much like what we are used to. As I recall the floor of positive control airspace is only about 3,000 feet, a big difference, but given the low terrain elevations hopefully it won't be too notable. The other thing that stood out was that radio conversations for the most part seem to be in Spanish. I suspect that English would be usable, but maintaining situational awareness could be interesting. Most of the time in the U.S. was in light singles - Aeronca, Decathlon, Bonanza, C-100 and 200 Series, Pipers. Here it will probably be something simpler - either one of the LSA's or perhaps a powered parachute. A buddy here flies one of the latter, we will run up to a nearby city in the next week or so and test-drive a 2 place trike. If anyone has thoughts or suggestion about these creatures please send any comments along, this will be a new world to explore. It's exciting to be launching into a new facet of aviation, will check in from time to time as learning experiences collect and pass on what I find Jerry

Hi, name's Jerry. Nice to be aboard