Doing immigration and customs at Iguazú Airport is a good option as well...you gotta be careful for some convective activity in that area beginning mid september but other than that, it's ok. You fly down into the BA area and then can continue all the way to the south.
You also need to take the appropriate precautions regarding The Puyehue volcano that has been sending quite an important amount of ashes in the air for the last 3 months now in continuous fashion. The volcano is located near Bariloche SAZS and even tho their emmissions have weakened significantly lately, some airports still have VA deposited on the ground and whenever the wind blows a bit, it goes back in the air. This happened in comodoro rivadavia yesterday (SAVC) Airports that have been affected the most by the eruption are sazs, sazy, sazn, sazr, savt, savc, sazb. Bariloche is still not being served by the two major airlines here since the volcano started smoking june 4th.
A good source of data for the volcanic activity (and weather in Argentina) is our national weather service.
Servicio Meteorológico Nacional Go to where it says "información aeronáutica" and then VAAC Buenos Aires, right at the bottom. They issue ASHTAMS every 6 hours I believe. Also most Flight Service Stations (ARO-AIS for ICAO) will show you a plot of the actual plume. You can also try to locate it yourself via satellite imagery but it will be hard to see, as emmissions are very weak. The volcano's elevation is about 7000 feet and the plume rarely exceeds 10K in altitude, not big a deal for airlines, but it could be a factor for a 182.
Let me see if I can give you quick set of tips for flying in Argentina.
You can't fly VFR at night in Argentina.
You are required to file a flight plan every time you depart out of a controlled airport, and you MUST close it either by phone or radio if you land at an uncontrolled field. Towered airports will close it for ya.
Every time you land at a controlled field they´ll normally ask you to stop by the FSS to go show them your licenses etc.
Some (most) airports close at night, there's no such thing as a towered airport that becomes uncontrolled when the tower controller checks out.
I recommend you stay within airports served by the airlines, there are quite a few of them well within the range of a 182. The reason for this is because at most places they will speak some english and if you have any problems you can quickly fly to BA to go get a spare. You can always find a good mechanic wherever there's a flight school. Controllers proficient in english anywhere besides airline served airport is something absolutely not guaranteed.
There 's a publication called MADHEL which is basically an Airport Facility Directory that you can buy for a good deal of info. You can also check notams and other info at
ANAC - Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil Make sure you type in the local indentifier, ICAO codes won't do there. Local identifiers will normally agree with the VOR identifier if the airport has one. Good news is most airports do.
While enroute, at the altitudes normally used by a 182 you will, at some point lose contact with "center" (the ARTCC). If that's the case you can try to call any airline flight and they´ll be glad to do and air to air for ya at no charge ;-) Airlines also monitor 121.5 on VHF 2 so if you ever need it, you can try calling there.
Wind does become a factor in the patagonia, say from Viedma and south. Most runways have an east west layout and usually winds blow from the west, fairly straight down the rwy at nothing short of 20 kts. Western airports like Esquel and Calafate can have winds of more than 30 kts at times. A lot of fun, but keep that in mind when you park the airplane as well.
Places you DON'T want to miss from North to South: Salta, Mendoza, Bariloche (volcano allowing) Esquel, Calafate, Rio Gallegos, Ushuaia (careful there tho) and Puerto Madryn, where you can visit the Valdez Peninsula and check out the whales.
If there's anything I can do for you, contact me at
[email protected]
Regards,
SW.