Buenos Aires / Argentina

[ffmfrankfurt]

Dear fellow members - I will travel to Argentina in March 21. I am looking to charter an SEP, preferable PA28, Cessna 172 or similar for one or two days for touring the country side. European PPL(A) is valid and I prefer to fly myself. I know, that a check out flight will most probably be necessary. Any recommendations about where to charter? Any personal contacts? I already searched the forum, but the existing threads are quiet dated for my topic. Thanks in advance and best regards from Frankfurt/Germany!

[pistongone]

My partner is Argentinian, a "Porteno"! When I visit her family there, they live in City Bell, 10 km west of La Plata, we go to this place https://www.aeroclublaplata.com.ar/
They have a fleet of Cub's at around £43/hr wet, C172 'A and B with the Conti 0300's I think for around £51/hr wet. Also an Archer for around £55/hr wet from memory. The Peso is really good price to us now, about 103/£ Last time I checked. The club is run by Aerolineas Argentinas Airline crew and they are very friendly even to a traditional Brit, at the weekends they usually do a great Asado for the pilots and friends. The first time i went there, they gave me a tour of the facility and introduced me to the engineer and he was working on the Archer. It was good to see the machines being well maintained etc!
The 172 I flew had no intercom and no Txp, so you couldn't go west over Buenos Aires, but you can fly over La Plata which is a massive Diagonal Grid city with a huge Cathedral in the centre and the safety pilot didn't seem to be to concerned with the glide clear rule!! The Archer is fully equipped. I looked into getting a rating there and your licence is recognised there, I hold an EASA PPL, but the "Gnocchi's" are not known for there efficiency! Word was in a nutshell, a month of paper work in BA and a few visits to ANAC as you have to hold an Argentinian Licence to fly solo, ISTR you need to speak Spanish to go solo? The airline staff and the young instructor I flew with all spoke English to a good level though. If you are only going to fly a few days I would just take a safety pilot, there are a few young instructors and they don't charge for their time! There are a few more airfields along the river towards BA, Berazategui has this one https://aeroclubriodelaplata.********.com/ I didn't try them as we were closer to the other place, but they seem to have similar prices to La Plata. In the last few years the Peso has gone from 25 to 103 Peso's to the £, so the flying is very cheap! I was looking into setting up an hour builders package, but with the current situation that is on hold! Regarding that situation, they do have some harsh restrictions there, similar to the last French ones where you need written permission to be out in your car etc, they even had a system of odd and even number registration plates for different days! If you want the latest info, I could ask the family for the latest news.
One tip for getting cash there, use https://www.riamoneytransfer.com/gb/en We use them regularly to send money to her Family there and because of the Blue Dollar rate you get about 40% more than out of the cash machine!! Unfortunately there is no way to get the profit out of the country, we have looked at all angles, buy gold, not allowed to export, shares can only be sold internally etc etc. Can't even buy goods online to be delivered outside the country, we've tried it all! But it does at least make your stay there even more of a bargain.
If you want any recommendations on places to stay and eat etc, or more importantly, where not to stay drop me a pm and I will be happy to oblige. For example, just 1 km to the south west of the field is a large Favela, a very no go area! Basically it is pretty safe, but try not to look like a tourist and don't show any signs of wealth if you are walking the city etc. I would say it is similar to some of the not so salubrious parts of London, and you just need to be a bit street wise and keep your head down!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1124/wp_20160901_16_29_11_pro_copy_copy_50258e4ff26c530dd3b4b62ac 9b8557bc06f35bc.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1124/wp_20160903_12_38_12_pro_copy_496712b7a4ca8d0f7967d1ac57157e 09fb01c43b.jpg
An old Dove Gate Guardian!
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1124/wp_20160903_14_07_59_pro_d7ef879df804555273e9357bc3eb7f06466 57aa1.jpg
The Cathedral in the Centre of town

[pistongone]

Sorry I assumed you will be going to Buenos Aires. I was working down in Rio Grande, Tierra Del Fuego and the situation there is not good, I tried to Organise a PA32 at a flying club to fly down to Ushuaia which would have been a fantastic flight over the mountains, but they didn't seem to like my English Accent, but then the main street in Rio Grande has a memorial to the "Malivinas" war!
Any questions feel free to ask here or pm is fine!

[ffmfrankfurt]

Wow - thank you so much for the detailed answer! I will have a further look tomorrow - it´s my day off....
What did you do to get your license accepted in Argentina? I tried to contact the local authorities, but they seem to be pretty slow
in answering.
Have a nice weekend!

I have sent you a personal message.

[pistongone]

I was told to get your Argentine ticket would take about a month, pre virus days! The Argentinians are expert at wasting time. They are not known as "Gnocchi's" for nothing😁 I went with the safety pilot as it was much easier. Obviously my partner speaks Spanish, but she couldn't work the radio and the potential confusion is obvious. So you need to speak Spanish at most non international airports, similar to the français seulement at many French airfields. It is a coincidence you are going to Cordoba and you are from Frankfurt, my partners sister works for the Argentine Space agency, CONAE, building their Satellites in Cordoba and they are talking of sending her to Germany for some project. Are you connected in that industry by any chance?
As far as airfields around Cordoba goes, I only know of two plus the International one and there's no GA there! La Cumbre airfield (Appx 45km NW of SACO) seems to be a training base on Pipistrel Alphas and a parachuting centre. They seem to have a Mooney but that would require a few hours check out I would assume etc etc. Aeródromo Alta Gracia appx 42km SW of SACO, has this fb page, https://www.facebook.com/aeroclubaltgraciaoficial/?modal=admin_todo_tour,
not sure what's on offer there, but may be able to get the Mrs to send a mail if you're interested? Her family are building a house and a few rental cabins 30km west of Cordoba by Lago San Roque, so I will be going there sometime in the near future too. But not before March unfortunately! I am really not enamoured at the thought of 15 hrs on a jet wearing a mask though 🤔
From Europe you will probably fly into Ezeiza unless you get a connection en-route, in which case you may fly to Cordoba bypassing Buenos Aires? I would plan it to land at Ezeiza and make a few days spare there to fly out of Tolosa and then carry on to Cordoba, or the reverse depending on timings? Aero Parque is a nice smaller airport in the centre of Buenos Aires similar to London City and they fly to Cordoba from there and the flights are very cheap, like the loco's here.
If you need any more info nearer the date, just ask no problem.
👍

[ivannparra]

Hello, I'm from Argentina, specifically from City Bell, La Plata, what a coincidence. Just a detail, if the family is from City Bell, they are not Porteños, Porteños are only from CABA (Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires), the capital of Buenos Aires Province.

I don't know anything about regulations for foreign certificates, but as mentioned, would be much easier to hire a safety pilot. Just go to a flight school or an air club and talk with owners and other pilots. There is no need to fly with a CFI, you can also fly with a private pilot seeking hours for the commercial certificate, he is not going to charge anything for that (although I would pay him, so we can stop the "flying for the hour culture". In Argentina a CFI earns 9 USD per hour because they are also building hours). The wet hourly rate without a safety pilot of a Cessna 150 is about 100 usd.

[pistongone]

Hi, yes it is a bit of a coincidence!! The family come from Puerto Madeira and Palermo etc, but mainly settled in City Bell and Villa Lisa due to the Portuguese connection, so they consider themselves "Portenos"!.
I fly with the Aerolineas guys out of Tolosa when I am there, their charges are way less than $100/hr wet, all published on their web site. I noticed for a long time they matched the blue dollar rate and kept it around $60/hr for the old 172's, But over the last few years the Peso has gone down so much, 2012 6.5 Ars/£, Currently 106 Ars/£!! Also you can get a large boost by sending your money ahead through RIA or any other reputable exchange house. Just to be clear, $100 now is worth Ars 14500
As you can see their pricing now is only Circa 5000Ars/hr for a 172, https://www.aeroclublaplata.com.ar/aeronaves/

[ffmfrankfurt]

Thanks for all the detailed answers - great job!!