Panama Colombia Flight question

[BlenderPilot]

Hello,

Next week I will be flying in a Bell 206L4 helicopter from Mexico City to Bogota Colombia, and I have a small problem,

As you know I need to exit Panama and enter Colombia at international airtports, and this leaves me flying from Tocumen Panama to Rio Negro Colombia, this is a 300NM leg and it means I will arrive with about 30 minutes fuel remaninig to Rio Negro and I really don't like this since any deviation around the 12,000 FT mountains or any nasty WX means I will be in deep trouble.

Has any of you made this Panama - Colombia flight before? Do you know of any intl. airports in Colombia that are farther NW of RioNegro? Or maybe an intl. apt. that is farther SE of tocumen?

I was thinking of taking a fuel can w/me but I here in Mexico the fuel people will not fill jet fuel into cans under any circumstances (due to drug trafficking) and if you get caught with jet fuel you will have a lot of explaining to do. I don't know if it is the same down in Panama.

Any input will be graeatly appreciated

[Squawk7777]

Tough one ...

First of all, what is Rio Negro's ICAO ID? I cannot locate this airport, but here's what I came up with:

SKTU Gonzalo Mejia, VFR, control tower
SKLC Antonio R. Betancourt, IFR, control tower.

Unfortunately, my charts don't indicate if you can clear customs or not. Both airport are however seem to be fairly close to the border. I assume that a field with a tower should provide customs...

There's also a small VFR field in Panama MPJE Jaque. It doesn't say if Jet-A is available or not.

Good luck!

-----------------

edited:

DOD En route Supplement/Chart: Caribbean and S. America L7,9,10,11,H2

Barranquilla/Ernesto Cortissoz
SKBQ
AEROCIVIL BARRANQUILLA
No Telex

10°54'N, 74°47'W
H98
L 6, 7, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 600,000 LBS.

Bogota/Eldorado
SKBO
AEROCIVIL BOGOTA
No Telex

04°42'N, 74°09'W
H124
L 6, 7, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 600,000 LBS.

Bucaramanga/Palonegro
SKBG
AEROPUERTO DE PALONEGRO, BUCARAMANGA
No Telex

07°07'N, 73°11'W
H74
L 4, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 210,000 LBS.

Buenaventura
SKBU
CIVILAIR BUENAVENTURA
No Telex

03°49'N, 77°00'W
H35
-
-

Closed to unloading of passengers and cargo. Customs-PT. WGT-CAT: 269,000 LBS.

Cali/Alfonso Bonilla Aragon
SKCL
AEROCIVIL CALI
No Telex

03°33'N, 76°23'W
H98
L 4, 5, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 645,000 LBS.

Cartagena/Rafael Nunez
SKCG
AEROCIVIL CARTAGENA
No Telex

10°27'N, 75°31'W
H85
L 4, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 280,000 LBS.

Cucuta/Camilo Daza
SKCC
AEROCIVIL CUCUTA
No Telex

07°55'N, 72°33'W
H63
-
100, JA1

Customs-PT. WGT-CAT: 230,000 LBS.

Leticia/Vasquez Cobo
SKLT
AEROCIVIL LETICIA
No Telex

04°12'S, 69°56'W
H62
L4, 9
100, JA1

Customs-PT. WGT-CAT: 180,000 LBS.

Medellin/Olaya Herrera
SKMD
AEROCIVIL MEDELLIN
No Telex

06°13'N, 75°36'W
H82
-
100, JA1

Customs-PT. WGT-CAT: 245,000 LBS.

Pereira/Matecana
SKPE
AEROPUERTO MATECANA PEREIRA
No Telex

04°49'N, 75°45'W
H66
L 4, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 144,000 LBS.

San Andres Is./Sesquicentenario
SKSP
CIVILAIR SAN ANDRES
No Telex

12°35'N, 81°43'W
H78
L 4, 9
100, JA1

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 250,000 LBS.

Santa Marta/Simon Bolivar
SKSM
AERONAUTICA CIVIL SANTA MARTA
No Telex

11°07'N, 74°14'W
H56
L 4, 9
-

Customs-24. WGT-CAT: 143,000 LBS.


That's the info from the DoD. I don't know if there are special regs for helis and - assuming that you're Mexican - agreements between latin/south american countries. I guess you can disregard the airports I had mentioned earlier...

[jrsanch]

Probably want to take the coastal route towards Cartagena, nice airport, can clear customs and fuel is available and then proceed to Rio Negro via the Magdalena. I would consider this option if range is a concern. Definetely those mountains are quite high. A plus for you is that the wx should be improving this time of the year. I do not recall of any major airport either west of Rio Negro where you could clear customs and get Jet A and neither east of Panama/Tocumen, besides David to the North.
Good Luck!!!

[Panama Jack]

Actually, David is in the far West and Colombia is to the East.