It was still a long time off, but Manfred was finally able to fly the second half of his trip with our CX-PBO. In comparison to the previously borrowed C182, we appreciated our PBO all the more. Due to the fact that the borrowed CX-ATZ, a C182 from 1957, simply had less space and did not fly as sturdy as the younger machine. But we enjoyed her neat cockpit and pretty appearance every day. In addition Manfred had another flying experience and I found an additional partner for the project, the owner of the ATZ.
We flew to two different airfields for training almost every day. Airwork, traffic patterns, touch and gos, spot landings from different heights and so on. All of those exercises were flown alternately at grass fields or at international airports. Yes, this is possible in Uruguay. It is even so that air traffic controlers are happy when pilots use their airspaces. The excellent infrastructure is not used very much. For Europeans pilots these are heavenly conditions. Airspace G almost everywhere and hardly any traffic.
Our tour took us along the Rio de la Plata and the Atlantic coast, to agricultural pilots, to the international jazz festival in Mercedes, to an old estancia, to Salto where we were able to enjoy excellent massages and of course to Colonia del Sacramento, the starting point of the trip. As always our encounters with colleagues from the local aero clubs were warm and positive. The last evening we enjoyed a classic goodbye at our farm with Swiss friends, meaning we had a wonderful asado. What a successful trip!
