The 12th stage has succesfully finished in Arica, Chile. The flight was 2191 km long and Matevž needed  8 h and 46 minutes for reaching Arica. As we talked with Matevž by the phone after landing, he said the flight was quite strenous, it was raining at the beginning, then at half of the way the weather got slightly better. When he landed it was still very windy and he tried to find a safe place to tighten the plane.

Today the shedualed take-off is at 10.00 UTC in directon to Porto Velho. Flight should take only 5 hours and 30 minutes and the distance is 1350 km . We are expecting Matevž in Port Velho at 16.00 UTC.

Most likely there will be delays in take-off since the weather in Andes is not really got. We will keep you inform about the progress.

Safe flying, Matevž!

"Quito is a special airport, right in the middle of town, but covered with army, as everywhere in Ecuador. All officers, soldiers and other people are very friendly, but no one has the whole picture of the problem and because of that they are lost in details and are therefore completely ineffective. For a good half an hour-long local flight to Zambata the process lasted five and a half hours. Without Julia’s right hand Gabi I would probably not even come through in one week. Anyway, this afternoon I finished with the military airport in Ambatu, where Julio Vizuete with his Virus SW was waiting for me, accompanied with Uve Nikelson, mechanic for Rotax engine and his father, with a German roots. Service has been made extremely fast, very good quality and free. We filled up halfway 90 octane fuel, in Guayaquil I will add 100LL aviation gas, which will be just right. Unfortunately, so far I have not seen a single volcano, although I’m in Ecuador because of them. Cotopaxi, Chimborazo ... they are all hidden in the clouds. The morning in Ambatu was even worse for IFR departure, it was pretty cool and there was definitely ice in the clouds. Julio got the information that near Quito one pass opened, so we flew in formation through and remained at about 13,000 ft until the hills were behind us, then we descended through a thick layer of clouds and we didn’t come out until about 800ft above terrain. This led to some strange heading, because we were descending in opposite directions, so that we wouldn’t crash in the clouds. Approaching Guayaquil the base of the clouds has risen above 2500 feet. In this time of year it is raining every day, the fields of rice (mainly cultivated here) are covered with water.  Even in the afternoon there were heavy rains and I hope it will run out of water for at least tomorrow".

With best regards, Matevz

Dear all,

Due to bad weather in Ecuador, flight plan is delayed.

Matevz will probably continue his journey tomorrow on January 27th, departing from the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and continue as planned to Arica, Chile.  The planned take off is at 11.00 UTC. The fligth is 2191 km long and will take about 8h 30 minutes to Arica in Chile. 

All departures and arrivals from January 27th are changed for 24 hours.
Thank you for your understanding and our best regards.

GLWF team

In the last days there were some significant changes and we wan't to summarize them, so that you don't loose the track. The 11th stage of the Green Light World Flight, which has started on 23rd  ofJanuary in Managua, Nicaragua, had it successful finish in town called Esmeraldas in Equador. Matevž flew 1743 km and he needed 7 hours for the distance. The flight plan changed a bit due to bad weather forecast in Ecuador. It lasted only 7 hours, which is slightly shorter as we have planned and reported. Also the final landing destination has changed to Esmeraldas. In Ecuador we planned two-days off to rest and to do the service of Rotax engine, however, Matevz decided on Thuesday 24th of January to continue with his flight. He flew from General Rivadeneira Airport (SETN) to Mariscal Sucre International Airport (ICAO code SEQU), where he was expected and greeted by Pipistrel distributor, Mr. Julio Vizuete, who arranged service for Matevz's airplane. The Airport of Quito is located at 2800 m of elevation and is hard to access due to neighbouring hills, especially in bad weather with fog and clouds. Because the mechanics and expert for Rotax service could not come to Quito, Matevž decided to fly further to local military airport Ambato (SAEM), where they could finally do the service of the airplane engine. At last the service was done and now the plane is again in perfect shape and ready for new wins. Matevž slept nearby the airport in Ambato and he plans to take off in the early morning of 26th of January towards Guayaquil, which is international airport only about an hour of flying distance from Ambato. From there he plans to continue towards Chile. In case the administration will take too long, we will postpone the flight to Chile to 27th of January.

Stay with us also in the next days!

GLWF team

Obveščamo vas, da je Slovenska turistična organizacija (STO) pripravila kratek video o projektu Green Light World Flight. Predstavitveni video je na voljo v angleškem in slovenskem jeziku. Obe različici sta na voljo na STO You Tube kanalu:
http://www.youtube.com/slovenia

Vabimo vas, da ga delite s čim večjim številom slovenskih in tujih uporabnikov
interneta ter tako še dodatno prispevate k promociji projekta.

We would like to inform you that Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) prepared a short video about the project Green Light World Flight. Video is available in English and Slovenian version.

Both versions are available on the STB YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/slovenia

We invite you to share it with the largest possible number of internet users and contribute to the promotion of the project.

Greetings from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, where about 2 million people live at 3000 m. Today’s flight was short but a bit stressful because of the weather. After the landing, Julijo Vizuete – the owner and distributor of Pipistrel aircrafts here in Ecuador, has arranged everything from permissions to hotel and taxis... Once again I couldn’t really spend any money. It was raining during the nigh, but the morning was dry and the visibility was much better. After a loooong battle with paperwork I was finally ready to climb to 16,000 feet which is MEA (minimum enroute altitude) for crossing the mountains around Quito. The clouds surrounded me soon and I had to change into IFR again and follow the published procedures for landing.
At three degrees °C the wings were covered with ice, so I asked the air controller to allow me to descend slightly, which was approved. When I went out of the clouds and established ILS final approach I was surprised by the fact that the city is so big and that the runway is almost in the centre of it. Julio was waiting for me and again helped me to get through all the necessary procedures at the airport. During the afternoon I talked quite a lot with Julio, Analia and other company partners and it was great.

Another successfull finished of 11th Stage! Wooho! Bravo Matevž!

Here are some more detail description and feeling that Matevž wrote about the last 3 days of flying. We hope you enjoy that !

"Hi guys, don’t worry, everything is OK. The reason that the tracking stopped working is quite simple. It was actually the first time I remembered to switch off the spider track upon landing. Anyway, I am now in Ecuador in the good hands of Julio Vizuete, a Pipistrel dealer. Unfortunately we haven’t actually seen each other, because he was waiting for me in the highlands close to Cotopaxi, where I was supposed to land. The reason I didn’t is related to weather - I was in the clouds two hours before the landing was planed and got information from Domen and Julio about thunder cumulus clouds around destination. I would pay a fortune to have a working Stormscope. In the end I did a 180 turn and flew out of the hell back to Esmeralda airport. The airport was closed for visual approach, so I had to change into IFR and ILS for runway 18. Julio organised everything so I didn’t have any problems. I hope we will have better weather tomorrow so that I would be able to make a short flight to the highlands.

Let me also share a couple of thoughts about the previous stages. One minute after I left Calexico, California, I was already in the Mexican airspace and was able to talk to friendly Mexican controllers, who spoke English fluently. The flight was smooth and I flew close to the ground and made some nice photos. Later on, the haze came round so I couldn’t really use the camera and I decided to climb up to 5500 ft and remained there for the rest of the flight. Just an hour before landing, the haze got even thicker, so the airport only became visible once I was right above it. After landing, I asked the controller about the tie-downs and fuel, but they asked me if I need a shower first. I said to myself: “OK, another shit with decontamination,” and answered that I agreed with the shower. But than I saw two firefighting vehicles and realized that this was Hugo’s job and they gave the Virus a good wash. When I stepped out of the plane it was like a dream. Many people came to greet me and wanted to take a closer look at Pipistrel’s dream machine. Hugo Herrera helped me with everything that I needed - fuel, hotel, different fees, so I couldn't spend even a peso, much less a dollar. So dear Hugo, thank you, this was an enormous surprise. I won’t forget what you’ve done for me and the Greenlight WorldFlight project.

With only a slight delay I was back in the air, but the air around the cost was hazy and I didn’t get a chance to take photos. The flight was a bit uncertain as it was Sunday and the airport in Costarica didn’t operate 24/7 and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to land. Apart from that, we didn’t get permission to land in Nikaragua. In the end it was all down to Domen and his organisational skills and he managed to arrange everything in just a couple of hours. Thank you, Domen, the flight would not be possible without you!

During the flight the light got better so I was flying up and down to take some good shots. Then the head wind picked up and I became quite slow. The ETA in my Garmin showed that I would have to approach Managua in the dark. The weather report was not perfect so I would have to decide between visual or instrumental approach, but in the end, everything went smooth, mainly because of the weather was way better than forcasted. A bunch of airport guys got around the aircraft before I even managed to get my legs out of it. Customs, police and three police dogs examined the plane, but they were all very friendly. So this is Managua. Great, life really is a gift.

In the morning the departure was slightly delayed and I flew into the turbulent sky which calmed down above the clouds. Costarica lies quite high, and has big cities almost at the top of high volcanoes. I had to climb up to 14000 ft to see clear mountains and rising clouds. I was late and expected bad weather at destination and I discussed different landing options with Domen. He suggested that I land in Bogota, Columbia, but I decided to fly directly across the sea to Esmeralda where I expected the conditions would be good enough to land, even in bad weather. I remained at 11500 ft deep in the clouds, despite the rain. It is quite funny, how the rain slows the aircraft down. Light rain takes 5-10 kts of the speed, heavy rain even more than 20 kts. But there was no turbulence at all and Trutrack autopilot did all the work for me. You would never guess which is my favourite instrument on board – the Spidertrack. The red and yellow dots and threads make me feel like I am not alone.”

You are not alone, Matevž! The whole team is here and also so many supporters! We fly with you like it or not :-))

Matevz started with about two hours of delay and took off from Manzanillo at 15.20 UTC and after 2105km and 8h and 38 minutes landed  in Managua at 23:58 UTC! The reason for changing the flight plan, was aerodrome operational hours in Liberia, Costarica! Aerodrom has no 24 HR operational time.

He is flying again today! Expected take off  from Managua (Nicaragua) at 12.30 UTC and 9 hours later we can expect him at  Tulcan (Ecuador). The flight is 2130 km long. In case there will be some changes or delays, we will inform you on time as usual!