The Piper Pacer isn’t known as a high performance, high altitude airplane, but Santiago Arbelaez didn’t let that stop him. In this Friday Photo he shows his 1954 PA-22 parked at Las Acacias, Colombia, with a field elevation over 8000 feet. Not a bad place to stop while you tour the Andes.
Sometimes pilots have a wingman, one they don’t know about until the last minute. Santiago Arbelaez discovered that when he was about to land on runway 9L at Opa Locka Airport in Florida. His Cessna 172 was losing the race to his shadow, which was just over the numbers.
“Sometimes the combination of mountains and tropical weather brings you the opportunity to witness beautiful views, even when you are on long final,” says Santiago Arbelaez. That’s certainly true of this beautiful Friday Photo, which shows a rainbow just under the wing of his Cessna 185.
In tropical countries storms build up very fast; you must be aware of that and take care of you and your plane. That’s what Santiago Arbelaez is doing in this week’s Friday Photo. It shows his 1954 Piper Pacer tied down at Tolu, Colombia, in preparation for a nasty storm.
Even after 10,000 hours, Claudia Garces loves the thrill of landing. Of course, when your airport is 4,950 ft above sea level, in the middle of a city surrounded by mountains, it is a little more interesting. “Every landing is an exercise of concentration and precision, and that’s exactly what makes it special.”
When you’re practicing aerobatics, it helps to have a good visual reference for your maneuvers. Santiago Arbelaez found the perfect one on a flight in his RV-4 – a vivid rainbow off the right wing. Here’s hoping 2019 brings you many spectacular views like this from the cockpit.
