Congrats @TeTeT !
@BierRunner I dont think I will make it on time either, but I will finish it anyway 
here I am progressing down along the Chilean Argentinean border with live weather obscuring my approach to one of my destinations SCPH
when the weather further deteriorated and I started to saw only glimpses of the terrain around I decided that I didnt fly that far just to see only clouds innards and set the scattered weather preset instead
much better
and pressed further south, eventually reached Ushuaia which claims the title of world’s southernmost city.
following the strait bays passed by Torres del Paine. but there was nothing to see unfortunately
Punta Arenas city north of the Strait of Magellan. was wondering what such big city is doing that far South
Punta Arenas was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert sovereignty over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade travelling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia attracted to the gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s.
and approaching town of Ushuaia with live weather back on
landed on the Ushuaia aeroclub runway just a little north of the int. airport
Nice AAR! Interesting info on Punta Arenas too!
That was unfortunate. I am glad I picked up the SCNT Puerto Natales payware scenery which as a bonus includes Torres Del Paine national park which is some 45nm north of the airport. Evidently the Bing elevation data isn’t great in that area.
Great progress everyone. For those that are close, don’t give up! Who cares when you get there? It’s still a journey worth taking.
@PaulRix there’s a cat on the PMDG forums that’s doing exactly this.
That’s very neat… and he picked a great airplane to do it in. I’d love to do the trek in the 314 but some of those legs were 18 hours long… 
If someone made me a 314 in MSFS, I’d totally do those 18 hour legs! 
It’s evidently coming, but rather slowly (just like the airplane itself). No updates since June that I can find, but hopefully progress is being made.
for the final water crossing I have decided for something that can carry lot of goodies for the NY party!
this is going to be a fun even before we arrive
lot of bad weather over the ocean
approaching under the radar, VFR style
and we made it! lets distribute all the beers to everyone! winds definitely helped with the stopping - 35025G36KT
Great New Year to all of you! 
Scud-running in a 74….gutsy move ;).
Congratulations on reaching Stanley! As always, the bar is open for the rest of the year! 
Congratulations, @TeTeT and @NEVO !
Nice shots by @BierRunner and @boomerang10 Looking forward to seeing more of your journeys!
Now that’s arriving in style! Welcome and congratulations!
Made it in late afternoon yesterday, no one told me it was a 3,000 foot runway! 
I guess I could have done some preflight planning but…
Weather was good when I got in but didn’t make for very interesting screenshots.
Replacement crew is headed down in AH2, see you guys at the bar!
Happy new year!
zactly!
congrats @boomerang10 ! 
Happy New Year Mudspike peeps!
Well, I did decide to soldier on and made a new goal to reach Argentina. Little did I know I would achieve that goal sooner than expected.
I also decided that, to entertain myself, I would try a new airplane. So I plunked down a few drachma on a Cessna T182T.
I don’t know what the general view is here is of Cessna (I trained a little in a Cessna 150 back in 1984-85) but this is a Cessna with hutzpah and more than up for this task.
A short hop from SCDA to SCCF and then on to SCAT. These legs were without incedent, the only challenge being the persistent 20kt wind in my face. It did, however, make for two easy straight in landings. Chile has a preponderance of North/South runways which is genius!
How do you stay “step ladder, please” in Spanish?
Then a long hop, 562 nm, to General Bernado O’Higgins Airport (SCCH) in Chillan. Bernardo is a fascinating character in the story of Spanish American independence (I neglected to mention the Mariscal Sucre Airport up in Ecuador, another such character). History is everywhere around us!
So, here is where it gets interesting. I headed off for Futaleufu (SCFT), surprisingly, through snow capped mountains (I thought the Andes were shorter down here).
The turbulence at 11k was pretty impressive, and the chorizo taco I had for lunch was in jeopardy, but I made it through to a pleasant descent to the airport which is somewhere down there at about 2k.
Let’s just say, I never made it to Futaleufu. As I descended, the Garmin showed me a valley in a canyon between steep mountains on either side. It was covered in snow! (I thought it was summer down here). These were red on the terrain map, which is bad, but the canyon floor was green and yellow, which is good. So, I proceeded into the canyon, which turned gently to the right, at about 5K.
As I turned into the canyon, it was filled with cloud/fog/snow and, despite Garmin’s assertion that all was safe, I was skeptical. Good thing too because I was soon confronted with a mountain face that was not supposed to be there! I managed to turn back and fly in circles a bit to get my bearings but there wasn’t enough visibility to work it out. I saw a second airport about 50nm away and I diverted there in hopes of better visibility.
Interesting, the airport is in Esquel, Argentina (SAVE). The meaning of the airport letters was not lost on me.
My appologies for no pictures of the emergency. Just know they were filled with panic, swearing and random frenetic activity that, despite itself, worked.
After corkscrewing around to get back to 10k (heck it worked on the way in, right), I followed the new, but suspect, magenta line until I saw this:
Overwhelming joy was immediately followed by the realization that the sun was now setting. Question, would they leave the lights on?
Si!!
Congrats @boomerang10 !
Lovely report @BierRunner ! I especially like this shot. It is pleasing to the eye but also conveys that feeling of relief and tension that I tend to get on these treks with various emergencies.
Congrats @boomerang10 !
And another great report by @BierRunner, emergencies are great when you can look back at them and say “I still made it!”
Awesome report @BierRunner!
There seems to be a trend on this year’s trek of pilots saying, “Hey, what’s that mountain goat doing up here in the clouds?” 
Keep ‘em coming!
