AgAir Update - Agricultural Aviation's Newspaper: AgAir Update to Brazil

Saturday, 12 noon: There is always a certain degree of apprehension before a trip to Brazil, although I have made it more than a dozen times over the years. First, I must always be sure I have both my passport and visa (yes, I must have a visa to travel in Brazil, unlike the rest of South America). The airline ticket is always a challenge, trying to time when is the best price, usually three or four weeks before departure.

Then, there are the arrangements to be made for the trip in itself. This trip was spurned by participating in the major South American convention, this year a combination of the Brazilian national association (SINDAG) and the Mercosul of Agricultural Aviation that is a consortium of Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Chile also participates. Every third year the congress is this combination, while other years there are two separate conventions.

Since I was going to make the 24-hour trek for over 5,000 miles, with a connection in Miami and a four-hour drive after landing in Sao Paulo, I decided to leave three days early and visit a couple of operators and a vendor’s Grand Opening, AeroGlobo, one of the Air Tractor representatives for Brazil (there are three), who is associated with Lane Aviation of Texas.

Sunday, June 12, 9 a.m.: AeroGlobo representative, Bruno Girhaldi and his significant other, Adriana, picked up Grant Lane and I at the Sao Paulo international airport, Guarulhos (GRU). Grant was traveling with me, as he often does, because of his affiliation with AeroGlobo.

From GRU, with a car loaded (I had four editions of AgAir Update in four duffle bags, the June Spanish edition and Spanish Show Guide, the June Portuguese edition and Portuguese Show Guide, the 40-page guides printed for the upcoming convention and personal luggage) near capacity of the Argentine-built Cheverolet Captiva. On this trip, I paid the airlines almost as much for excess luggage as I did for the airline ticket! There would be two more airline flights in Brazil, with this excessive luggage, before arriving at my final destination for the convention, Floirianopolis.

We drove about four hours to Botucatu, where the new offices of AeroGlobo are located. Owner, Fabiano Zaccarelli Cunha, hosted a grand opening at 5p with dignitaries from the city, the architect, employees, nearby ag-operators, and of course, Grant and I.

AeroGlobo has become a moving force for selling new Air Tractors throughout Brazil. Fabiano understands the potential of the market expanding into turbine powered aircraft, much like the U.S. did in the 1980s. A presentation was made providing data to substantiate his belief. Because of this, AeroGlobo has established six service centers for Air Tractor support throughout Brazil, as well as a training facility to transitioning Brazilian ag-pilots into the Air Tractor, including an AT502 simulator.

It had been a very long day and being tired was an understatement. Grant and I left early by Brazilian standards (10p) and found a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Neither of us can read or speak Portuguese, the language of Brazil. It was comical to order from the all-Brazilian menu. The Japanese item is listed in Portuguese, with a Portuguese description beneath. We may has well closed our eyes and pointed for our order! We got lucky and Grant had a beef dish and a grilled combination seafood platter, don’t ask what the combination was, please.

Monday, June 13 - Bruno picked us up at the hotel for our three-hour drive to Ribeirao Preto to meet with an operator in this region that is known as “a sea of sugar cane”. It was necessary to fill the car with petrol. My choice was gas or 100% alcohol. The price is one real ($.60 US equivalent in Brazilian currency) more for the gas, but worth it because of the improved mileage. However, Americans should not be complaining too much about the price of gas. The small Captiva held 60 liters (about 16 gallons) and cost $100 USD! Oh well...
 
Stay tuned for part two...