Chubut - Patagonia

[jt_williams 291]

Chubut - Patagonia

Chubut is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel and the 46th parallel south, with the Andes range to the west, and the Atlantic ocean to the east.

We depart from Comodoro Rivadavia (SAVC) on the Atlantic coast and the largest city south of the 45^th parallel and home to the National University of Patagonia and proceed westward. 

Our first stop is Sarmiento (SAUT) located on the so-called Central Corridor of Patagonia, in a fertile valley amidst an otherwise arid region. Sarmiento sits between two lakes and notable attractions are the Petrified Forest and caves with Aborigine hand paintings.

The route turns to the northwest and after 70nm we reach Estancia La Laurita (SAAW) - a hard to see dirt airstrip with the threshold of runway 28 located just past highway 40.  Our route continues northward - roughly parallel highway 40 - where you have a choice of four dirt landing strips at Jose De San Martin (SAWS).   

We continue our northwesterly crossing of the central plains region reaching Estancia Tecka Airport (SATX) nestled in a protected green valley.  Leaving the cold plains behind we head westward into the Andes.  The next landing at Alto Palena (SCAP) in the Los Lagos region of Chile.

Winding our way through the river valleys we reach Futaleufú (SCFT).   The town is named after the crystal blue Futaleufú River, widely considered to be one of the best whitewater rafting rivers in the world.  The main income for the community is whitewater kayaking and rafting, together with fly fishing and other associated outdoor sports. 

A short leg will take us back into Argentina to Aerodromo De Trevelin (TVN).   Trevelin - on the eastern banks of the Percy River was important in the Welsh settlement of Chubut.  It was named Trevelin (from Trefelin, the Welsh for "mill town") after the first flour mill, known as "Los Andes.   Y Wladfa ('The Welsh Settlement'), refers to the establishment of settlements by Welsh immigrants in the Argentine Patagonia, beginning in 1865, mainly along the coast of the lower Chubut Valley. 

The idea of a Welsh colony in Patagonia was put forward by Michael D. Jones, a Welsh nationalist nonconformist preacher based in Bala, Gwynedd, who had called for a new "little Wales beyond Wales". He spent some years in the United States, where he observed that Welsh immigrants assimilated very quickly compared with other peoples and often lost much of their Welsh identity.  Thus, the original proposal was to establish a new Wales overseas where Welsh settlers and their culture would be generally free from foreign domination.  Patagonia was chosen for its isolation and the Argentines' offer of 100 square miles of land along the Chubut River in exchange for settling the still-unconquered land of Patagonia for Argentina.

The route continues to Esquel (SAVE) which dates to the arrival of Welsh immigrants in Chubut in 1865.  An important tourist attraction is the narrow-gauge railway known as La Trochita locally and in English as The Old Patagonian Express after the book The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux. At 250 miles in length, it is said to be the only narrow-gauge long-distance line in operation and the southernmost railway in the world.

Argentina, travelling on the Patagonian express (youtube.com)

The next leg (52nm) roughly follows the now discontinued route of La Trochita north to El Maiten (SAVD).  The town of El Maitén lies on the right bank of the Chubut River.  This geographic region is a clear example of the transition between the humid wooded Andes areas to the West, and the classic more arid steppes of central Patagonia.

The final leg takes us to our finishing airstrip - Cholila Lodge (CHO) on banks of Cholila Lake.  Cholila Lodge Aero Fishing is a Private Aerodrome, owned by Daniel Roy Wegrzyn.  Cholila Lodge Aero Fishing is located about 15km away from the city of Cholila.  It’s well know as the place where Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid bought a Ranch in 1901 and lived until 1905 to escape from the US after the Great Northern Train Robbery. In 1905 The Pinkerton U.S. agency researchers followed them to Cholila, so they had to leave this place (Wooden Cabin has been restored in 2007).

The route is 411 nm and an aircraft capable of 200knts cruise is recommended.  I plan to fly the SWS PC-12.   Patagonia is characterized by strong winds throughout the year which could impact the speed of our progress towards the Andes region.  I have included the scattered clouds weather theme which we may use if needed in the flightplan zip.

Flight Plan HERE

Recommended Scenery

•         Aeródromo Alto Palena - SCAP for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS
•         Aeròdromo Futaleufù SCFT - Futaleufù, Chile for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS
•         Trevelin-Patagonia Bush Pilots (TVN) Argentina for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS

Required Scenery

•         Cholila Lodge Aero Fishing - Patagonia for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS (REQUIRED)

 

Recommend Departure time of 2:00PM local

Particulars:

•           Date and time: Saturday January 20, 19:00 UTC
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[MM 426]

This is really excellent. Lots of variation in scenery and a few tough airports. Great stuff.

Here is a very tiny addition. From RoloBach we have an interesting package of smaller airports for the Southern part of South America. These are modest (and sometimes better) improvements for many medium and small airports as well as dirt strips. At FlightSim.to: FSonFS (Flight Simulator on Far South). RoloBach.

The whole package is worth having for future use. For Jeff’s Chubut Patagonia run, you can get a very small subset of four entries here.

PS. Do not install the full RoloBach package without reading the instructions. (The author’s SAUT entry will disable the default SAUT airstrip which is on our itinerary Saturday. Not sure about the reason.) The subset pack is ok.

PPS. There does seem to be a current sale on for Simulacion Extrema airports in the MSFS Marketplace ... as of Thursday, January 18, 2024. Simulacion Extrema do many airports for Argentina and Chile (and some elsewhere). Jeff...any recommendations?

[jt_williams 291]

 

The upgraded airports that Mike suggested are worth downloading.  I have made two small changes to the flightplan.  There are two airstrips in Sarmiento - SAUT and SAVT.  I recommend that we land at SAVT as it has some modest improvements compared to the empty SAUT.   The second change is that I have added a waypoint (BCR) which shows the location of the Buch Cassidy Ranch on our final leg. 

 

The revised flight plan is HERE