Wannukandi – La Palma – Punta Cocos

Today I wanted to do some more VFR “flying” in Panama with real time weather but making use of the instruments. Prior to going out to see fireworks of July 4th with friends, I decided to do this 2-leg trip. There are very few navigation charts published for Panama and for what I hear from real pilots in the area, it is more like bush piloting. So, that is more or less what I am recreating and in the process plotting and charting my navigation stuff.

Today, we will be flying our virtual Cessna Grand Caravan C208B (ICAO: C208) from Wannukandi (territory of San Blas) over the jungle and continental divide to La Palma, Darien in our 1st leg.

Wannukandi departure, San Blas
In FSX it goes by ICAO code MPWN yet I doubt it actually exists (or not anymore) as it is not visible in satellite imagery. There is however the TUPILE NDB (TPL 356.00 khz). With the FSX South America Mesh this airfield is slightly sunk into the ground but usable with some dexterity. We took off towards the sea (as in most runways in this region) rather than risking our aircraft with the hills right south of the runway. Upon takeoff over the beautiful Caribbean Sea we make a 360 degree turn due South South East (heading 159) inland towards FIX 0978N (N 09.000 W 078.000) some 17nm. We ran into some ominous clouds, it is the rainy season. I hope you load sufficient fuel because if you go down in this leg it is very unlikely you will be found alive. We climbed to 6500’ with TPL tuned into the ADF.

La Palma, Darien
Upon reaching our fix we changed heading to 196 for the next 37nm. By now you should have tuned the La Palma VOR (PML 113.10) and set the OBS on NAV1 accordingly. Lots of jungle and perilous animals down there, some settlements and aboriginals as well. Keep sufficient altitude as there are several mountain ranges in the area. On the photo above we are on initial approach to La Palma (9nm north of it) with a clear view of the great Tuira river.

Now that we are on finals you should have a clear view of the runway, too short and you land on a deep river, too low and you will hit the trees at the head of the 2322’ long runway (trees only in FS9/FSX). If you overrun rwy 20 you will barrel the hill at the end of the runway with the nose of your aircraft. Yes, this is a tricky landing most pilots will encounter in the IVAO VFR World Tour 2010 :-) In real life this is deep jungle, not like these sparsely forested area in FS9/FSX. By the way, this airport is poorly depicted in FSX.

We landed safely with enough fuel for our next leg, there are no fuel facilities here (or in our next destination.

To Punta Cocos, Panama
Now with PML VOR (sorry no DME) still tuned on NAV1 we set the Omnibearing Selector (OBS) to radial 260. We will be riding victor airway V24 over the Gulf of Panama.

Before departure also tune to Taboga VOR DME (TBG 110.00) on NAV2, set the OBS of NAV2 to radial 127. It won’t hurt to also tuned to Taboga NDB (TBG 311.00) on the ADF.

This leg (La Palma, Punta Cocos) is about 48nm over water, you won’t want to end up lost at sea either! We will be heading to Punta Cocos in Isla del Rey (King’s Island) in Balboa, Panama. This airfield exists in real life right where it is, at the southernmost narrow tip of this great island. This is a private airfield.

Since PML is not a DME (Panama has a few DMEs) we won’t be able to directly notice arrival to 38nm outbound PML. That point is some 9nm north east of rwy. 26 of Punta Cocos (FSX: MP26, FS9: MP0H). Instead we will refer to TBG on NAV2 together with R-127 to mark 57nm DME TBG. We will start descending there, the runway is barely visible on the photo, it is that tip of the island. If you descend to much you will land on water and if you overrun the runway you will also end on the water so get your act together! This runway is 4000’ long. After landing you can greet the BOMAK intersection.

No fuel facilities here either :-) so I hope you loaded enough fuel for the home leg of 50 nm over victor airway V20 inbound TBG plus the 8nm extra towards your choice of former Howard AFB (ICAO: MPHO) or Marcos A. Gelabert in Albrook (ICAO: MPMG).