Ricardo Maciel and SkyWeek Amazonia!

For this months’ episode we are joined by the main man himself, Ricardo Maciel. Ricardo has proven himself as an integral part of SkySchool over the last several years, proudly acting as one of our Chief Flying Instructors. He also runs our Vittorazi Motor Maintenance Workshops, as well as handling the logistics for our SkyWeek trips, including our recent trips to the Dolomites, France and Brazil!

Most recently, Ricardo led a group of qualified pilots on arguably the most incredible SkyWeek trip to date. SkyWeek Amazonia! I sat down with Ricardo and this is what he had to tell me!

"Hello Ricardo! Good to see you buddy, how are you? Managing to survive the start of the UK winter!?"

"Yes, actually it’s not that bad this year, it’s been very cool, I think I am more mentally prepared. I really enjoyed my vacation, and I’m doing a few things to keep busy. I’m enjoying some stuff on Netflix, and doing a few odd jobs around the place!"

"Good man, and you’ve got a massive dressing gown to keep you warm…"

"Ah yeah, from Amazon.com, £19.99…"

"Haha, speaking of Amazon, your SkyWeek Amazonia trip, it looked incredible! How many pilots did you end up bringing out there?"

"I took 4 pilots, at the beginning it was 5 but we had one cancellation. This trip was a recce, to check the whole infrastructure for a big trip in 2025, so just a few pilots. It was really really amazing. Even for me, it was an area I had not seen before, but I loved it and I enjoyed every moment!"

"So where did the trip start?"

"The trip started in the UK, we flew from the UK to Belém, Northeast of Brazil. The flight was easy, about 8 and a half hours, very quick. As soon as we arrived we rested, then flew to Santarém. From Santarém we met with our logistics team, jumped on a bus and drove 45 minutes to a town called Alter do Chão. We had to acclimatise here for 48 hours due to the heat and humidity."

"We began setting our equipment up, within a couple of hours we had everything set up, then moved to the Head quarters, fueled up and then had an amazing sunset flight. This was the flight when we all realised “Wow, we are in the Amazon!” The Amazon forest covers many other states, not just the Amazon state. In Para, the Amazon river crosses through. In one spot, the river was so wide we couldn’t see the other side, but fortunately we had landing options all around us, long beaches and then behind them mangroves. We had unusual conditions though. This is the time of year where the river goes down. Apparently this was the lowest it had been since 1963, down almost 3 meters, but this meant we had sandbanks everywhere!"

"And what about the wildlife. I’ve heard you have Anacondas and crocodiles? Were you not afraid of these?"

"The water was too far away from the forest, and the animals all seemed to be inside the forest, so we didn’t have to worry! We were there to fly and enjoy the view. We did go to a local zoo though, to see the Manatees. These things are beautiful. We also saw a baby Brazilian Tiger, and that was very special…"

"It sounds like an incredible trip… I asked you earlier how many kilometers you had done in total and you mentioned that this was not the point of the trip, it was more to do with flying, exploring, landing in a new spot."

"Yeah, exactly. It’s rough. We couldn’t survive for more than 4 or 5 days, it’s hot, it’s too humid, even though it’s not summer, it’s 38 degrees! The boat is our heaven, so we relax there, stay in the water, crystal clear waters, and we take one of the rivers that feeds the Amazon, a tributary, the tapajoyce, and it is totally clear. There are also no mosquitos because the PH is too high, which is a massive bonus. We live in shorts and t-shirts, I only put shoes on when it’s time to fly."

"What was the accommodation like?"

"We stayed on a houseboat, it was incredible and the crew looked after us so well. They cooked for us, took care of us, provided so much fresh food, and a lot of beers! We just relaxed, enjoyed the scenery, and flew a lot… The pilots commented on the quality of the fish. The local fishermen would bring the catch of the day, every morning, totally fresh. Next year my vision is to fly a lot, then spend 2 or 3 more days exploring the rainforest, checking out the local wildlife, and get some activities not related to Paramotoring done!"

"Perfect, and you’re looking at October 2025 for the next SkyWeek Amazonia?"

"Yep, we are working on confirming all of the logistics and will publish official dates as soon as possible!"

"And before then you are running another SkyWeek Brazil?"

"Yep, SkyWeek Brazil taking place April 2025 in Rio. We have 3 spots left on this trip. This will be our 4th year running this trip! And this trip is full of flying… This year we used 21 litres of oil, with some pilots racking up 850km of flying!"