Evening star., 1928-01-30
Indy IN CARACAS
AFTER LOSING WAY
Describes Hazardous Flight
Over Mountains From b.
gotta to Maracay.

BY COL. CHARLES A. LINDBERGH.
by Wireless to The Star and New York Times.
MARACAY, Venezuela. January 3d.
1 left Bogota at Gas am. yesterday ano
headed directly for Caracas. The SKY
was clear at Bogota, but many OF the
mountains were covered with clouds.
/ did not find 1t necessary TO oetour
for the first 125 miles. During TINS
time there were numerous places where
a landing would have been possible al
though the fields were rather small Tor
such high attitudes.
The sky became more and more over
cast. and shortly found 1t necessary
to reverse my course. as the path winch
1 was following at approximately lO.oou
feet narrowed and ended against the
mountainside. / spirailed around for
about 20 minutes before finding clear
sDot above the ridge. which / barely
PASSED over at $4,000 feet. At this point
the mountainous country ended. The
cloud level lowered to about 1900 feet.
and as far as I could see the ground was
covered with cumulus clouds up TO about
1000 feet. Near to the mountains there
was q hole through which descended
to 5000 feet and again renewed my
course for Caracas.
I had to detour again within q few
miles due TO a local storm which lowered
visibility practically TO the grouni
Bucks Strong Headwinds.
When / again took up my course /
vas over the open plains. or ilanos
where q landing might be made at
practically any point ! wished. The
altitude OF the plains was about 1000
feet above sea level They were COW
cred with thousands of cattle.
At this point was flying at q very
low altitude, sometimes so feet from the
ground. II Immediately became apparent
that was bucking an unusually strong
headwind. flying broadly between 10
and so miles an hour. At short inter-
walls the llanos were crossed by small
streams which often formed shallow
lakes
/ noticed that In addition to the
cattle, there apparently were numerous
heads OF hogs around the water. Due
TO the peculiar appearance OF the
animals. / circled and passed about
10 feet above them.
They turned out TO be peccaries. and
as passed they dashed into the water
and swan away quickly TO the opposite
bank As I was completing the circle
two anteiopes bounded out OF the grass
and attempted 10 outdistance my plane
The entire llano for the two or three
hundred miles along my course and as
far rs ! could see was covered with
these animals
IL was very seldom, In fact, that l
bnFa n{ RaeNaFt
dozen or more antelope In addition To
wild birds OF larger and different
variety than ! have previously seen In
the tropics. A number Of these were
brilliant red. some Of the larger ones a
pink color, which believed TO be
flamingoes. and still others were bril-
liant green.
400 Miles without Landmarks.
There were no landmarks by which
I could locate my position even approxi-
mateiy for 400 miles after ! had lett
the mountains. Then "A range OF noun
tains appeared distantly on the western
horizon. giving me very approximate
location oi my position.
IL would be necessary 10 cross the
mountains before reaching Caracas. b,It
is / approached closer 10 the city the
range was covered with low clouds.
making 1T impossible for ne to go
through
followed the southern side of the
mountain for over two hours before
finding an opening IN the clouds. When
! | reached the Caribbean | located my
position as I'll Hapall0. slightly over 100
miles from Caracas.
II WAS then 4 O'Clock ] was nearly
200 miles from the Field Of Maracay
and sunset would come at appfoxi~
mateiy q O'Clock. II was doubtful
whether | could land at Maracay II the
mountains only little south had beer,
completely covered by clouds.
flew the entire distance with Wide
of,en throttle In order 10 arrive before
dark and several times II appeared
| pr0bable that a landing a. some other
point would be necessary, The tide was
high, making landing on the sand very
difficult and there were few possibilities
Of finding a field inland
A. | approached Caracas the coast
WAS more rugged and tbs sand beach
disappeared The railroad from Lagu-
| aira t0 Caracas WAS fog covered, but by
going d little further along tha eoas,
and hack tracking | was able 10 reach
| the city and cDntinus 10 MaTaeay, land
| Ina al sunset
The greater part Of my route from
iCsAtinusd on Page 1. Column ~