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Owner’s
Corner
Diamond by the Sea by Grant Boyd
2018 Diamond DA62 Dr. Mario Pereira
“Aparachute gives some sense for pleasure. Destinations include the Over the course of a decade or
of safety, but if the engine
fails and you are over the ocean with no reasonable landing options at a gliding distance, you will inevitably have to swim,” noted Mario Pereira, MD, when recounting why he chose to purchase his 2018 Diamond DA62 over competing single
engine options.
Dr. Mario Pereira (or “Doc” as his
flying buddies call him) is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the United States for most of his life. He practices medicine in South Florida, operating three offices and rendering service at eight different hospitals across the state.
From his home base of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE), Dr. Pereira f lies around 250 hours per year, with roughly 90 percent for business and the remaining 10 percent
Florida Panhandle, Central Florida, the Bahamas, Mexico and El Salvador. Consequently, the board-certified internal medicine specialist is no stranger to overf lying long stretches of ocean. During these f lights, he often spends at least an hour over the water without a landing field in sight or gliding distance.
One of Dr. Pereira’s most notable routine water crossings is the trek from Southern Florida to Ilopango International Airport (MSSS) in San Salvador, El Salvador. Upon departing Fort Lauderdale, he will usually f ly nonstop, occasionally stopping at Key West International Airport (KEYW) to top off fuel mid- route. From The Keys, the roughly 885-nautical mile journey takes a little over four hours and approximately 70 gallons of JET-A from the aircraft’s 86-gallon capacity.
so, he has f lown several routes between Florida and El Salvador to visit family and check on investment properties. Previously, when he f lew a Cirrus SR22T, he would fly slightly longer distances in an attempt to stay at a reasonable glide distance from Cuba and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula en route to Central America. This would allow him additional minutes over land and help to mitigate engine- out concerns. Now f lying with two engines, the routing options are more f lexible.
Dr. Pereira’s most frequently selected f light plan cuts a path between Key West and Cancun, Mexico, hugging the northwest corner of Cuba’s outermost airspace (near Havana), then onwards to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. From there, he works further south into Honduran airspace and ultimately on
October 2021 / TWIN & TURBINE • 27