Nice Live Inn Panama

Archive for April, 2009

Over the last few years, I have received a number of reports of difficulty with the first flight resulting in minor damage (usually the landing gear). In almost every case, the cause has been failure to follow the instructions from Sport Flight, or failure to follow common ultralight flying principles, or failure to follow procedures common to all aircraft.

Never conduct fast taxi tests with and aircraft that is not totally ready to fly. That means the seat belt must be installed, there must be enough fuel onboard for at least 30 minutes, and the pilot should have a helmet. A number of builders have found themselves in the air before they were ready. You should have at least a 1000 ft runway with no obstacles. Grass is much better than pavement.

Test flights should be conducted only in the calmest conditions. (A direct quote from the Sky Pup manual.) Regardless of your experience in other aircraft, there should be no wind. In calm conditions you can fast taxi both directions and land either direction if needed. Also if an off-field landing becomes necessary, you are not limited by the wind direction. Why take chances? The best times are early in the morning and late in he evening. In the morning, conditions will gradually worsen as the wind and turbulence picks up due to heating from the son. Early evening is best as the conditions will usually improve toward sunset. If you are worried about landing in the dark, then takeoff so you will run out of fuel before darkness begins. At least you will have light for your forced landing.

Avoid flying close to the ground at low airspeed. Many experts suggest you make low hops before climbing to altitude. Others disagree. The idea is to find out if the plane is in reasonable trim and will maintain level flight without excess control deflection. Only a few feet of altitude is needed for this test. As long as the controls are somewhere near the middle of their range, you are OK. The most common cause of landing gear damage on the first flight seems to be low airspeed on initial hops. If you are 10 to 15 up at minimum airspeed, and you drift off the runway, the controls may not respond quickly enough to straighten it out. Keep those initial hops low and only in calm conditions!

There are many hotels for all budgets in Panama City. Most hotels can be booked online using Expedia.com, hotels.com, or any other travel search engine. Some hotels offer special prices for friends and family of FSU students and must be booked through the International Program Coordinator at FSU- Panama. It is NOT recommended to rent a car in Panama, unless you are traveling outside of the city, because taxis are cheap and easy to use.

We have listed several hotel recommendations below:

• Country Inn and Suites- This hotel is one of the closest hotels to the campus, located right on the Panama Canal at Fort Amador. The 3-minute cab ride should cost no more than $5.00. There is an adjoining Friday’s Restaurant. Rates are about $80 on expedia.com.
• Inn on the Canal (right in front of FSU)- This is a new Bed and Breakfast style hotel. It includes 8 full bedrooms (for 1 or 2 guests), air-conditioned and each with its private bathroom. The rooms have access to kitchen facilities, a small terrace, a laundry area, and parking space for 4 cars. The cost is $35.00/day for 1 guest, and $50.00/day for 2 guests. The price includes continental breakfast, linen, towels, and daily cleaning
  service. http://www.innonthecanal.com/
• Radisson Decapolis- This brand new, swanky hotel is located next to the Multicentro Mall. A special rate of $100 for a double room is offered if booked through FSU. Airport pick-up is complimentary for certain times. Rate includes discounts at the mall, breakfast, match play at the casino, complimentary cocktail, gym and pool. The FSUPanama campus is about 10 minutes by taxi and should cost $2-$2.50 for 2 people.
• Riande Continental and Casino – This hotel is located in the heart of downtown Panama surrounded by restaurants, shops, and nightlife. Less than 10 minutes by taxi to campus, will cost $2-$2.50 for 2 people. A special rate of $60 per night is offered if booked through FSU. Airport pick up available for $10 per person. Please inform the International Program Coordinator at FSU- Panama if you would like this service when
  booking your room. Breakfast is included.
• Euro Hotel – This hotel is located in downtown Panama on Via Espana. It offers singles, doubles, triples and suites. Costs run from $25 per night for a single to $50 per night for a full suite. The FSU- Panama campus is about 10 minutes by taxi and should cost $2-$2.50 for 2 people. There is a restaurant and bar on site.
  Reservations may be made via email at eurohotel@swpanama.net.
• Hotel Milan – This hotel is located in downtown Panama on Eusebio A. Morales. It is a small hotel with 53 rooms. It offers regular rooms at $25 to $30 per night and suites for $40 per night. There is a restaurant and bar on site. The FSU- Panama campus is about 10 minutes by taxi and should cost $2-$2.50 for 2 people. Reservations may be made via email at hotelmilan@cwpanama.net. Please mention you are associated with FSU-Panama.
• Plaza Paitilla Inn – This hotel is located on the Bay of Panama right off Avenida Balboa. The Multicentro Mall is within walking distance. Rooms will cost $49.60 plus tax per night. There is a restaurant and bar on site. Taxi costs to campus would run about $2.50 for 2 people. You may make reservations through info@plazapaitillainn.com Please mention you are associated with FSU-Panama.

Traveling is meant to be relaxing. As a result, most of us will go on vacations overseas. Of course you would also like to plan for a budget travel so that the trip will not damage your wallet. Here are some advices for you when you are planning for your budget travel. You will certainly find them useful to you.

You will have to set a budget first. Some people will think that it is not really necessary to set a budget. However, the fact is that you have to set it otherwise your expenses on the trip will be out of control. You will also visit various travel agents. You are doing in order to gather information about the cost of your trip. You will need to know that cost of items such as air tickets and accommodations.

At this point, I bet most people will agree that setting the budget is not that difficult. What is really difficult is to stick to the budget. Yes it will be pointless to create the budget if you are not going to stick to it.

You might want to search for some discount offers on the web. Yes the internet technology enables us to search for a lot of discount offers. This is also true for your budget trip. You will be able to find offers for discount air tickets without any difficult on the web.

You can also find discount offers for your accommodations. Again, you should try to search for it on the internet.

If it is possible, you should consider taking public transports in the destination instead of renting a car. Of course it will be full of fun to drive on your own. However, this will certainly mean a higher cost.

A good map will be needed if you are going to drive on you own. As mentioned, you are not advised to drive on your own if you would like to save money. However, there may be occasions that you have to do so. In this case, a good map can help to make sure that you will not drive on the wrong route.

You may think that it is difficult to plan for a trip on a budget. However, the truth is that it is not that difficult to do so, if you can spend your time to search and compare the prices.