A short flight today to our next R and R spot, Principe. We got up early as we were keen to get to our beach hotel before lunch and there was the refuelling to be done. A slow journey back to the airport in rush hour traffic and it then took about an hour to deal with the various admin before we could taxi down the old runway to the Total fuel depot. Neville, our handler, arranged everything with great efficiency.
We were expected and used most of the two barrels of fuel previously ordered and paid for. We also learnt how to optimise the use of our pump and avgas hose; the pump needs to be primed before the hose connection is made and then the fuel flows well; otherwise an airlock is created which the pump cannot clear.
Departure was once again into a very hazy sky. Phil who dealt with most of the admin while I preflighted Juliet Bravo took a picture of the Met Office’s IR sat view of our route, which traversed decaying thunderstorms and sure enough, once we reached our FL100 cruising level, TCU’s appeared above the haze. These we could not avoid but only a few bumps and splashes of rain before Principe Airfield appeared in rather better visibility than we had left and we landed shortly afterwards. I flew this leg. We have now reached the ITCZ.
The ATC man came out and quickly did the paperwork. Then it was off to the Bom Bom Beach hotel for a lunch and swim. We had alerted them of our arrival with the sat phone and their pickup was there at the airport to meet us. Tomorrow is a no flying day.
Douala to Principe: 205 nm in 1hr 30 min