After breakfast, we were collected at 8:15 am local and 15 minutes later were at the airport. Departure formalities were completed quickly; the handler told us that if we came again, we should go to the main airport as the fees there are considerably cheaper (this was just after handing over a fistful of USD for landing, handling and our hotel costs). Out to the aircraft within 15 minutes and we were airborne 7 minutes behind schedule at 9.07 am (0507 Z). An easy departure into morning haze and we climbed in stages to 31,000 ft routing SE towards Muscat and then eastwards over the Arabian Sea.
Our tailwind remained with us at around 55 kt which gave us a ground speed of 320-325 kt and one certainly covers the ground at this speed! About halfway across the Arabian Sea, we were transferred to Karachi Control and there were many complaints from other air traffic at their inaudibility. At times, an echo on their transmissions made them almost unreadable.
There was much lower cloud over the Arabian landmass which cleared as we went out over the sea. However for most of the way, there was light chop at 31,000 ft and CAT were reporting moderate turbulence at higher levels.
We had a modest lunch as we neared the coast and were then transferred to Delhi and shortly afterwards given descent instructions for an ILS approach to runway 23 at Ahmedabad in fine but hot, turbulent and hazy conditions. After landing and refuelling, we were towed to our parking area where D-FLEX remains for the next 12 days.
There was a slight delay getting past a charming Indian immigration lady who thought our tourist visas were incompatible with our pilots’ uniform but this was eventually resolved by the handlers who then delivered us to Deborah’s driver waiting for us outside to garland us with sweet smelling roses before a three hour drive to our first night stop at Dungarpur in the Udai Bilas Palace there, an amazing 19th century building furnished by the then ruler in art deco style. After a drink in the bar at the back of a garage full of interesting vintage cars, we dined outside in some style along a rectangular pool, light adorned with night lights.
So ends our first day in India. It is good to be back again and the holiday bit now begins. I will try to record the more interesting elements of our visit in the blog over the coming days.
Abu Dhabi to Ahmedabad 1,028 nm in 3 hour 40 min