Following a night of thunder storms and a rather rainy breakfast we departed from Biggin Hill into cloudy skies. After a short flight we arrived in an equally cloudy Le Touquet and made our way into the town centre in the hope of finding some lunch.
Arrival at Le Touquet
We soon sat down at a restaurant for the obligatory post-flight beer and moules mariniere. After a quick stroll down to the beach we headed back up to the airport for a pre-flight briefing. David greeted us with champagne and all 21 crew and passengers mingled and became acquainted. The group consists of quite a few nationalities, mostly French but also British, German and Dutch. In all there are six aircraft in the group: a King Air, a Piper M500 and the remainder TBMs; ours is the only G-reg aircraft. After a few photographs we all walked over to the airport restaurant, L’Escale, for a fabulous three course dinner
Group before departure at Le TouquetAll 6 aircraft at Le Touquet
It is said that every keen GA pilot should go to Oshkosh at least once ……..
Phil bought his TBM in March 2017. He and I passed our type rating at Carlisle on 2nd May 2017. My bonanza G-TRJB is based there and Phil and I have done a number of trips in her, some of which are recounted in earlier pages of this blog. Our examiner Jonathan Shooter chose Carlisle partly because he wanted a trip down memory lane as Carlisle was where Jonathan had done some of his early flying training years ago. Later that summer, Phil suggested that we should consider going to the US TBM Owners’ Convention which was being held in the latter half of October. However on further consideration, we decided that from a weather viewpoint, it was too late in the year to embark on trans Atlantic crossings particularly given our then relative inexperience on type. However we agreed we should put Oshkosh in the diary for 2018. In the event, other commitments precluded this but we have made sure our diaries remained free for this year.
Outbound we are meeting up with a group of fellow pilots flying TBM’s and some other aircraft led by David Fabris, a splendid Frenchman who set up a TBM dealership at Biggin Hill some time ago. Understandably David wants the trip to start on French soil so we begin on Saturday with a short flight in the wrong direction to Le Touquet to meet up with our group and hopefully enjoy a gourmet French dinner. Thereafter our route is conventional; we fly to Reykjavik on Sunday (stopping at Carlisle to pick up some equipment) and then on to Iqualuit in Northern Canada, home to man eating mozzies, on Monday and Oshkosh on Tuesday.
We return under our own steam, aiming to take the same trans Atlantic route as I did in 2010 via Goose Bay, Narsarsuaq , Reykjavik and Carlisle arriving back at the end of July. Apart from this blog, there is a tracker link at https://share.garmin.com/GPTXC which will transmit our position when flying every ten minutes. This link will be available from Sunday until shortly after our return. Unfortunately speed is shown in kms/hr (divide by two to get knots) and altitude in metres (multiply by three and a bit to get feet) and it is seemingly impossible to change these units – perhaps my tracker unit is considered out of date.
Soon time for our next adventure; this time we are going westwards to Canada and the USA for a visit to Oshkosh. Last autumn at annual time, Phil Caiger decided to transfer his TBM from the German register to the UK register so D-FLEX became G-PTXC. Here is a picture of Phil’s aircraft at Biggin Hill in her new registration letters.
Phil’s TBM with its new registration
As well as Phil and myself, Phil’s son Ed is coming too; Ed is a keen photographer so we will largely leave the picture taking up to him.
Watch this space for further news of our forthcoming trip.
In late February/early March Phil Caiger and I did a short trip to Egypt in Phil’s TBM G-PTXC. It was a boys’ outing with our wives left safely at home. Luckily there was no ‘Beast from the East’; indeed the reverse was true and the latter half of February had brought unusual sunshine and warmth to most of the UK. We left Biggin after lunch on 25th February for Split in Croatia where we overnighted in Trogir, a town quite close to the airport where Miranda and I had stayed eighteen months earlier on our way to Tirana. In contrast to my last visit, the town was very quiet and we had to search around for a restaurant for dinner.
Early morning balloon flights over the Nile
The original plan was to fly the first leg next day to Heraklion on Crete but a bad landing forecast required a revised plan. Instead we planned a stop at Zakynthos someway short of Crete and hurriedly made handling and refuelling arrangements which subsequently went smoothly. Phil flew these two legs. A potential complication was that the second leg of the day from Zakynthos to Luxor was approaching our maximum range but a tailwind was forecast. It was a long flight, just under four hours, culminating in my first night landing in XC. Handling was efficient and we were soon in a taxi in balmy evening air on our way to our hotel – the Winter Palace, an historic traditional watering hole and well recommended by some friends.
We had three splendid days of sightseeing; it was busy but not teeming with tourists and we could walk around without too much hustling from locals wanting to sell us stuff or take tours with them. There were a few tourist boats plying the Nile but many more tied up, reflecting the continued downturn in tourist traffic in recent years.
Part of the Karnak Temple complexDetail of carving at Karnak Temple
For the first day, we looked round Luxor itself, known in Greek times as Thebes and wandered round Luxor Temple and about a mile away, the much bigger and more interesting Karnak Temple complex, heavily restored in places.
Ferryboat to the west bank of the Nile
On day two, we crossed by ferryboat to the West bank of the Nile and hired a driver to take us round the Valley of the Kings. Here, as its name suggests, a number of pharaoh kings are buried as well as other close relations of noble blood. These tombs are spread out over a wide area of what otherwise is arid rock and in many cases consist of a large number of adjoining underground chambers; most interesting to me where the wall decorations, most of which have been heavily restored.
Early morning departure from Luxor to Abu Simbel
On the third day (1st March), we took a day trip to Abu Simbel, about an hour’s flight down the Nile almost to the Sudanese border. We had an early start, overflying Aswan where Phil and I had landed on previous visits southward, and landed just before the daily influx of tourist planes from Hurghada and boarded the bus to take us to the the Temple complex of Ramesses II. This was well worth seeing; when the Aswan High Dam was built with the creation of Lake Nasser, the temples which would otherwise have been submerged were moved piece by piece and rebuilt on higher ground – a mammoth task and impeccably done under the UNESCO banner. Ramesses’s temple is particularly impressive but his wife’s temple next door is fine too albeit on a much smaller scale.
Me in front of Ramesses’ Queen’s TemplePhil in front of Ramesses II Temple at Abu Simbel
Two happy aviators lunching at Abu Simbel.
There was much more that we could have seen in this part of Egypt but for a first visit, three days seemed about right. Then time to return home; on 2nd March we left late morning and flew one leg to Heraklion arriving in time for a good walk round the port before dinner at our ‘usual’ restaurant there. Phil had never been to Bastia so he flew the first leg the following day there and then I flew the final leg home to Biggin. Alas the fine balmy weather in the UK had disappeared and been replaced with wind and rain – March is often a capricious month from a weather viewpoint.
In the office; FL280 after departure from Bastia; all the gauges looking good.Over the Alpes Maritime, SE France with the good weather soon being left behind.
Once again Phil’s TBM showed itself as a very capable aircraft able to cover large distances in relaxed comfort. Now for Oshkosh in July although we plan a quick visit to Friedrichshafen GA fair in April.
We have been home for a few days so it time to draw together a few conclusions. The trip, the first lengthy journey in D-FLEX, was a great success; it is a very comfortable aircraft and good to fly and even with very strong headwinds, you still cover ground at a reasonable rate. Miranda was very happy in the back doing her sewing and passing up refreshments from time to time and Phil and I were equally content up front.
It was fourth long trip that Phil and I had done together; planning was straightforward particularly as there was no need to check on fuel availability in advance since Jet A1 is available everywhere. Phil was able to use his BP fuel card at all airfields except for Karachi and Riyadh although it was necessary to get BP to email fuel releases to most places. At a friend’s request, I also checked up on avgas availability and excepting Riyadh, this was also available. [In 2013, avgas was available at Riyadh].
There was an expectation that we had and needed to show crew cards. Phil and I were fine with AOPA/PPL IR cards but Miranda needed some finessing through immigration on occasions without a visa so next time, we must make her an official looking card to wear round her neck.
Mike Gray of White Rose Aviation obtained all our clearances for us as well as recommending en route handling agents and his service was impeccable, including some last minute work required when strong headwinds necessitated an extra fuel stop at Riyadh on the way home.
With the benefit of hindsight, we should have used the plane a little more in India, taking it on from Ahmedabad to Udaipur and Jaipur and returning to Karachi from there. This would have saved a couple of long driving days. We would then have had time to visit Jodhpur, the one city that unfortunately we missed out. Handling in India seemed efficient with less bureaucracy than anticipated, and people there speak of a GA renaissance.
We woke up to fine and sunny day at Heraklion. The original plan was to fly westwards to Bastia, a new airport for Phil, and then head north for Biggin Hill. However a thundery low had developed just west of Corsica with a poor forecast of embedded CB’s covering a wide area west of Italy into the French mainland as well as Corsica so it was an easy decision to change our routing and take the same way back as we had done outbound.
Mikonos – about half way between Crete and Athens
After a relatively (for us) relaxed breakfast, we were at the airport at 9am for fuelling and departed marginally late just after 10 am with Phil flying the first leg with a continuing headwind of 40 to 50 kt. The weather remained fine until north of Corfu when cloud started to gather and we landed at Split in cloudy and distinctly chilly weather with another teasing crosswind.
NE Corfu with the Albanian mainland in the distance
I had sent Split an email earlier requesting handling and refuelling and this was super swift, all done in half an hour so we spent the second half hour of our layover eating our picnic lunch (it was already lunchtime Greek time) and finishing off the last of Tracey’s excellent fruit cake.
Then we were off on the final leg to Biggin Hill with me in the left hand seat. Weather was a potential issue on this sector with scattered showers and thunderstorms with associated CB’s. We climbed to 30,000 ft which just did not overtop the clouds so requested a further climb to our service ceiling of 31,000 ft. This put us just at the top of the cloud layer where we were in and out of thin cirrus with the occasional thicker cloud. There was an area of poor weather in west Switzerland and NE France with a couple of thunderstorms not too far away from us but no weather deviations were required and eventually as the weather radar downloads suggested, the high cloud cleared and the ground came into view with widely scattered showers.
CB and shower over NE France
Then an easy run into Biggin helped by a useful tailwind at last where we landed soon after 3 pm where Tracey was waiting to meet us; we unloaded the plane and put her away and back to the Mill House for a welcome cup of tea, reminiscences of the trip and later dinner of Phil’s home grown lamb.
So ends another very successful adventure and the first in D-FLEX. I will do a final post in a few days time with a map of the route flown and meanwhile as Juliet Bravo’s annual is not complete until next week, Miranda and I will be taking a train back to Scotland. Oh well, we have to come back down to earth sometime!
Announcement of our departure from Al Ain (second row down)
Today was a long day’s flying. Originally we planned two legs but strong headwinds from the displaced westerly jet stream well to the south of its normal track made it prudent to have an extra fuel stop and to amend our routing to accommodate this. Mike Gray of White Rose efficiently obtained the new clearances for us.
With the handler at Al Ain
We filed to depart Al Ain at 0300Z (7 am local) so it was up soon after 5 am; the hotel provided a picnic breakfast (which did lunch as well for us) and a taxi was waiting to take us back to the airport. All went smoothly there until we heard that our flight plan had not been accepted; getting a new one planned and through the local system was a faff which took some time so we were airborne 30 minutes late. The new flight plan involved a lengthier routing (not evident from the distance shown below) and with very strong headwinds, this set the tone of the day with everything taking longer than anticipated.
Phil flew the first leg to Riyadh; the TAF spoke of a 10 kt crosswind for landing but on arrival it was blowing at 21 kt across the runway which made for a decidedly tricky landing. Turn round was brisk and I flew the next leg which was a long haul into a 50-60 kt headwind.
Approaching the north Egyptian coast
Hurghada was busy with charter traffic (Saturday change over?) and at one moment, we thought we may be sent into the hold but we slowed down for the last thirty miles and in the end, all was well. Again turn around was quick and Phil flew the last leg of the day into Heraklion where we landed into a setting sun shortly before 6 pm local time. Airport formalities were quickly completed and we were off to our hotel and thence to a fishy dinner in a good local restaurant where we had dined out on the first day of the trip.
We were in three continents today; Asia (Arabia), Africa (Egypt) and finally Europe (Crete) and traversed three seas – the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean covering around 2,000 nm in 9 hr 35 min with an average headwind component of around 45-50 kt, not bad for a light aircraft in a day!
We started the day in relaxed mode with a leisurely breakfast followed by a visit to Jinnah’s house, Jinnah being the founder of Pakistan when the country became independent in 1947. This was billed by our hotel as being 15 minutes drive away so we hired a car to take us there. In fact, it was a minute’s drive on the other side of the roundabout from our hotel! Fortunately we were only charged a minimal sum for the fare. The house itself was simple, indeed almost austere, and we were taken round by a guide who told us he had worked there for forty years. We braved the roundabout by walking back which took all of five minutes and then it was time for elevenses before leaving for the airport for the next leg of our flight.
FL280 en route Karachi to Al Ain
I flew this sector in fine weather at 28,000 ft with the headwind being a little less than forecast. We took off in a temperature of 33ºC but climb performance was still good and landed at Al Ain in CAVOK conditions and a temperature of 34ºC with a gusty crosswind at an otherwise deserted airport. Fuel arrived promptly and within an hour we were off to our hotel for a relaxed evening before a very early start tomorrow with three sectors to fit in to get back to Crete. The driving was very sedate compared to India and Pakistan!
Muscat airport off to the leftPutting D-FLEX to bed
Today did not work out as originally planned. That was to take an early morning flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad (missing out on the very good breakfast at the Imperial) and then make a leisurely departure to Karachi around midday. However on arrival twelve days ago, we discovered that runway works were due to start on the 1st March which closed the runway to all movements between 10 am and 7 pm local time. Arriving in Ahmedabad just after 9 am would not give us sufficient time to get airborne before the runway closed so we would need to spend the day in Ahmedabad before a night flight in the evening to Karachi. So we asked Deborah to arrange a car and guide for us for what turned out to be a long day.
Up at 4:15 am for transfer to Delhi airport and the (commercial) flight back to Ahmedabad in an A320; pleasant but a full flight. On arrival, the handlers were there to meet us and look after our luggage for the day while we went off to the city with our arranged driver and guide. Deborah had tried to get tickets for us unsuccessfully for the Calico Museum of Textiles but our guide suggested we turn up on the off chance and we were lucky. There were nine no shows so we and other lucky people took their place. It was an Aladdin’s cave of textiles and fine paintings and we were taken round by a splendidly knowledgable lady who could have been anywhere between 60 and 80 years old. Very strict security with stern guards everywhere and no pictures allowed. Afterwards we were all given tea and refreshments and sent on our way (all this for free!).
Step well near Ahmedabad
A light Indian lunch and then a visit to a different type of step well where some fashion photography was going on and yet another mosque before going back to the airport. Then it took us three hours to abstract ourselves and take off for Karachi. No one could understand why we should want to go there and there were dire warnings as to what may befall us; various security clearances to penetrate someone’s ADIZ were required and eventually obtained; D-FLEX had to be repositioned onto the main apron – much sweating manpower required and the plane readied for departure.
Miranda and Phil in the evening sun at Ahmedabad airport
Eventually we took off at 7:30 pm local for an impeccably flown night flight by Phil. As normally happens, once in the air all was well although it got very dark in the border area between India and Pakistan with no lights of any kind to be seen except for the stars and a long line of what we thought may be a flood lit fence delineating the border.
We were established on the ILS for 25L at Karachi about 70 miles out and landing around 8:45 pm (having put our watches back 30 minutes). Fuel and handler were waiting for us on arrival but it still a couple of hours before we reached our hotel just before the restaurant closed. Eventually in bed at midnight local time, knackered and fell asleep instantly. It is Miranda and Phil’s first visit to Karachi; I used to come here in the 1970’ites and 1980’ties for work and it is good to be back and see what has happened meantime.
