Month: February 2016

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

A rather long day; we decided at breakfast that with the forecast headwinds, we needed a little more fuel so ordered 100 litres on arrival at the airport. This took ages to arrive so instead of a 9 am departure, we were not airborne until well after 10 am. No problem with delaying the flight plan; once accepted they are valid “all day”!

Our flight to Douala at FL090 was fine in the sunshine above thick dust haze so we could see not anything on the ground until 600 ft above touchdown at Douala. Parts of the journey was quiet while other parts were very busy with controllers asking for position reports every few minutes. At Douala we were asked for our permit number before we were allowed to land.

Phil was flying this leg and we discovered that the DME arc approach was coded into the RNAV approach so this was impeccably flown. [Wish Jeppesen would do this for the Carlisle arc approach.]

On landing we were told that the Total fuel compound had shut for the day so refuelling now takes place early tomorrow morning. Then it took a lengthy time to pass immigration where our passports were looked at for the first time in Africa. Eventually we got a 24 hour transit visa stamped into then.

Then to our overnight hotel around 25 minutes away from the airfield by a large lake just inland from the sea. My room is reminiscent of what I think a middle east harem may look like but Phil’s looks more conventional. Afterwards the delightful proprietor and his wife produced an excellent dinner.

We are off to a little island tomorrow on a short flight so not sure how good the internet will be from there.

 

 

Accra to Douala: 655 nm in 4hr 50 min

 

 

An early start today with collection by the handler at 0530Z.

We were out at the aircraft by 0550Z and then had to taxi it to a new parking position for refuelling. Flight planning and aircraft preflighting was then done (in the dark as sunrise was not until 0740Z) as we waited for fuel to arrive. We were promised a bowser but in the end two drums of avgas came instead so it was out with our pump and hose. All this took some time to complete so once all paperwork was complete, we were 45 minutes late being airborne at 0825.

Normally at this time of year, a 15/20 kt headwind is expected for the first long leg to Ouagadougou but luckily for us, a light headwind at the beginning turned into a light tailwind by the end so the forecast journey time was usefully reduced. We were on top of a haze layer above the inversion so could not see much of the ground; what we could see was scrubby trees in the hinterland but a fair number of lakes and rivers.

Phil flew this leg and had to demonstrate his holding ability at the end as the President of Burkina Faso was arriving back from somewhere which delayed our landing for a while. We touched down in a dust haze with a temperature of 30ºC and dew point of -6ºC, so very dry air.

Originally the plan was to stay overnight at Ouagadougou but following the recent troubles there, we decided to press on and overnight at Accra. Formalities and fuel were achieved relatively quickly and we were airborne again within about an hour and 45 minutes. I flew this leg at FL90 and as the sun set, the haze thickened and you felt like you were travelling along in a thick soup. We lost ATC contact for a while but a helpful CAT aircraft relayed for us before a night landing at Accra. What a contrast in humidity: Accra reported 28ºC on landing with a dew point of 24ºC.

 

 

We worked out that we have now done about 57% of the outbound mileage to Cape Town.

 

Dakar to Ouagadougou: 952 nm in 6hr 24 min

Ouagadougou to Accra: 414 nm in 2hr 40 min