Around the World -- Well, Virtually

Catching Up

2005-09-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

Climbing out of YPPD in poor visibility.

Descending into Perth
On the ground at YPPH.

...and I thought we'd seen a lot of water on the way to Bali!

2005-08-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

The flight out of Bali was almost entirely over water. The two airfields (Denpasar and Port Hedland) are both near the water, and in between...more water. Three-and-a-half hours of water, to be exact.

With just over 2,000 pounds of fuel aboard, we taxied out to the active, past the commercial terminal. We'd been all the way down at the end of the ramp, near the military parking.

We didn't have to wait long for departure clearance, and turning south immediately after we got the gear up, we started the long climb to our familiar cruise altitude of FL270.
The weather was initially perfect, winds pretty much as forcast, and no clouds to speak of. But, as we approached the halfway point, we found ourselves looking down at a fairly solid undercast.

Surprisingly, the undercast didn't last long, and we found ourselves descending through clear skies to a hazy Australian coastline. Once the descent began, I started to get excited. This is my first trip to Australia since 1998, when I spent a week in Bunbury. We'll be headed to Bunbury later on this trip.

We landed just about three minutes ahead of schedule...not bad. All our navigation was with the GPS, the first leg of the trip since we began that used no ground-based radio navigation. We'll stay at Port Hedland for a day and then push on to Perth.

Out of Borneo, At Last

2005-08-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

My last entry involved having been introduced to a rather stern local aviation official, who took my paperwork and told me I wouldn't be needing them for a while. More than a month, it turns out. I'll just say that there were bribes involved, and leave it at that.

Here's the track of our flight to Bali:
The flight plan takes us south out of Kuching, then southeast across Borneo and a long leg over the Java Sea. As I was doing the planning for this leg, I really wished I could have taken the time to visit all these places I've heard of: Sumatra, Jakarta, Surabaya. One place I'd never heard of that I'd have liked to visit just because it has a cool name: Kota Kinabalu. It's pronounced "KOH-tah Kee-nah-bah-loo." I spent a good portion of today's flight just saying it. "Kota Kinabalu Control, King Air 8AF..." I stayed off the radio as much as possible, but for a while, I was tempted to call ATC just to hear them say it.

Once I'd gotten my release by the authorities, I decided not to wait around...I started pre-flighting the aircraft at 0530. Let me tell you, Kuching International Airport is a lonely place that early in the morning. There don't appear to be any flights that terminate there overnight, so there were only a few general aviation aircraft on the ramp. Oddly, as I positioned on the runway for takeoff, a Beech Baron rolled up to the hold short line to take off behind me. It's plenty dark at 0615, too. I'd have thought the sun would be up sooner, but no...we didn't see the sun until we climbed out of the clouds.

I'm pretty fond of flying at sunrise and sunset...which is odd, since I hate driving a car at those hours.

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures from the front seat.

Sunrise at FL270 is just beautiful.

I was amazed at how fast we climbed to our cruising altitude. Granted, with 2600 pounds of fuel aboard, we were a little heavy, but we made it up to FL270 pretty easily, taking only 21 minutes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now entering the Southern Hemisphere:

By 0700, we were almost feet-wet over the Java Sea. At this point, we haven't heard any other aircraft on the radio in almost an hour. That Baron was apparently headed in another direction, and in any case, he's not going to be up in the rare air with us. Considering how elaborate the network of airways are in this part of the world, there is surprisingly little air traffic. Or, there was at that hour of the day.

Aside from the long over-water leg and the almost complete lack of other air traffic, the only other remarkable thing about the cruise phase of the flight was how smooth it was. We encountered absolutely no turbulence on this flight...solid as a rock.

Landfall...that's Indonesia off to starboard. It won't be long before we start our descent. I know that compared to the long crossing after we leave Hawaii, this over-water flight is nothing, but it's still a relief to raise the land right when we expected to.

At about 0910, Bali Control starts us down with an initial descent to FL240. We're still 125 miles out, but it's nice to have a gentle descent. I leave the throttles where they are and the speed creeps up to around 220 KIAS, which will put us a bit ahead of schedule. We're already ahead by about 8 minutes...thanks in large part to the speedy climb out of Kuching.

Settling in at FL100, I look off to starboard again...somewhere under the clouds is Denpasar International Airport at Bali. The only other traffic I hear on approach are a Mooney and a 737...it's not crowded at all.

I wanted to take a picture of the final approach into Bali, but there turned out to be not much to see until we were so low, I had to focus on flying the plane. The weather was nothing spectacular...I've heard about Bali being a paradise, but this morning the visibility was 4 miles in haze with broken clouds from 700 to 5,000 feet. So, we took the approach to runway 27 and set her down gently, but a little long. Time from chocks to chocks was 3.8 hours, and our flying time (at 3 hours, 36 minutes) was just 5 minutes shorter than planned.

Welcome to Bali...temperature is a pleasant 25 degrees, and we hope you enjoy your stay.

2005-07-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

If you've been wondering what I've been doing after such a flurry of activity...this is it. V2 is coming.

A Thunderous End to the Day

2005-06-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here's our rough track from Siem Reap to Kuching, Malaysia.

By the time we'd completed fueling and were ready to get airborne again, the rain had stopped. That's pretty typical of other tropical locations I've been to, with partly cloudy skies and a good deal of sunshine accompanied by spotty rain showers. In Hawaii, they call them "mauka showers", if I remember right. Weather along the whole route was forecast for mostly cloudy, with overcast and rain over Kuching.

Siem Reap ATIS had winds out of the southwest at 4 knots, 19 mile visibility and broken clouds. Siem Reap is a sleepy little place, and there was no other traffic at all when we started engines and taxied out to runway 23. This is another field that has the taxi way connect to the runway at mid field, meaning that you have to taxi along the runway to the departure end. This always makes me nervous; I don't like being on the runway any longer than necessary.

Our clearance allows us to climb to 3,000 feet, and the tower tells us to turn to 210 after takeoff. 18AF pretty well leaps into the air, and while I am cleaning things up, the tower reminds me to make the turn to 210. That done, I pull the pitch back to 1900 rpm, set the climb to 1500 fpm and take the handoff to departure. We're immediately cleared to FL150, and before we get that high, we're handed off again to Phnom Penh Control for the rest of our climb to FL270.

2005-06-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

We leveled off at FL270 in unbelievably blue skies.

I really wish this weather had lasted!

The climb took 20 minutes, and we topped out with 2,300 pounds of fuel aboard. Once again, pulling the power back to keep the ITT below 750 affected our performance. For most of the first two legs of the trip, we managed just 237 knots ground speed, more than 50 knots less than planned!

2005-06-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

It seemed a little odd, flying over the Mekong River Delta. I'd grown up during the Vietnam War, and when joined the Navy in the late 70s, some of my leaders had served in the riverine forces, so I'd heard much about this area. These days, of course, Vietnam is trying very hard to normalize relations with the US, so I would imagine that in real life, I'd find folks here very friendly.

2005-06-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

We crossed the Vietnamese coast and went feet wet at 1604, having set the clock ahead once again.

The clouds are building over the South China Sea, and at this point, it started getting a little bumpy. I wasn't terribly concerned about light chop, and because of the building clouds, didn't think an altitude change would make much of a difference, so I just gutted it out.

2005-06-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

The clouds over the South China Sea are still building, but at this point, it still looks like it'll be an easy approach.

Just before we pass KAMIN intersection, Kota Kinabalu Control starts us down, pilot's discretion to FL240. A few moments later, I see lightning ahead. We're going to have to fly through this storm to get to Kuching.

2005-06-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Into the weather...

Just after passing KAMIN, we're vectored to the right for traffic, then brought back on course as the turbulence gets severe. I tighten my harness and make sure everything is secure. A glance at the OAT shows that we're still in danger of icing, so I deploy the ice vanes, and switch on the auto ignition. Turbulent air penetration speed is 170 KIAS, so we need to slow down. We're still descending at pilot's discretion, so I consider leveling off for a minute to slow down before resuming the descent. I pull the power to 80% N1, push the prop pitch full forward to slow us down some more, and that does the trick...we're going down at 1,000 fpm and 160 KIAS.

ATC has us continue our descent to FL100, and wants us down in 30 miles or less, so I go to approach flaps and increase the descent rate to 1,200 fpm, adding some power to keep us at 160 KIAS.

Visibility drops to zero in heavy rain at FL100, and lightning is everywhere around us. We're given clearance to descend to FL060, and the vectors take us west of the field...the wrong end for an ILS RWY 25 approach. That's a little worrisome, but ATC is apparently just vectoring us onto a sort of downwind.

2005-06-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

You can see here that it's gotten a bit dark. Periodically, lightning flashes blind me for a moment, and the thunder following immediately behind...we're in the thick of the storm.

Once we're far enough out east of the field, ATC turns us to 160, and clears us to descend another thousand feet to FL050. As I pull the power back to slow us down to 140 KIAS and complete the turn, ATC clears us down to 3,000 feet and vectors us to intercept the localizer. Aside from the bumps, this is a textbook approach. At half a tick below the glideslope, I lower the landing gear, getting three green lights just as we intercept the glideslope and start down again. 18AF tracks the localizer and glideslope beautifully, in spite of the turbulence.

Passing through 900 feet, I see the approach lights ahead, call the field in sight and get clearance to land. I go to full flaps, and start the visual part of our final approach, when I hear this:

"18AF go around...231T, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU WERE TOLD TO HOLD SHORT!"

I can see the runway numbers, and I don't see another aircraft pulling onto the runway, but I push the power levers all the way forward, pull the nose up about ten degrees above level, verify positive climb rate, raise the flaps a notch and slap the gear lever up.

Once established in the climb, I switch on the autopilot again, and give it control of the climb, as we're handed off to approach control again and cleared to FL060 for another go at the landing.

I never heard from 231T at all, and never saw him.

I check the fuel state, and we've got plenty of gas, but I have now been in the air for over 4 hours and flying in this thunderstorm for an hour of it. I'm not exactly anxious, but I am definitely jonesin' for the ground. It occurs to me that if we have to make a third pass, I'll have to declare an emergency: there isn't enough for a fourth pass.

Approach vectors us back around for another go, and once again, we fly a textbook approach. Field in sight, flaps full, autopilot disengaged and off, and I'm scanning both sides of the approach end of the runway, looking for departing aircraft. I see nothing.

Then, as I pass 400 feet, "18AF go around..."

What the hell? I don't see anyone, and this time I can see down the runway to the second intersection...this guy must be at the far end of the field.

I don't relish the idea of flying into an emergency in a thunderstorm, and since I can see that the runway is clear, I press on. In hindsight, this might have been stupid, but at this point, either option would have been dangerous and stupid.

As soon as the wheels touch down, I go to full reverse and get on the brakes as hard as I can...I'm determined to make that second turnoff. We make it easily, but there's a note of disgust in the tower's voice as he hands me off to Ground. Ground is polite and routes me in to a good spot close to the international terminal. By the time I get there, I'm faced not just with the usual customs folks, but also a representative from their local civil aviation authority. He's polite, but not happy at being called out of his air conditioned office to meet me in the pouring down rain.

I invite him aboard so we can get out of the rain, and we take a couple passenger seats so that he can review my paperwork and use a tray table to take some notes. He is Chinese, but speaks English very well, and is quiet as I outline my view of the sequence of events. I answer his questions directly and honestly. After a few minutes, he asks to see how much fuel I have on board, so I lead him to the cockpit and show him the fuel gauges. They show that I've got about 530 pounds of fuel aboard, and I explain again that we would have used another 250 pounds of fuel to go around again. He seems to accept this, but nonetheless, he takes my license and passport with him when he leaves.

Bali next, but I have no idea when I'll get there.

A Short Hop To Kampuchea

2005-06-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to locate much information about Siem Reap airport on the Internet, but the database in the Garmin 530 GPS unit shows that the only instrument approach is the VOR 23. I'm not terribly experienced at VOR approaches, but the weather is forecast to be reasonably good, so I figure that between the ATC vectors and the GPS, we'll get there just fine.

The extra fuel we carried from Kolkata means that we won't have to refuel at Bangkok before we start this leg. While I'm setting up the GPS and running through the checklists, I keep an eye out the window at the traffic. Bangkok has two parallel runways that are in use simultaneously, and there is a great deal of commercial air traffic here.

We fire up the engines and have to spend several minutes fiddling with the rudder trim. (Actually, it was the sim...and I was able to recenter the rudder using FSUIPC.) Coming from the ramp on the other side of the airfield from the terminal, we don't have to deal with other taxiing aircraft, but we do have a several minute wait for a break in the incoming traffic before we can take off.

Lining up on runway 21L, we're asked to hold for three or four more minutes before we're cleared to take off.

2005-06-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

Climbing out of Bangkok, the visibility is pretty good...about what you'd expect for a humid day in Southeast Asia. Lots of white puffy clouds up to about 5,000 feet, but a stunning blue sky above that.

I find that I've gotten rusty, and it takes me a little longer to get things cleaned up in the cockpit after takeoff than it used to. I manage to keep ATC happy, and get the props set to climb pitch, turn off the autofeather and select prop sync as we're passing through 5,000 feet.

ATC sends us in stages up to our filed cruising altitude, but they're so efficient that we basically maintain a continuous climb all the way to FL250. The climb takes 19 minutes, partly because we kept the ITTs at around 740 degrees C. By keeping the nose down, we hold our airspeed pretty well, all the way to the top of the climb.

2005-06-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

We don't spend long at cruise before ATC has us descending into Kampuchea. I make it a leisurely descent with cruise power set, and that shortens the flight by about fourteen minutes. I know, bad planning on my part, but in my defense, ATC started me down earlier than I'd planned.

Siem Reap weather turns out to be 10 miles visibility in broken clouds with bases at around 2100 feet, so I'm relaxed about the visual approach. ATC vectors us well north of the field and lines us up for a straight in approach, which I fly by hand. I keep one eye on the GPS, and the other out the windscreen, and before long, we have the field in sight.

ATC had cleared me to descend to 2,000 feet, and then is late in letting me down, so I'm stuck with a steepish approach. One of the quirks of this airplane is that the flap motor circuit breakers will pop if you lower the flaps above 185 KIAS (as opposed to 200 KIAS by the book). I must have been a tad premature in lowering the flaps to the first notch, because when I select full flaps on final, they stay put. I put the nose a little lower, pull the throttles all the way off, prop pitch full forward and use the props as brakes to keep our speed down. I push the nose a little lower than normal, to steepen the initial part of my final approach, and I'll finish up with a shallow descent over the threshold, which will slow us down for a good landing. It's not pretty, but it works; we squeak the tires onto the concrete at 91 KIAS.

This is really only a fueling stop, as it's on to Kuching, Malaysia this afternoon. Just as we roll clear of the runway, it starts raining. Nice.

One Flight to Bangkok

2005-04-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to put together a map, and I'll try to do this for each subsequent flight.

I'm actually writing this a month and a half after completing the flight. As I think I've mentioned, life events have been getting in the way of hobbying, but I'm now feeling that urge to continue with the quest.

If you've been following this, you know that my fuel planning has been pretty conservative, and I've generally been loading more fuel than I need for each leg of the trip. I do this mainly because I can afford to...flying solo, I'm not pressed up against any weight limits...and because it keeps my options open as long as possible. Air in the cabin is good; air in the fuel tanks is bad. (And I'm reminded again of the old saying among pilots: "The only time you have too much fuel on board is when you're on fire.")

Since I don't feel particularly rushed at this point in the trip, I took my time with the last-minute planning. When I finally settled into my seat at around 12:40, I had just over 3,000 pounds of fuel aboard, about 1,200 pounds more than I expect to need.

I started engines at 12:44, and sat for nine minutes waiting for clearance, and didn't roll out of the parking spot until 12:57. It was a short trip to the runway from where we were parked, and because there was so little traffic, we received immediate clearance for takeoff. Check flaps set, anti-icing set, engine auto-ignition on, advance the throttles, check the annunciators and power, release the brakes and we're rolling.

We level off at FL270, having taken 25 minutes to climb. ATC had held us level at FL010 for a minute or two before sending us up higher. By 13:35, we're out over the Bay of Bengal, and bidding farewell to India. I mark the moment by setting the clock ahead an hour to Bangkok time.

Winds are out of the west at 44 knots, and I hope this holds. We're expecting a three and a half hour flight today, and I appreciate anything Nature can do to help us along. It's warm (for this altitude, at least), -29 degrees Celsius, so I keep the power pulled back so that the ITT stays below 740. As a result, we're only making 252 KTAS, another reason to be grateful for the tailwind.

Fifty minutes later, we're feet dry over Myanmar, and it's getting warmer as we head south. The winds have slacked off a good fifteen knots, too. Our path takes us pretty well straight across Myanmar, and north of Yangon, which is also known as Rangoon. I can't help but think of Mike Myers as Dr. Evil (...summers in Rangoon, luge lessons...).

Two hours into the flight, we dogleg a little south to line us up with Bangkok, which is still an hour away. Traffic is a factor now, and ATC vectors us several times to avoid other aircraft. It's also gotten a little choppy, and we bounce along for about twenty minutes.

At 17:09, Bangkok Center clears us to descend at our discretion to FL170, so I pull the power back and settle into an easy 1,000 fpm descent. After we've been at FL170 for a minute or so, Center starts us down to 4,000 feet and wants us down in 30 miles or less, so I steepen the descent a bit.

Bangkok weather is reported to be scattered clouds and 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) which is as warm as we've seen it this trip. Winds are out of the southwest at 7.

We take vectors for the ILS 21L approach, and fly it pretty much by the numbers. I kill the autopilot as we cross the middle marker with the field in sight at 100 KIAS and full flaps. We touch down at 17:43, another nice landing.

All in all, a pretty good flight. While we're here, we might as well enjoy some of the legendary sights!

A Passage Through India

2005-02-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Parked at VAUD

I had planned last Fall to arrive at Christmas Island in time for Christmas, but life has a funny way of messing up the best of plans. By December 1st, I began to realize I wasn't going to make Christmas Island...I had 23 days to fly 25 legs. I was too busy to do much flying, and the weather in India just wasn't cooperating when I could fly, so I ended up putting off my flying until after Christmas.

The day after Christmas, the world reeled in horror at the devastation left by the tsunami in Asia, some of the very places I was to be flying over, and to be honest, it didn't seem terribly appropriate for me to be visiting these places in the untouched virtual world while in the real world, they picked themselves up and started to rebuild.

So, I avoided doing any sim flying for six weeks. Yesterday, I decided it had been long enough, and it was time we got the show back on the road. An around-the-world trip is a sizable undertaking, even in the virtual world, and I'd been feeling that if I didn't get back to it, I'd never finish, and I didn't like the sound of that.

So, I picked up where I'd left off, parked on the ramp at VAUD (I know, this account left off at Ahmedabad, India, but I'd flown to Udaipur (VAUD) back in December.

The weather forecast was for poor visibility at both ends of the leg to Agra (which makes me think of Disney's "Aladdin" and the fictional city of Agrabah, but even more humorous to my twisted mind is that the IACO code for Agra is VIAG...VIAG/Agra...I know, I have a strange sense of humor), which makes me a bit nervous. We don't have any instrument approach plates for Agra, and if the visibility is below VFR on our arrival, we're going to be in serious trouble. I took a look at the fuel required for the following leg of the trip, to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), and adding the fuel required for that trip to what's needed to get to Agra will put us just short of full fuel. So, I fill the tanks to the top, $1625 worth of Jet-A, and decide that if Agra is not VFR when we get there, we'll press on to Kolkata.

2005-02-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

The visibility at Udaipur was 1 mile in fog, with a measured ceiling of just 400 feet. There's no traffic to speak of (in spite of my having run GA-Traffic, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of IFR general aviation going on in this part of the world...Ultimate Traffic also seems to be short on commercial aviation, too). So, we taxi out alone, complete our run up and get clearance for takeoff at 10:02. As heavy as 18AF is, she rotates at 105 KIAS, and lifts off at 118 KIAS. I hold just above ten degrees of nose up and we're in the crud almost before the wheels are in their wells.

I'm a little rusty at this, and ATC has to admonish me to hold the runway heading while I'm busy setting things for the climbout. In spite of a clumsy departure, the tower hands us off and we're immediately cleared to climb to 15,000 feet. So, up we go at 1500 feet per minute at 160 KIAS, popping out into the clear at 9,000 feet.

2005-02-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

We leveled off at our cruising altitude of FL250 at 10:22. Even after flying this bird for a while, it still amazes me how fast it gets to altitude. Just 200 pounds short of max takeoff weight, and she's still climbing at over 1,100 feet per minute.

TCAS displayed a single aircraft passing below us while we were still in the climb, but we never saw it, since it was below the cloud tops. For the remainder of the flight, we didn't see a single other aircraft.

As we descended into Agra, the weather was forecast for 1,000 foot ceilings and 2 miles visibility...less than VFR, but the controller assured me that he'd get me down with vectors, so I decided to give it a try. I've landed at uncontrolled airports in very poor visibility before (flying medevac for Bush Flying Unlimited in Alaska), and I figured that with the new GPS and the controller's vectors, we had a good shot at getting down in one piece. In short, I decided to press my luck.

By the time we were down through 10,000 feet again, we were in IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) and I flipped the switches for the ice vanes. I kept one eye on the outside air temperature, though, and as soon as I saw it go above 15 degrees C, I retracted the ice vanes so that I'd have max power available if we had to go around.

Agra Approach passed me off to Tower on the same frequency, and we were cleared "number one for landing", but passing through 1,500 feet, we still had not sighted the field. At 900 feet, I spotted a pair of red lights that I thought might be VASI, but when the runway lights appreared, I realized that the "VASI" lights were the marker lights on top of the control tower...so full power, gear up, flaps up a notch and nose at ten degrees above the horizon, and we called missed approach. I'd started my descent a bit too late and overshot the threshold.

"King Air 18AF, say your intentions," called the tower.

Trimming and setting power for climb, I responded,"We'd like to deviate for weather...intend to continue to Kolkata, will file a clearance in a moment." (I hate having to respond to ATC when I'm busy flying the airplane...my instructor set the priorities this way: Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.)

"King Air 18AF, clearance to Kolkata is not listed as an alternate, weather deviation is denied. Say intentions."

I fumed for a moment, and considered just GOING to Kolkata, without clearance, but being a foreigner in their airspace, I decided that would likely be considered inappropriate (AMERICAN AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN IN INDIA, film at 11), and I meekly requested vectors for another pass at the landing.

Half an hour later, when we sighted the field again at 900 feet, I realized they'd vectored us straight for the tower again, but this time we were low enough to land, and I sidestepped to the runway and managed a decent landing. We shut down at 12:45 local, so accounting for the time change for the new time zone, we logged an hour and forty-six minutes flying.

I headed out to grab a bite for lunch.

2005-02-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

I was relieved to find that leaving Agra was easier than getting there. While I was eating my lunch, the weather had closed in quite a bit (visibility was now 1/4 mile in fog, with the cloud ceiling down to just 400 feet), but VECC is well-equipped for IFR landings, so I didn't worry about the arrival end of the flight...if I could just get airborne.

Turns out that clearance was easy to get...the weather was just at minimums. We started engines at 13:30, ran through all the check lists and got rolling at 13:38. In the sim, there are no taxiways at Agra, so we bounced over the grass alongside the runway for the short distance to the runway. To save wear and tear on the props, I held off on the run up until we were on the runway, and getting on the runway requires clearance...so timing was critical. At 13:42, we got clearance for takeoff, and I held the brakes a few moments longer than usual to be sure I got through my run up checks, released the brakes and we were off from Runway 12.

Climbing through FL080, it got cold enough to worry about icing, and since we were still in the clouds, I deployed the ice vanes and considered lowering the nose to hold 160 KIAS, but it turned out that I didn't need to. We'd accellerated to over 170 anyhow, and we popped out of the clouds at FL090 again, so I retracted the ice vanes and we were back at full power. We leveled off at FL270, 22 minutes after takeoff, and found that we had a very strong tail wind: 67 knots almost directly off our tail. The GPS very quickly had our ground speed as 335 knots.

For a while, it got a little bumpy, but not enough for me to think about asking for a different altitude...I wanted to ride that tail wind!

Just about 15:30, Kolkata Center had us start down to FL240, then cleared us to descend at pilot's discretion to FL140. Before we got that far down, ATC cleared us down to FL080 and wanted us down in 30 miles or less, so I pulled the power all the way back and set the autopilot for a 1,500 fpm descent...made for a nice 220 KIAS descent, just like the books say it does.

At 15:44, we were at FL080 and 175 KIAS when Kolkata Center passed us off to Kolkata Approach, and we were again headed down. We were told to expect Runway 19L, and accepted vectors for the ILS. Visibility was reported as 1/2 mile with a 600 foot measured ceiling.

I carefully flew the approach...gear down when the glideslope was one tick above center, pull the power to hold 120 KIAS down the glideslope, though we were still a bit fast passing the middle marker. We spotted the runway just at decision height and touched down at 16:00 on the nose...about the best greaser landing I've ever done. As the nose settled, I pulled the throttles back into reverse pitch and we took the second turnoff.

There was almost no activity at all...almost all the gates were full, but I didn't see any other aircraft taxiing, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since the visibility was so low.

Next up...Bangkok.

Nothing to See Here

2004-12-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

It took me several days to get rolling again, once we got to Cairo. Really, it was a combination of things...the planned long flight to Dubai meant that I had to wait until the next weekend for a long enough block of free time. Then, well...life intervened. I got busy.

I spent a couple days thinking about it, and decided that I didn't want to get hung up for several days in Cairo, so I made the decision to replan my next leg, breaking it into two parts, the first to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then the final leg across the Arabian Gulf to Dubai.

I dropped about $1270 for fuel, and got the engines turning. Winds were out of the ENE at 4, with 20 miles visibility, your Mark I Mod 0 Nice Day. Our clearance had us departing runway 5L, climbing initially to 3,000 feet with FL270 ten minutes after departure. Forecast winds were for 45 knots out of the west, so I expected a nice tailwind. When we got aloft, it was more like 75 knots, giving us a 328 knot ground speed!

Honestly, there is pretty much nothing to see as you fly across the Saudi Peninsula, until you get right in close to Riyadh.

2004-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

The trip from Riyadh to Dubai was the most interesting part so far...so many memories. Having been in the Navy, I've made a few trips to this part of the world, and our flight plan took us over some very familiar territory.

At Riyadh, we take on 1230 lbs of fuel, just under $500 at the rate of $3.55 per gallon that I've assumed for this trip. We fire up the engines at 0801, and after getting clearance and doing our runup, we are wheels up at 0818 local. We are cleared to climb to 5,000 feet but before we get there, ATC clears us on up to FL150, and then again to make it a steady climb on up to FL270.

2004-12-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Passing over Bahrain, the memories of my last deployment flood in. (Come to think of it, my last TWO deployments.) For the Navy and Marines here, everything revolves around ASU Bahrain, which is the US base here. I don't recall what the "ASU" really stands for, but we used to affectionately refer to it as the Alcohol Support Unit. Getting onto the base was somewhat of a challenge, even before the most recent Iraq War. During my first visit here, we took the liberty boat in and boarded the bus that would take us to ASU, only to discover that our Shore Patrol had failed to board the liberty boat. We urged the driver to continue, then sat for 45 minutes outside the gate at ASU because security would not let us on base without our shore patrol. One of the lieutenants aboard...one of our helicopter pilots...took the security chief aside and pointed out the security concerns of leaving a busload of American servicemen sitting outside the walls of the base, and volunteered his services as shore patrol for the evening. Sanity, it would seem, prevailed. (So much for Navy leadership training...I, a chief petty officer, never even thought to BECOME shore patrol for the sake of my shipmates. Quite honestly, all I could think about was getting to a phone for a call home.)

Later that night, I left ASU early...it was raining unbelievably hard...and caught what turned out to be the last liberty boat back to the ship that night. The seas on the harbor were so choppy that it took us 20 minutes to get tied up to the barge lashed to the side of the ship, and one of my less-sober shipmates broke his foot when the accommodation ladder's roller ran over his foot as an unfortunate swell passed under the barge. I helped get him aboard, and the Officer of the Deck sent the liberty boat away for the rest of the night. More than half my shipmates spent the night ashore that night, sleeping in the ASU bowling alley.

2004-12-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

Over Manama, Bahrain, I got a chance to look down on the inner harbor. There is a long pier hidden by 18AF's tail in this photo, but we spent quite some time there when I was in Bahrain last. The harbor looks small from 27,000 feet above it, but trust me, it looks even smaller when you're maneuvering in a destroyer IN the harbor.

Still headed southeast, the sightseeing part of our trip is over.

2004-12-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

Naturally, the weather began to deteriorate as we got closer in to Dubai. It's pretty typical of this time of year, though, and the haze is normal. The sand in this part of the world is so fine that it makes talcum powder seem coarse, and a good bit of it gets swept up into the air by the wind. The sand gets in everything...

2004-12-12T17:08:00.000-08:00

We managed to get down with a straight-in approach to runway 12L, and after a very nice landing, taxied to the parking at the north end of the field.

This scenery is some very nice looking freeware available on Avsim.com (keyword "Dubai") but it is a framerate killer. There is an abundance of vehicles here, all stationary, and nearly all with flashing lights. Even with Ultimate Traffic, there was astonishingly little traffic here...enough to give you a sense that you're not alone, but far less than I would have expected for such a large airport.

2004-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

On the ramp at Dubai, you can see what I mean about nice scenery. I've been here, and while this may be autogen scenery, it gives you a terrific feel for what the city actually looks like.

It was here that I experienced another fairly long delay...five minutes after I fired up the engines for the next leg of the journey, my teeneage daughter called and asked if I could give her and her girlfriend a ride to the mall. By the time I returned, I hadn't enough time left before I had to get ready for a date...so 8AF sat here for another week.

2004-12-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

On the ramp at VAAH

2004-12-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

VOR at VAAH

Leftovers IN Turkey...

2004-11-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Let me just say, first of all, that flight simmers should just be careful about add-ons, payware or freeware. Before you install it, make sure you know what's being done and how to remove it if there are problems. That advice saved my trip.

Now, serious simmers the world over know that the default scenery in Flight Simulator isn't terribly good. Okay, come to think of it, most of the NOT-so-serious simmers know it. The game's genius is that it's designed to support improvements to just about everything (aircraft, avionics, sound, air traffic control, and yes, scenery).

As I've been making my journey, I've searched the web for freeware scenery in the hope of making the pictures (and the flying) more interesting. Among the best scenery I've found is the Greek scenery by the Hellas Scenery Team. Gorgeous.

Just don't try to fly from Greece to Turkey when you're using that scenery. Buried in the Readme is an obscure reference to the problems experienced by some of those using the scenery (crashes to desktop), and for this reason, the HST wisely included copies of the default files they replace when you install their scenery. I had made my own backups, of course, and as it turned out, I needed them to get out of Greece. I experienced three crashes to desktop on departing Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport...not right away, mind you, but 40+ minutes after departure. There is a fix, which I used, but to no avail. The fourth try, I removed the HST scenery, and voila! No crash.

I'm not complaining, and I'm certainly not trying to discourage anyone from using this fine (free, did I mention it was free?) scenery...it's well done, and if I were to be spending more sim time in Greece, I'd keep it...

But where was I? On my way to Istanbul. Ataturk International Airport. Not a bad trip, just an hour and a half up. When we got to Istanbul, the weather was actually clear, so we did a bit of sight seeing on the way in. I didn't post the pictures, but may later...there are a bunch of bridges north of the airport. The actual approach into Ataturk was pretty straight forward...rather than take the vectors, though, I decided to try to fly the approach in the GNS 530's database. Worked like a champ.

The one problem I had was that the wind was pretty hairy here. Winds were about 20 degrees off the runway centerline and 21 knots gusting to 38. Keeping the big girl tracking down the center of the glideslope was tough, and we ended up about 50 feet right of the centerline. It's a wide enough runway, but still, until I had her down with all three wheels, it was a little tense.

2004-11-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

The next morning, we headed out again, this time down to Izmir. I wanted to stop there because I'd missed a port visit there in 1982. We'd been off the coast of Israel, ready to pull in for a port visit to Haifa, when the Israelis invaded Lebanon. My ship spent the next two weeks turning circles, 150 miles off Beirut.

Here we are, over the Aegean...

As has been the case with most flights on this trip, the weather at the arrival turned to IMC, so we shot the ILS to runway 34, and once again, had to go right down to minimums in a thick haze. My landings are getting better, though, and this one was one to be proud of: a squeaker on the centerline.

2004-11-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

Come Sunday morning, we were ready to be on our way. I was hoping to make our stop in Cairo a short one, and get all the way to Dubai by the end of the day.

Once in a while, I do something I'd call "Minor League Stupid" that ends up being more disappointing than it would seem at first, and that was how the morning began.

We started engines at 0816, and paying close attention to checklists and cockpit flows (I'm still developing habits, after almost 100 hours with this airplane), I got everything rolling and congratulated myself on doing it right, and being really ready for the departure. Frequencies dialed in, AP heading bug set, everything...and I do mean everything...was ready.

I taxied out to the runway and held short...called the tower and asked for clearance. "Uh sure, 8AF, taxi into position and hold." So, I taxied onto the runway and sat. And sat. And sat. Usually, the tower is pretty good about giving me the highball as soon as I set the brakes on the runway, so what was the holdup? I checked and rechecked instruments and radios and both GPS units. I reviewed my takeoff checklist. And we were still sitting there.

Then I heard the tower clear another King Air for landing...my takeoff clearance must be coming soon, because I'm on the runway the female King Air pilot is about to land on. But still no clearance...brain to high RPM...what's going on here?

I bumped the TCAS out to ten miles and there she was, descending...directly off our nose. That can't be right. I looked at my gyrocompass...It was indicating 180 degrees out from what it should have been if I was on RWY 34. I looked at the magnetic compass, thinking that the gyro was off, but no, the GYRO WAS RIGHT.

I had taxied to RWY 16.

"Uh, tower, 8AF is aborting takeoff, clearing the runway."

"King Air 8AF (snicker), roger. (Snicker.) What are your intentions?"

"We'd like to, uh, try again from the other end of the field."

"King Air (snicker) 8 (snicker) AF, taxi to runway (snicker) 34 and hold short."

At the other end of the field, we had to wait for a Lear to come in and a Fokker F27 going out, so when we finally got clearance to take off, we'd been touring the airport for 40 minutes. That little mistake cost me $90 in gas.

2004-11-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

Climbing out of Izmir, the clouds were pretty.

It gets busy enough flying the King solo that you forget the sting of any embarrassment pretty quickly. I'm sure the tower told departure about the dippy American who taxied to the wrong end of the field, but I didn't have much time to think about it.

We took off with 2500 pounds of fuel aboard, which is about a thousand pounds more than we've had for any of the last several flights, so she felt a little sluggish and took a bit longer to climb. Departure cleared us to FL150 as soon as we checked in, and then up to FL200 before handing us off to Istanbul Control. Istanbul cleared us up to FL230 then a minute or two later, sent us up to our cruising altitude of FL270. By the time we'd passed FL230, we had a 58 knot quartering tailwind, so when we leveled off, our ground speed was 306 knots...not bad. It didn't last, and by the time we got to TELRI intersection, 45 minutes after takeoff, we had a 49 knot wind off the starboard side of the nose and our ground speed was down to 260 knots again.

We settled in with the ITT set to 730 degrees C, which gave us less speed, but also better fuel consumption.

2004-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

As we headed south, especially once we'd gotten halfway across the Med, the temperature warmed considerably and I had to pull back the throttle some more to keep the ITT where I like it. Now, the ITT redlines at 798 degrees C, but the manual says that it's best for the engines not to run them above 740 degrees C for extended periods. Guys who fly the B200 professionally all say that their various companies impose limits of 730 degrees C, which is good enough for me.

The bottom line is that you have to stay on top of the engine temps, especially as you head into warmer air. As I'm learning, the airplane is not as fast in warm air as it is in cold air...you have to pull the power a bit to keep the temps in the proper operating range.

2004-11-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

At 1001, Athens Control handed us off to Cairo Control, and we were officially in the another continent's airspace...the third continent on our journey.

For the entire trip across the Pond, the weather had been clear and perfect, but as we descended into Egypt, we got to skirt some very nice-looking cumulus clouds. (As we descended into Egypt...sounds biblical: "And the King Air descended into Egypt, yea, downward out of the heavens cameth he. Extended he the ice vanes of his engines, so as to protect them from the frozen water of the clouds. And when the time came, extended he his flaps and configureth he the rest of his airplane for the approach.")

And here's where the lesson in caution and situational awareness comes in: On final, Cairo Tower cleared me to land, (a beautiful approach, I might add...perfect) and then immediately thereafter cleared an Egypt Air heavy for landing on the same runway. Now, he's overtaking me by about 40 knots...so at that point, I should have called the missed approach and climbed the hell out of the way. (I'd like to say that this would never happen in real life, but it DID happen, about 20 years ago, right here in San Diego.) No, I figured that ATC would realize their mistake and send the Heavy up and around.

Big mistake, relying on someone else for your safety.

Just as we touched down, TCAS sounded, "TRAFFIC! TRAFFIC!" and the tower asked what the heck I was doing landing on an occupied runway...the Heavy had caught up and was now behind me on the runway.

Thankfully, I had studied the airport diagram before arrival and since I knew that the General Aviation ramp was at the far end of the 10,830 foot runway, I'd landed way long to save myself some taxi time...that's all that saved me and the 260+ passengers and crew on the Egypt Air flight.

Had it been the real thing, I'd be grounded in Egypt for a while, awaiting the results of the investigation. Of course, this situation happens all the time in the sim...AI aircraft routinely ignore ATC, and charge on in to land without clearance, especially at busy airports. At KPHX, it took me four tries to get down one night. This time, the aircraft HAD clearance, and I'd heard it when it was given and I should have been much more willing to get out of the way, the better part of valor and all that.

I said at the beginning of this that I was doing this to learn about flying...this was a good lesson.

Bordeaux to Firenze to Athens

2004-11-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

We got rolling at around 0730, and it was surprisingly dark at that hour. We didn't see much of the town...I took advantage of the avionics shop there and got a new GPS unit. On the advice of an experienced hand, I got a second GPS, this one with additional features that I expect will come in handy.

Unfortunately, as with most "tweaks", this one came with problems, and we missed a day of flying because once the new Garmin 530 was in place, I couldn't get power to the autopilot. Click -- dead. (It turned out to be a problem with the panel.cfg file, and typical of these kinds of problems, I fixed it without knowing HOW I fixed it.)

So, as I said, we got rolling at 0730 local...and the new unit came in handy right away. It has a database of standard approaches and departures, and we flew one as we left Bordeaux.

2004-11-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Once we were on top of the clouds, the sunrise was spectacular.

We cruised to Firenze at FL270, above a pretty solid chunk of weather.

2004-11-26T18:19:00.001-08:00

Parked at Firenze, ready for the Beech technicians to fix my flaps.

2004-11-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

Going on instruments again, as we come down into Firenze.

Did I mention that I thought it was a joke that we'd seen nothing but bead weather approaches since we left Scottsdale? Of course, I did. That must have angered the Gods of Aviation; this was a difficult approach.

To begin with, Firenze is the first place we've gone that doesn't have an ILS approach. There is a VOR approach, however, and we flew that, but though the ATIS reported the ceiling at 1500 feet, it was much lower. That was complicated by my own technique, or lack thereof. I flew the approach a bit high, and passed the airport before coming out of the clouds.

So, full power, gear up, flaps up, climb to FL080 and take vectors to the VOR approach to RWY 05 again. This time, I'm planning on descending faster...but it wasn't fast enough, and I pop out of the clouds right over the field about 500 feet high.

Full power, gear up, flaps up...flaps up...flaps up...nope the flaps ain't coming up. I swear I didn't exceed the max speed for flaps, but the airplane has other ideas. (If you haven't flown this airplane in the sim, it's got an embedded "maintenance module" that does things like jam the flaps or the landing gear if you exceed the max speed with them extended...it also tracks how much oil you "burn", how much tire wear you have, and when your engines and propellers are due for maintenance.)

On the third approach, I was limited to the single notch of flaps, so I couldn't let the speed fall off too much. I made the approach at about 125 KIAS, and descended a bit more steeply this time. We came out of the clouds at around 1100 feet, and made a fairly nice landing, only to discover that all the exits from the runway are at the west end! Once you've landed, you need to turn around and taxi along the runway to get to the ramp.

2004-11-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Flaps fixed, autopilot working, everything checks out, so we're holding short for a Cessna.

Right after he took off, the tower gave us the "position and hold", so we rolled out onto the runway. Before I'd even lined up, tower cleared us for takeoff...I spotted the Cessna climbing up into the clouds (which were at about 600 feet), then looked down the runway and saw a frightening sight: a Beech 1900D taxiing toward us! He'd landed just before the Cessna took off, and had been sitting in the dead-end turnoff at the far end of the field. I guess he figured he'd make a run for it when he saw the Cessna go by. So much for the tower's situational awareness.

2004-11-26T18:17:00.000-08:00

Down the Italian coast of the Adriatic, the weather has gotten beautiful.

Unfortunately, there are position errors in the new GPS, and I have to use the old, less capable GNS 430 to run the autopilot. I fiddle with the new unit for most of the flight, and finally decide that it has to do with the datum selected by default when you power the unit on. (I sent a note to the makers of the GNS 530, but haven't got a response yet.)

2004-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

Soupa!

We've had a nice flight with a pretty view of coastal Greece...from the air, it's easy to see why the Greeks have a nautical tradition...but as we get closer to Athens, the clouds close in again. I am sure getting to practice my IFR on this trip!

As it turned out, there were very few clouds to the north of LGAV, so while we opted for vectors to the ILS RWY 21L, we had a pretty easy visual approach and a very smooth landing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leaving Malaga

2004-11-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

Our departure out of Malaga was fairly uneventful. Visibility was 4 miles in haze, traffic using RWY 32, which at least has us pointed in the right direction. We took on about 1500 pounds of fuel, and surprisingly little oil. Once again, we were cleared as filed, our plan being direct to Malaga VOR, then up to Bailen, Villatobas, Robledillo, and Pamplona before crossing into France at Biarritz and descending into Bordeaux.

Malaga is a place near and dear to my heart: this was my first overseas liberty port when I was in the Navy. A buddy who had been on a deployment before said, "You're coming with me," and after dealing with the line for the liberty boat, and getting ashore at Fleet Landing, we grabbed the bus for the USO in Torremolinos, and then a taxi. Being on an aircraft carrier, we looked for ways to get away from the thousands of American sailors on liberty, and our request of the driver was simply, "Take us someplace away from all the sailors." He smiled and said, "Ahhh! Benalmadena!"

What an amazing stroke of luck! He dropped us at a hostel that he assured us would be a good place to stay, and it was: spotlessly clean and quiet, it had a view of the ocean from the small balcony and it served a Continental breakfast, all for what worked out to US$5 a night per person, double occupancy. We went to the market, got a bottle of wine, some cheese and a loaf of bread, and sat on the balcony until after sunset that evening.

But...fond memories are just that, and it's time to move on.

The French are good about posting PDF versions of their approach plates online, so I've got all the documentation I need for the arrival into Merignac field in Bordeaux.

Once we were above 4,000 feet, the visibility was clear and unlimited...we lifted off in darkness, anticipating the sunrise at altitude. Shortly after we leveled off, an Iberia flight passed overhead...that's his contrail above and behind.

4's a Trend, 5's a Streak, 6 is a Joke

2004-11-25T08:05:00.002-08:00

This makes the sixth consecutive instrument approach on our trip, and I'm beginning to wonder if we haven't dragged this weather with us from San Diego, which (as you may recall) was nearly zero viz the morning we left.

ATC vectored us in for the ILS 29 approach, which we made rather cautiously. Overcast isn't so bad...you know you'll pop out right around the measured ceiling, and the runway will be there where it's supposed to be. Fog at night is a bit worse, but at least the glow of the runway lights can give you an idea that the runway is where your instruments have told you it is. Fog in the daytime is awful...you're flying into featureless white with only instruments to guide you...which is okay down to a point called the Decision Height. This is the altitude at which (if you're on the glide slope) you need to give it up and go around. At Merignac, DH is 360 feet.

Because I was flying more cautiously than I usually do, my approach had been quite a bit more precise than usual, and had I not been so concerned about finding the dang runway, I might have been proud of myself. (I've flown approaches under much worse conditions. The worst was this past summer, when I was in charter-flying in Alaska, and I made an approach to an uncontrolled airport without an ILS with the ceiling down to 500 feet and visibility was 2 miles in heavy rain...the only reason I pressed that landing was that it was to pick up a medevac.)

As we descended through 800 feet, the light changed, so I knew we were out of the overcast and into the fog, but I still couldn't see a thing ahead.

Down through 600 feet, I began to think "missed approach". This is probably bad practice; I should be thinking about it before I even start the approach. Let's just say that here is where I began to seriously think that the approach was going to be a wash.

By 400 feet and no sight of the runway, I had my hand on the throttles...and then I saw the strobes of an aircraft holding short. Now, not seeing the runway, but seeing another aircraft's strobes is not an experience I recommend...

At 360 feet, the DH warning went off and I started to move the throttles forward...and there was the runway. I landed a little long and a lot shaky, then turned left off the runway instead of right, but that just gave me time to collect myself before dealing with French Customs.

2004-11-25T08:05:00.001-08:00

There was, of course, weather ahead. Crossing the Pyrenees, it looks as though it may get foul.

Once we were across, though, the weather was nice and clear again, and I expected a visual approach clearance into Merignac. About 50 miles out, I dialed up Merignac ATIS and got the bad news: visibility at LFBD was down to less than 1 mile in fog, and there was overcast as well.

2004-11-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

It was a smooth, clear morning, not a bump to be found. Traffic was light, though we did have vectors to avoid other aircraft a couple times.

I was hopeful...after so many instrument approaches, I was looking forward to some nice weather.

2004-11-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

Finally on the ground, chocks and covers in place, I snapped this shot while waiting for the assortment of French officials who would want to talk to me before I could go find a hotel and a bottle of wine.

Now that I'm on the ground...that was kind of fun!

Here's to hoping the weather's better next flight.

Trip Planning

2004-11-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

By the way...it's hard to find free sites on the web to support realistic planning. There are lots of places that will do it for a large fee. I am not paying $15 per flight plan, thank you. We'll just have to use our imaginations about fuel costs and so on.

Interesting website

2004-11-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

http://www.xpda.com/flyingtoeurope/#mozTocId4354

For the ultimate Do-It-Yourselfer...a guide to flying a single engine plane from the central US to Europe.

Itinerary

2004-11-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

I had it pointed out today that I need to post my itinerary. Actually, what he said was, "You need an Indiana Jones Map for people to follow." While I'm working on that, I thought I'd at least post the remaining flights I have planned. These are, of course, subject to change at any time.

So far:
KSAN - KSDL (San Diego, CA to Scottsdale, AZ)
KSDL - KTUL (Scottsdale, AZ to Tulsa, OK)
KTUL - KHEF (Tulsa, OK to Manassas, VA)
KHEF - CYYT (Manassas, VA to St. Johns, Newfoundland)
CYYT - LPLA (St. Johns, Newfoundland to Lajes, Azores)
LPLA - LEMG (Lajes, Azores to Malaga, Spain)

Looking forward to:
LEMG - LFBD (Malaga, Spain to Bordeaux, France)
LFBD - LIRQ (Bordeaux, France to Firenze, Italy)
LIRQ - LGAV (Firenze, Italy to Athens, Greece)
LGAV - LTBA (Athens, Greece to Istanbul, Turkey)
LTBA - LTBJ (Istanbul, Turkey to Adnan, Turkey)
LTBJ - HECA (Adnan, Turkey to Cairo, Egypt)
HECA - OMBD (Cairo, Egypt to Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
OMBD - VAAH (Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Ahmedabad, India)
VAAH - VAUD (Ahmedabad, India to Udaipur, India)
VAUD - VIAG (Udaipur, India to Agra, India)
VIAG - VECC (Agra, India to Kolkata, India)
VECC - VTBD (Kolkata, India to Bangkok, Thailand)
VTBD - VDSR (Bangkok, Thailand to Siem-Reap, Cambodia)
VDSR - WBGG (Siem-Reap, Cambodia to Kuching, Malaysia)
WBGG - WRRR (Kuching, Malaysia to Bali, Indonesia)
WRRR - YPPD (Bali, Indonesia to Port Hedland, Western Australia)
YPPD - YPPH (Port Hedland, Western Australia to Perth, Western Australia)
YPPH - YBUN (Perth, Western Australia to Bunbury, Western Australia)
YBUN - YBAS (Bunbury, Western Australia to Alice Springs, Northern Territory)
YBAS - YBCS (Alice Springs, Northern Territory to Cairns, Queensland)
YBCS - YSBK (Cairns, Queensland to Sydney, New South Wales)
YSBK - YMEN (Sydney, New South Wales to Melbourne, Victoria)
YMEN - YMHB (Melbourne, Victoria to Hobart, Tasmania)
YMHB - NZQN (Hobart, Tasmania to Queenstown, New Zealand)
NZQN - NZWN (Queenstown, New Zealand to Wellington, New Zealand)
NZWN - NZAA (Wellington, New Zealand to Auckland, New Zealand)
NZAA - NFFN (Auckland, New Zealand to Nadi, Fiji)
NFFN - NFTF (Nadi, Fiji to Tongatapu, Tonga)
NFTF - NCRG (Tongatapu, Tonga to Avarua, Cook Islands)
NCRG - NTAA (Avarua, Cook Islands to Papeete, French Polynesia)
NTAA - PLCH (Papeete, French Polynesia to Christmas Island, Kiribati)
PLCH - PHKO (Christmas Island, Kiribati to Kona, HI)
PHKO - KMRY (Kona, HI to Monterey, CA)
KMRY - KSAN (Monterey, CA to San Diego, CA)

Transatlantic Flight...

2004-11-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

Started the morning at St. Johns (CYYT), where it was dark and rainy at 0700. I intended the get a very early start this morning, but was held up by a real world thunderstorm (yes, in San Diego!)

I waited until the weather outside was clear, made a run to the grocery store for some bagels and coffee, then settled in for a very long day. As I mentioned before, I wanted to get as far as Malaga by this evening. The next few flights after Malaga are fairly short, perfect for an evening during the week. On the other hand, if I hadn't completed both long flights today, I'd have to wait until next weekend to continue.

So, getting back to the first leg of the transatlantic hop...not a nice morning in St. Johns. I gather that there aren't many nice days up there at this time of year. I don't particularly care if it's clear skies or rainy for sim flying, but I don't much like gusty winds.

That's just what we had: according to ATIS, CYYT had winds at 025 for 24 knots, gusting to 38. Visibility 8 miles in light rain, clouds 1400 overcast to 5,000. The barometer had gone up a bit since last night when I landed, but not enough to clear things up. (On landing last night, it was 29.54...the lowest I've ever seen it.)

Departure was ugly...that big tail on the King acts as a terrific weather vane, so the takeoff run was a "rudder pedal dance." At least the runway is wide and long.

Departures are controlled by Gander Center, then over to Gander Oceanic. I was with them for about two hours after takeoff. Hardly a word was spoken...not much traffic up this way. Gander handed us off to New York Oceanic until we reached the halfway point. My flight path was a great circle route with lat/long waypoints. The mid-point of the crossing was 43 degrees North, 38 degrees West. After that, we were committed to the Azores...not enough fuel to make it back!

The winds aloft were definitely not in our favor today. For most of the trip to Lajes (LPLA), we had 40+ knot crosswinds, but the last hour or so were into a 21 knot headwind.

Making a trip like this gives me a deeper appreciation for Charles Lindbergh's first solo crossing of the Atlantic, and I feel a deeper connection to San Diego now: this is where the Spirit of St. Louis was built. (Not ten minutes drive from my house, now that I think of it.) We tend to take things for granted these days, which is a shame. Here I am, flying the Atlantic in an airplane with two engines, GPS navigation equipment and an autopilot and commenting on what we take for granted. Could be worse...I could be doing this "Concorde Casual."

An our and a half into the flight, it gets a little bumpy, but not too bad. In the sim, I define "severe turbulence" as the kind of stuff that makes the airspeed jump 5 knots or more. In a real plane, that would be pretty bumpy...hit something in your car at 5 mph and you'll see what I mean.

In spite of the winds, we touch down at Lajes (another instrument approach) just 7 minutes later than planned. At engine shutdown, I note the time; we can log 5.6 hours for this flight.

This was us after refueling and grabbing a bite to eat...number one for departure with a pair of Fokkers arriving.

The departure out of Lajes is a little unusual. Takeoff clearance for runway 15 goes like this: "King Air N18AF cleared for takeoff, fly heading 130. Winds calm, QNH 1014." The 20 degree turn is supposed to happen at wheels up, apparently, and it's for traffic separation. I waited until I was at 600 feet to start my turn, and Departure yelled at me for it.

Making Landfall

2004-11-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Here we are, going feet dry at 1655.

This was another long flight, made worse by the fact that I could see the outline of the Portuguese coast on my GPS display for hours before we passed ESP VOR.

Once we got over the Continent, the clouds opened up and I thought we might have an opportunity to enjoy the scenery on our way across Portugal and Spain.

2004-11-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

No such luck, though. The clouds rolled in again over Spain, and as we headed down towards Malaga, it was solid overcast below 7,000 feet. (FL070, as they say over here.)

And below that...fog. Visibility was just above a mile a LEMG, but we made a nice approach (crabbing into the crosswind) and a one-bounce landing...but we made the first high-speed turn off, so not a bad way to end the day.

Headwinds had been far worse than before, and we touched down 18 minutes late, for a block time of 5.6 hours once again.

I tied the King down for the night and headed for a little hostel I know in Benalmadena. I haven't been there in more than 20 years. If I'm lucky, they still haven't got television in the rooms. :-)

2004-11-20T21:31:00.000-08:00

On approach to Tulsa

This is a good shot that pretty much shows how the last three approaches have gone...IFR all the way.

We turned around pretty quickly at Scottsdale, considering...the FBO had an upgrade for the GPS that I elected to pick up in person rather than wait for. FedEx would have been $10 shipping...picking the part up the day I needed it was either $377 in gas or priceless, depending on your point of view. (I'm inclined to think "priceless"...the Garmin 430 now works perfectly and has proved its worth already, but more on that later.) It still took an hour and a half to get it installed and tested, and to have a tech run through the operation with me.

That $377 I mentioned was just the gas to Scottsdale...I bought 2300 pounds of Jet A at Corporate Jets to the tune of $1199, plus a couple quarts of engine oil.

We started engines again at 1830 UTC. Clearance Delivery issued a clearance as filed to Tulsa via the SCOT5 departure, across Northern New Mexico, then over Borger, TX, Oklahoma City and up into Tulsa. We had typical November weather for the desert: light winds, and shirtsleeve-warm temps. Even with nearly three thousand pounds of fuel aboard, the King climbs like a scared cat.

I'm not sure what happened, but our gyro was about 120 degrees off on departure...and Mr. Attention-to-Detail here didn't realize it until the second "Hey, where you goin'?" from ATC. I'll remember to check it from now on! No harm done...just embarrassing.

I also learned about icing on this flight. We passed through a wisp of cloud right as we hit the top of our climb to FL270, and BLIP! the airspeed indicator went to zero. Uh-oh. I cycled all the anti-icing switches, and the indicator came right back, but it's made me cautious about icing, now, too. The King is certificated for flight into known icing, so I'm not worried about the northern swing of the trip, but it does bear watching.

Just as we leveled off at FL270, we picked up a 50 knot tailwind. I planned for 289 knots of ground speed, but at 196 KIAS, we're doing closer to 340. We rode it at speed for a while before I realized that this isn't a race and pulled the RPM back to 1700 (MUCH quieter), set the ITT to 720 degrees C, and we're doing a respectable 171 KIAS and burning only 480 PPH...and still managing to go faster than I'd planned.

The nice thing about pulling the power back is that it's much easier on me physically. Even in the sim, the quieter power setting makes a difference.

In any case, by the time we reach Borger an hour later, the winds have fallen off again, and I've had to add some power to keep the ground speed at 289. After two hours riding that tailwind, we've bruned 350 pounds of fuel less than I expected, but that's not a bad thing at all. The maximum landing weight for the King Air is the same as her maximum takeoff weight: 12,500 pounds. We won't be anywhere near that. In any case, I seem to remember a pilot telling me once that the only time an airplane has too much fuel is when it's on fire.

As we pass Borger, I can see that the clouds are really starting to build up to the east. Along our track, it's mostly broken cloud cover under us, but north a few miles looks to be solid undercast.

At 2117 UTC (1517 local), ATC starts us down. As soon as we're passed to Kansas City Center, we're given clearance to descend at pilot's discretion to 14,000. I set the descent rate to 1,000 fpm and let the speed build up to 200 KIAS...we're making 314 knots ground speed, so I'm gaining a little time here.

Passing through 17,500 feet, I see a bright flash in the distance and wonder if we're headed into thunderstorms. It never really got bumpy, though...just a little rain as we lined up for the approach into Tulsa.

One thing about the Tulsa airport...it's got a weird layout. Took me a few minutes to figure out how to get to the FBO! Still, I'm pretty proud of myself: Our flying time from Scottsdale to Tulsa was exactly as planned at 3 hours and 10 minutes.

2004-11-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Waiting for the fuel truck in Tulsa

From where they had us park at the north end of the field, taxiing to runway 36R was...interesting. You have to cross the active runway to get into line for departure. So, it took us a whopping 28 minutes from engine start to wheels up...waited for two CRJs heading out and a landing Piper Cherokee before the tower gave me the runway.

As soon as we took off, ATC sent us up to FL180, then as we were passing 15,000, cleared us to our cruise altitude of FL250...a nice straight climb that took only 17 minutes. As we pushed over the top, I pulled the props to 1700 RPM, then set the power by the ITT: 730 degrees. Once we stabilize at cruise speed, we're burning 550 PPH at 181 KIAS.

Then...as we pass Springfield VOR...we're riding an 80 knot tailwind! I consider pulling the power back, but decide that the extra speed is money in the bank. We should have made KHEF last night, so we've started the day more than 3 hours behind as it is. Barring anything unforseen, I'm pretty sure we can still make our goal for the weekend: Malaga by Sunday night.

2004-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

Weather building over Virginia

For a few moments over Indianapolis Center, it's so quiet that I wonder if we've lost both radios. Just then, I get a traffic call...must just be a quiet day here.

At 1905 UTC, we're passing over Charlestown, WV and that makes me think of a Navy buddy who was born and raised there. His dad worked for the Fruehauf Trailer Company. The airport in Charlestown is named in honor of BGEN Chuck Yeager, who was also born and raised in West Virginia.

Of course, we can't see much from up here...the weather is starting to close in again.

We spend the last 20 minutes of the way in to Manassas (KHEF) in zero viz, but at least it isn't bumpy. We can't see the runway at all until we're below 1,000 feet, and even then it takes a second to materialize. It must have just rolled in, because the tower is telling the guys with VFR clearances to file IFR or wait it out while we're on short final.

We taxi in to parking behind a Cherokee that got in front of us because his roll out distance is shorter, allowing him to make a quicker exit off the runway...and because I had to stop and get clear directions to the FBO. This airport is packed with planes of every description! There was even a DC-3.

Shutdown came 4 hours and 5 minutes after startup, hardly surprising after the long wait for takeoff at Tulsa. Flying time was a bit long, though: 3:25 wheels up to touchdown. We burned 1850 pounds of fuel...not bad!

2004-11-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Number two for takeoff

I wanted to get right back in the air, but I'm getting older and it's generally wise to stretch my legs when I can. (Thanks to the autopilot and the "ninth seat" toilet, I can take a head break in the air if I really need to, but you can't stand up in a King Air!)

So...I grabbed a quick sandwich while Mark and Jerry refueled N18AF. It had stopped raining right as we touched down, and the clouds looked as though they were done with their work for the afternoon, so I took advantage of the opportunity for a short walk. When I climbed back aboard for the long leg of the day, I was feeling pretty refreshed.

The guys had pumped 2,600 pounds of fuel and 5 1/2 quarts of engine oil into the aircraft in less than half an hour...so engine start was logged at 1550 local. No more VFR restriction...the rain passed on through and left us with 15 mile visibility and a 2500 foot ceiling. You gotta be quick at this little airport; we had to sit for ten minutes behind a Mooney while a stream of Pipers and Cessnas landed.

We took off weighing 12,040 pounds, give or take a few...the heaviest we've been so far this trip. The climb was a bit slower than on the prvious legs, but still pretty uneventful. We popped out on top of the clouds at around 4,500 feet, but flew into a higher overcast a few minutes later.

2004-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Out of Manassas, clouds above and below

2004-11-20T21:25:00.001-08:00

Passing under westbound traffic

After a few minutes of bumping around, I ask Moncton Center if they'll clear us up to FL270 in the hope that it'll be smoother. It is still fairly bumpy for a few minutes, but not as bad as it had been 2,000 feet lower.

So, I kick in the power again, and we're back up to speed...but not for long. The winds shift, and we lose our tailwind. Now, we're looking at 251 knots g/s...38 knots less than planned! After an hour of that, the winds shift again and we're bucking a 40 knot headwind for a while. (And it gets rougher than a stucco bath tub, so I'm forced to pull the power back yet again.)

When we finally descended into St. Johns (CYYT), there was a thick overcast and the ATIS reported another layer of broken clouds at 700 feet over the field. Surface winds were 12 knots out of the northwest, so I opted for the ILS approach to runway 29. ATC was more than happy to let me fly the published approach procedure, and here's where that Garmin GPS really earned its keep. The Garmin holds a worldwide database of approach procedures, so I dialed up the "ILS 29 approach, IAF YYT" and let the GPS handle the approach until we started the turn inbound to the localizer. Worked like a champ!

I called for a wind check three times while we were on the approach...all three times the tower replied "355, 12 KTS" so I felt pretty confident that the crosswind landing on runway 29 would be fairly easy. Lined up on the ILS, though, I could see the autopilot fighting with a 21 knot wind about 60 degrees off to the right, so I watched it closely and hoped it would get better as we got lower.

It didn't.

When we dropped out of the clouds at 800 feet, I called the field in sight and took over the flying. It took considerable control input to hold it anywhere close to the centerline, and we definitely landed hard. (I am not looking forward to inspecting my tires in the morning.)

But...all's well that ends well. We taxied to the ramp and shut down 5 hours and 17 minutes after engine start in Manassas. The FBO had left the keys to their crew car where they said they would, so I had no trouble getting to my hotel.

And after almost 9 1/2 hours in the cockpit today, I shouldn;t have any trouble getting to sleep, either.

Tomorrow, we'll head for the Azores, and then on to Malaga. I'm excited...I haven't been to Malaga in more than 20 years!

2004-11-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Sunset over Philadelphia

The sunset got pretty just about the time we overflew Philadelphia...I was a little disappointed that the sunset was behind us, until I realized how painful it would be to fly TOWARDS the sunset. Naah...

A few minutes later, it got pretty bumpy, but that only lasted for a few minutes. As it gets darker, I flip the switches on the ice vanes. As I mentioned earlier, I'm learning to be cautious about icing. Now, icing can happen any time there is visible moisture and the air temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius. Ice, even very small particles, does terrible things to the inside of a turbine engine...mostly because the compressor blades are spinning at around 38,000 RPM...so Pratt & Whitney installed these little inlet vanes that protect the compressor from ice. The trade off is that you lose a little power because the airflow into the engine isn't as good, but I'd rather give up a few knots of speed than blow up an engine when the nearest land is 5 miles straight down.

Up here at 25,000 feet, it's about -35 degrees Celsius, and once it's dark, we won't be able to see the clouds. So, out come the ice vanes.

I also set the Decision Height alerter to its max of 1,000 feet, a trick I learned from the www.worldflight2001.com site. The DH alerter is there to help the pilot find the minimum safe altitude he can descend to during an instrument approach in poor visibility. Setting it to max will offer one more warning if, for some reason, we get too low.

It's smooth air over New York and across Connecticut and Massachussetts to Boston, but gets very bumpy out over the Gulf of Maine. This time, we slow down to the turbulent air penetration speed of 170 KIAS, which is good for the fuel consumption, but will definitely make this leg take longer. By the time we pass the Yarmouth VOR, we're 7 minutes behind schedule. So much for the time we gained this morning with that 80 knot tailwind!

2004-11-19T16:34:00.000-08:00

Ready to Roll

As mentioned, the visibility this morning was bad...less than a 1/4 mile in mist. I had hoped for a nicer photo opportunity for departure, but it just wasn't to be. I finally decided to press on, since the plan is to be in Virginia tonight.

I like watching airplanes (what pilot doesn't?) and from where we park, we've got a front row seat for the arrival end of RWY 27. As I ran through the Before Start checklist, it was hard not to be distracted by the heavier iron on the runway. As I was waiting for clearance, the line tech at Jimsair snapped the photo above...a barely visible Delta 767 bound for Atlanta holding on the runway in the background.

In spite of the morning commercial traffic, Clearance was quick, "King Air 8AF, cleared to Scottsdale via the BORDR5 departure, then as filed. Climb and maintain 3,000...expect Flight Level 250 ten minutes after departure. Departure frequency is 124.35, squawk 5171."

2004-11-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

Lined up for departure at Lindbergh Field...it's soupy this morning!

Holding on the runway makes me nervous in weather like this, and the view over the glare shield shows why. You can barely see as far as the displaced threshold!

2004-11-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Climbing into the soup of a Southern California November morning.

We got rolling at 0743 local (1543 UTC), and started up into the muck. With just me and my 80 pounds of luggage and survival gear, the King really climbs...we started up at 180 KIAS and 2,000 feet per minute. We didn't find the tops until 9,200 feet.

ATC wasn't terribly busy this morning, so we got clearance to our cruise altitude without any delays. Leveling off, we had a 37 knot wind almost directly off our tail, so with the power set for high speed cruise (props 1900 RPM, fuel flow 700 PPH), we got 332 knots ground speed. I was glad to be headed east, instead of into that 37 knot wind...can't imagine bucking that for 30,000 miles.

Our only company on the Los Angeles Center frequency (other than our controller) was a Lear, until we got near the Arizona state line. A west bound United heavy passed over our heads at FL350 or so, pulling a nice contrail. I snapped a picture, but I'm sorry to say it didn't come out.

Around 1625 UTC, LA handed us off to Albuquerque Center, who cleared us down to FL240 immediately, then gave us vectors for traffic avoidance. I never saw the traffic on TCAS, mostly because it got busy right about then. As soon as we made our turn to avoid the other aircraft, ATC cleared us to descend at pilot's discretion to 16,000 feet. I did the math, decided on a descent point, and pressed on at FL240. I got the calculation wrong, and ended up in a bit steeper descent than I prefer, while ATC vectored me around to give me more time to come down. The King is pretty slick, too...it's next to impossible to slow down in a descent.

2004-11-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Passing Phoenix Sky Harbor

We did get down, though, and here we are in the Arizona haze, passing Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Looks busy...I'm glad I don't have to deal with that traffic.

ATC had vectored us in for a visual approach to Scottsdale Muni's RWY 3, and in spite of the haze, we got sight of the field about 8 miles out. Gear down, hook down, call the ball...no, we just took the clearance from approach for a straight in visual, took the handoff to the tower and were told that we were number one for landing while we were still three miles out.

2004-11-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

Parked at Scottsdale Muni.

We crossed the threshold a little low, but made a nice landing anyway and with moderate braking took the A8 exit off the runway. We touched down with 650 pounds of fuel aboard, having used only 750 pounds to get here. We had planned for 880 pounds, so the tailwind really helped!

The plan is for a brief stop...fuel and a couple things I'll need for the long trip, and then back in the air for Tulsa. We'll take on 2,330 pounds of fuel, so the fuel bill will come to $1217.16.

The Departure Day Arrives

2004-11-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my evenings this week doing flight planning...just the base plan, fill in the weather later...and have been looking forward to getting started today.

Woke up this morning with weather WAY below minimums. Now, at 10:45 am...it's still a bit foggy, with no visible horizon, but the visibility looks good enough for an IFR departure around noon. My guess is that the sky is still blue on top of all this white.

First stop -- Scottsdale, Arizona. It'll be a brief stop there, then on to Tulsa for a refueling stop, and we'll stay the night in Manassas, Virginia.

More later.

2004-11-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

18AF in her parking spot at KSAN

2004-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

Another view of parking

2004-11-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

In the front office

Getting Started

2004-11-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

The intent of this blog is to show my progress as I "fly" around the world in the fantastic Aeroworx King Air B200. I've been getting to know this aircraft for five months (and for the purposes of this blog, I'm not going to try to stay consistent in calling it a "sim" or a "virtual aircraft"...just know that I'm referring to an airplane that doesn't really exist, okay?). Aeroworx has done a masterful job at making it as realistic as possible, right down to the dreaded "hot start" as a penalty for failing to follow the correct engine startup procedure. (Earn a hot start, replace an engine. It'll "cost" around $120,000 or more to do that.)

Speaking of costs, I'll try to find online resources for fuel costs and the like, so that I can post a running tally of how much it would cost to do this for real. It's not a poor man's game, flying a twin engine turboprop. A quick search of the aircraft brokers in the U.S. tells me that a reasonably well-maintained 1994 B200 such as the one I'll be flying should sell for around US$1.8M, and generally, the operating costs run around US$600 an hour, and I expect to do this in around 100 hours. Hopefully, I can find some fuel cost sources for areas outside the USA online (if you know of any, please post a URL here).

Where did I get the idea for doing this? Two places: www.itsnotpersonal.com/fly and www.worldflight2001.com. I will be following the route shown in the second link...Jeffyen's goal (as shown at the site on the first link) is pretty noble (fly to every country in the world), but a bit lofty for me. I need a smaller objective!

For the sake of being anal, I figured there should be some rules to keep me honest, and for the sake of making this a significant challenge. These are subject to change, of course, but that's life.

1) All flights will be flown in real time...no acceleration.
2) All flights will be flown using real weather, as provided by ActiveSky 2004.5. (This may prove to be interesting, since at least half of my itinerary has me well north of the Equator in Winter.)
3) All flights must depart from the field where the last flight ended, and all flights must land safely. (A computer failure means that a flight must be restarted at the departure airfield. A landing that results in damage to the airplane means that the whole trip is over.)
4) All flights will be documented with screen shots, and a detailed description of the route. Since I'm a writer, it'll be a good exercise to create a little fiction in the description of the journey.
5) As many flights as possible should be flown using online air traffic control at www.vatsim.org. Those that are now flown online will be flown using Radar Contact V3.1 (or higher...if V4 arrives before I'm done).
6) I'm doing this for fun, but also to learn about flying. To that end, all checklists and cockpit procedures will be adhered to, wherever possible.

Okay, that's enough for now...I'll be posting more in the next day or two about my itinerary.