Africa: Cairo to Addis Ababa

The time has come to go exploring Africa. See our nice freshly-painted United Nations Lockheed C-130 Hercules, parked at Merowe in the Sudan? This cargo plane is ideal for short dirt or gravel runways, and has been called the largest bush plane in the world. I will be flying this thing all over Africa, and writing about my experiences with it in this column.

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Aircraft: Lockheed C-130 Hercules, by Mike Stone
Owner: United Nations

Mission: World Food Program

Texture set: Avsim.com file wfp_c130_.zip

12-Nov. Alexandria.

The mission began at Alexandria Intl. The first leg departs at 6:00 A.m. with an old DC-3 cargo plane headed for Cairo. The weather was fair with scattered clouds and some turbulence, which always makes the DC-3 hard to fly. We arrived at HECA at 8 A.m. after a bumpy ride and a visual landing on runway 5R -- we couldn't have used ILS even if it had been offered, so we steered the old bird down to the runway and taxi'd until we found an exit. Then we were shunted off to the cargo ramp.


Layover in Cairo for three days, waiting for the C-130 to arrive from Turkey. After its arrival and a full check-up by the maintenance crew, loading the plane began the night of the 14th.

15-Nov. Cairo.
The next leg of our flight set out on 15-Nov at 12:44, bound for Hurghada Intl (HEGN). Only 238 miles, but the C-130 is not particularly fast. We landed 2 hours 17 minutes later, and spent the rest of the day doing routine medical tests and handing out food. The C-130 is great, we just lower the tail doors, open up the plane, and people file right in.

16-Nov. Hurghada, Egypt.
we have two flights, first from Hurghada to Port Sudan (HSPN) on the coast of the Red Sea -- VFR navigation all the way, and then a late afternoon flight from there to Merowe, Sudan. I wasn't sure what to expect. A short gravel strip, no control tower, but would there be a town, or was this just an airfield in the middle of the desert? It turned out to be a respectable-sized town located on the banks of the upper Nile. We opened the tail and started handing out food and seeing anybody who wanted medical attention.

17-Nov. Atbara, Sudan.
Morning departure to another town in the Sudan only 138 miles away, Atbara (HSAT). There was even less here than at Merowe, just a converted house trailer being used as a control tower, but the townspeople knew we were coming and were lined up waiting. We could see them cheering our landing as the dust went up behind the plane on the gravel runway.



Well, the supplies are just about run out, but we were told not to waste time flying back to Cairo for resupplies. We fly on to Addis Ababa to pick up new supplies, and then we will be flying to several smaller outlying communities in Ethiopia for the next few days. I'm not exactly looking forward to it -- the terrain is very mountainous in Ethiopia, and this will mostly be VFR seat of the pants flying. I'll write more after we've been to Addis Ababa. Wish me luck!

British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-VIIT

I've never been able to use the Melvin Rafi Boeing 777, for reasons I'm not entirely sure. This means, for the last four years, the world of 777 flying has been inaccessible to me unless I wanted to use the default plane or one of the AI versions. Which I didn't.

But no more. Project Opensky has finally built a 777 of their own, actually several planes, the 777-200 and the 777-200ER, each available in three engine versions, PW, Rolls Royce Trent-800's, and GE-90. I prefer the version of the plane without the virtual cockpit (VC) because the VC really impacts my frame rates.

For my test flight, I chose the British Airways 777-200ER, tail number G-VIIT pictured above. The Extended Range (ER) version is enhanced with larger fuel tanks and is able to achieve a range in excess of 7500 nautical miles, easily enough to fly from JFK to Tokyo, or London-Heathrow to Singapore. The flight plan I filed was WSSS (Singapore, Changi) to EGLL (London Heathrow), with automatic High-Altitude routing. The flight plan calculated had a total distance of 5,985 nautical miles. Expected flying time: 12 hrs, 45 min.

The fuel load I chose for this flight was 31,650 US gallons, which allowed a worst-case scenario of 5.3 gallons/mile for the overall flight. Expected performance for the plane is 3.6 to 4.1 g/mile, which is roughly the same as the Boeing 767-300 -- very good for a plane this size, and plenty enough reason to explain why the 777 has become so popular with modern airlines.

It isn't really desirable to fly a route this long in one continuous session. The way I flew this particular flight was to arrange a departure time from Singapore of 0330Z, or about 10:30 A.M. local time. This provided for an expected arrival time of (0330 + 1230) or 1600Z, which at London would be 4 P.M. local time. Still daylight, although getting on toward dusk at this time of year. After climbing to an enroute crusing altitude of FL350, I minimized FS2004, turned the monitor off, and went to bed. If you have the general settings option "Pause on Task Switch" turned OFF (unchecked), FS2004 will continue flying as a background task, such as while minimized. This allows you to do other work while the plane flies, or, as I did, just go to bed and get a good night's sleep :)

The next morning, the plane had only travelled about half the route. This is because we were encountering strong headwinds along the route, upwards of 80 to 100 knots at times. The trip was going to take more than the estimated 12 1/2 hours, much more. Fortunately I had packed plenty of fuel, mainly because I had anticipated the possibility of strong easterly headwinds at this time of year. So, I saved the flight and shut down FS for the rest of the day.

I started the flight up again before I went to bed the second night, and let it fly all that night. Finally, the next morning, we were only a few hundred miles from London. I landed safely at Heathrow -- the plane handled beautifully, just as easy to handle as the default 737 -- after logging a total of nearly 15 hours. This was one of the longest flights I had ever made, and at the end, this beast of a machine still had 7,266 gallons of fuel on board!

If you're interested in flying a modern plane with plenty of range, and have the time and abilities to manage such long flights, I think you'll enjoy the Project Opensky Boeing 777-200. Visually beautiful, easy to handle, and with range and flight characteristics typical of the real 777, this will do the job for you.

Flight: PAOT to PALU

The far north isn't all in Canada. Alaska is worth attention, too. In the winter months of November, December, January, the northern parts of Alaska dim and darken, the days become shorter and the dawn and dusk periods become longer. The green slopes and valleys turn white with snow, and air travel becomes even more important. For many communities in Alaska, air travel becomes the only practical way to maintain contact with the outside world.

This flight is planned to use the Piper PA18 supercub, probably the most popular airplane in the whole state. It is rugged, can land on the shortest strips, and doesn't even need a runway. It is a bush plane, preferred by guides, sportsmen, and explorers. You'll want to get a supercub and install it for this trip. I recommend the file pa-18_two_emblems.zip on Avsim -- you get not only a great upgrade for the standard wheeled piper cub, but also a float plane version. These planes are equipped with IFR navigation aids, including VOR and ADF radios, and an autopilot of sorts. The default piper cub doesn't have the navigation aids we need for this flight.

Once you've got the planes installed, position yourself at a "ramp GA small" parking spot at PAOT, Wien Meml, Kotzebue, AK. This airport is somewhat of a hub for traffic in the northwest part of the state, as it has VOR and NDB on field, paved runways, fuel, and even light repair and maintenance facilities. It serves as a natural base for your explanations into northwest AK.

For your flight plan, choose VFR navigation beginning at PAOT and flying to PALU, Cape Lisburne LRRS. Cape Lisburne is located on a corner of land surrounded with mountains and rocks. Actually it's not the easiest place to land. You'll appreciate the low landing speed and maneuverability of the PA18 when trying to approach this gravel runway. I used a runway 26 approach, which allowed me a straight-in approach, skirting the rocks of a mountain that -almost- but not quite blocked my path.

The flight plan itself is simple. From PAOT to OTZ VOR, just beyond the end of runway 8. From OTZ, take an OBS course of 308 to Cape Lisburne NDB, LUR. Connect from there to PALU, your destination airport. Total distance is 146 nautical miles, and ETE (estimated time enroute) is one hour and 40 minutes.

After you cross the VOR, all you have to do is line yourself up with the VOR on a track of 308 degrees, turn on the autopilot (there's a button on the panel for this), choose NAV1 HOLD (shift+N on the keyboard), and you're on your way. By the time deviation from the VOR course becomes a concern, you should be able to receive the NDB on 385.0 kHz, and follow it in.

A departure time of 10AM (2000Z) is good, because it ensures you'll have some daylight at Lisburne when you arrive. Not a lot. But it should be adequate.

I think what I enjoyed most about this flight, besides looking at the rugged Alaskan landscape, was proving the ability of the PA18 supercub to navigate a relatively long-distance route. After turning on the autopilot, I actually went and did other things for an hour, letting the plane fly on its own. When I checked the screen, we were about 30 miles out, about 5 miles east of planned track, and ready to descend. "Piece of cake."

Good luck!

Flight: KFLL to MYEM

Recently we introduced the Premaircraft Beech 1900D commuter with a Continental Connection flight Boston KBOS to White Plains KHPN, operated by CommutAir. Well, did you know there is another regional carrier in Florida that also flies Beech 1900D commuter turboprops for Continental Connection? Their name is Gulf Flight International (airline code GFT), and their focus airports are Tampa (KTPA), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Intl (KFLL), West Palm Beach (KPBI), and Miami Intl. You can use the same B1900D aircraft in the Continental Livery to flyGulf Flight: just change the Airline name in the Select-Aircraft dialog from COMMUTAIR to GULF FLIGHT.

Last night I tried the new 1900D on a flight into the Bahamas, from Fort Lauderdale to Governour's Harbour (MYEM). The distance is 222 nautical miles. I used an enroute cruise altitude of FL190 and a departure time of 4:08pm (2108Z), 9-Nov. There was considerable cloudiness enroute, but visibility was good at ground level. En route you'll pass over Nassau Intl, and get a good view of the Berry islands north of Nassau and east of Andros Is.

I used ATC control, which meant I had to do very little work to set up the approach to Governour's Harbour on Eleuthra Island. The weather was clear and I enjoyed the opportunity to make a visual straight-in approach and landing -- always a pleasure to practice those pilot skills. Maybe another time we'll try the 1900D on a pattern approach. After landing, pull off onto the ramp at the end of the runway and park by the FBO office. Deplane your passengers and make a logbook entry.

I always enjoy flying in the Bahamas. As I landed, around 5pm, the setting sun lined the dense cloud cover with golds and reds, and it was too late to make the trip back to Fort Lauderdale.