Although a long flight, the air was completely calm, no turbulence and amazing views of the desert and the Nile.
9000 feet over the Egyptian Desert
Part way into the flight I had a concern on my fuel reserve. This was to be my longest leg and I had carefully planned the fuel I would require taking into account planned headwinds at this altitude. It was now I realised that my reserve fuel had slowly been counting down. It started at 82 litres and was now down to 33 and falling. I still had several hours of flying left, this was not great news as there were limited places to land in the desert. I kept going through my head what was going on as it didn’t make sense, my airspeed vs ground speed indicated that the head wind was within the limits I had set. The flight time vs distance travelled seemed ok. With risk of losing my current position I decided to do a reset on the GPS. 77 litres reserve appeared on the screen ! So what had happened, it seemed that although the gps knew where I was the fuel computer still thought I was in Cairo !! I probably should have read the manual a bit better !
Crossing the Nile
The contrast of the green crops bordering the Nile and the desert around was very marked from the air
Pyramids visible as I departed 6th October Airport (HEOC) Cairo (Egypt)
As I departed 6th October airport and climbed to FL090 I could see the pyramids off my left wing tip and the green crops bordering the Nile. This was to be my longest leg of the trip so far to Abu Simbel, over 500nm.
The Pyramids of Giza
I took the opportunity to visit the pyramids of Giza whilst in Cairo. Khufu the oldest and largest of the three pyramids dates back to 2540BC and is 455 feet high. Two others sit beside, Kafhre & Menkaura along with the Sphinx (the spiritual guardian). These are 3 of the 80 pyramids of ancient Egypt. You could spend weeks here the history is amazing, hard to get your head around how these pyramids were constructed all those years ago.
Refueling at 6th October Airport (HEOC) Cairo (Egypt)
I arrived at 6th October airport in good time and starting to get used to flying in the somewhat murky conditions.
During the flight several airliners were asking for a turbulence update, this really got my attention and although the turbulence had been bearable so far it was an area of concern especially for North Africa when planning the trip. Luckily Cairo reported back “Nothing reported”. I still made sure my 5 point harness was locked and as tight as I could get it !
There was a good cross wind on arrival just to finish the day which made for an interesting landing. Once on the ground, very relieved, a big day, 642nm (739 statute miles), 5 1/2h flying.
Arrival Mersa Matruh (HEMM) North Africa
What a feeling after a 3 1/2 h flight to at last be on the ground in Africa, can’t believe it !
With the temperature at 30 degrees it didn’t take long for me to remove my immersion suit and Nomex flight suit, I felt like a “boil in the bag” and my clothes were dripping wet !
Mersa Matruh is a military airfield in the middle of nowhere and I felt a little intimidated by the military presence as two F16’s taxied in behind me. What appeared to be a deserted apron was suddenly filled will people approaching the aircraft. The escort vehicle driver, my handler who was co-ordinating my arrival, the airport official requesting to see my fumigation certificate and empty cans, customs wanting to check the luggage in the aircraft, the fuel lorry then turned up with a team of three, the fire truck then arrived to have a look with another team of people. All were very friendly, very efficient and interested in the trip. Thank you !
Once fuelled and customs cleared I departed bound for 6th October airport (HEOC) on the outskirts of Cairo. I was delayed departing by 40 minutes due to a radio issue then waiting for further F16’s to land, fingers crossed I would be in Cairo by sunset !
Coasting in to North Africa !
A big WOW moment for me I have reached Africa !!! Another milestone in the trip and an image I have visualised for many years.
Life starts to get slightly more complicated, and very strict. My sky demon gps unit does not have maps available for North Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia) and VFR maps don’t exist for these countries. I will need to use the hi/low IFR maps that the airliners use that show few ground features just points in space along pre prescribed routes along with a Garmin GPS that has these IFR points preloaded into it’s data base. Although I will be tracking at lower altitudes than the airliners I will still have a minimum height requirement of FL085 (approx. 8,500 feet). At this height flying over mainly desert there will be few ground features to navigate by so VFR maps would not have added much additional benefit had they been available.
Coasting out from Crete - Destination - Mersa Matruh (HEMM) North Africa
This is the last major water crossing and I am lucky to have such a great day for it albeit a bit hazy. I have found that after spending long periods of time crossing water you can become a bit disoriented (known as spatial disorientation - the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the earth or other points of reference). Luckily a friend and fellow pilot Ross Willamson (Crowfield Airfield, Suffolk) warned me of this when he saw some of the water crossings I needed to make. This has been really useful as I have been consciously aware of scanning around the horizon, sea, cockpit and not just focusing on one spot, cheers Ross !!
Departure Iraklion (LGIR) Crete for the 2 1/2 water crossing to the North African Coast
Thankyou Michalis from Pandair and all at Iraklion ATC for your help !!