Manfredc3, Rookie started his LM adventure.

Made it safely to Jodhpur in India. Despite severe trunderstorms, and the ever changing wind directions keeping me on my toes. Almost spilled my coffee on the gauges, and Stue ending up with a nasty bump on her forehead whille handing me the cup.

The old lady is showing her ago, but is not giving in. Everything is in tact. It was quite a landing on this stretched hill, and I almost missed seeing that ditch before the landing strip.

ATA: 08:41:20

Flight Time: 2:20:23
Routine Ground Time:
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

View attachment FlightLog_10-49-53.TXTFlightLog_10-49-53.JPG
 
After being taken care off by very friendly Indian ladies, and finding some nice materials for my wife, it is time to get back to business. The indian people do not drink coffe that much, so Stue filled a thermos with steaming tea. We are on our way to Allahabad.

VIJO-VIAL

ETA: 14:15
 
Made it to Allahabad. Almost didn't make it. Had enough fuel with me, but the fuel selector switch got stuck. Was flying on fumes for a few minutes, untill I managed to find a pipe that would go over the handle to push it in to the left fuel tank position. Pfff. Stue Was getting pretty nervous during this nerve wrecking situation. I ended upgiving her the last bit bit of tea from my cup, so she could calm down. Adrenaline level certainly spiked at the time. Luckily I always take a toolbox qith me on every flight.

Some of the passengers noticed that the engines were sounding weird, and that we were loosing altitude, but Stue did a great job ptrvrnting panic from setting in amongst them.

Between the thunderstoms we did gat a glimps of this beautiful country. No wonder these residents are so friendly.

LM VIJO to VIAL_6.jpg

What I didn't get, is why so many houses have blue roofs.

Let's go for a stiff drink, as I do believe we all deserve it.

ATA: 15:02:13

Flight Time: 3:21:52
Routine Ground Time:
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

View attachment FlightLog_11-13-38.TXTFlightLog_11-13-38.JPG


And a few shots from the arrival and welcoming committee:

LM VIJO to VIAL_2.jpg
LM VIJO to VIAL_3.jpg
LM VIJO to VIAL_5.jpg
 
Leaving Allahabad.
It's partly cloudy, but temps are nice this morning. Stue went for a spa treatment last night and appears to be all rejuvinated. As I bank left to intercept the BN NDB, she walks in to the cockpit with a hot cup of coffee in her hand, and just starts laughing, sicne she had to make some weird maneuvres to keep the cup from spilling that valuable hot coffee. "I should have expected that!" she says with a smile.

VIAL-VECC

TOD: 11:00am
ETA: 14:00

Well, the engines are purring away, so let me get back to my cup of coffee as I am levelled out at 7500 ft.

I'll get back to you ater arrival at my next destination.

Rookie pilot Manfred, OUT!
 
An Anomaly in the scenery, or is it an act of God?

When leaving Allahabad I saw this:

LM VIAL to VECC_3.jpg

Now I understand why I didn't see the river at arrival.

When I arrived at Calcutta...
LM VIAL to VECC_1.jpg Where did everyone go??? Did the LMR office not inform them of my arrival??

Guess I will have a long day and night, preparing my bird for the next flight myself. Stue!!!! HELP!
 
manfredc3 said:
An Anomaly in the scenery, or is it an act of God?

When leaving Allahabad I saw this:

View attachment 15471

Now I understand why I didn't see the river at arrival.
Click to expand...

Yep, this was the cause of a lengthy arugement between me and my navigator "Reguit" Spies, in investigating why we landed at Z13T instead of VIAL. He showed me his flight plan note that clearly had "do not cross the river - if you do, have gone too far and missed Vial!" noted next to his approach notes. "Did we cross the river Cap? Even on our way back from Z13T to VIAL?". I had to admit no we did not, the Indians seem to have reclaimed it somehow. That did not excuse the navigator's failure to tune in the AB NDB though, which would have prevented this "incident".

Anyhow, duly chastised I must say that "Reguit" improved his performance for the second part of the trip!

BTW, you are really doing credit to that famous bird. Keep going!
 
An early depart from Calcutta. for a long trip to Rangoom. Plenty of coffee, and with Stue's good humor, we should have a fun flight.

VECC - VYYY.

ETA: 09:45.

Oh, and main office, please inform the local authorities of my upcoming arrival.
That way I don't have to do everything myself and spend 7 hours checking and prepping my plane for the next leg, AFTER doing all the paper work I had to fill out, becaude they were not pre-informed of another "high demanding" vintage aircraft flying in. They could barely come up with enough fuel for my continuing flight. Topped off with some scary mixture of tractor fuel, they said would work, I am scared of just thinking what might happen to my engines.
I can only hope they will survive, so that I don't have to bail out, being stuck in Rangoon with a dead engine.

Keeping my fingers crossed....hrck I'm keeping everything crossed on this one.
 
rwhsim said:
BTW, you are really doing credit to that famous bird. Keep going!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am doing my best keeping this graceful lady airborne, but it's not easy, as her age is certainly [rovifing it's challenges. Lot's of maintenance after every leg is keeping everyone on their toes. Kudo's yo those mechanics that are still able to keep her air worthy.

And regarding your navigator "Reguit" Spies, I can only say that you are lucky that he is at least "navigating", even though it got you to the wrong airport.

Mine keeps dozing off during every flight, despite Stue's coffee. I am starting to wonder what he is doing every night??? But maybe I really don't wanna know.

Well, happy flying,

I'm off to Rangoon.

Oh, and adain, thanks for the compliment.
 
Well, not much going on in Rangoon. So we decided to head on out to Bangkok.

The navigator had enough time to wake up (I hope!?), and Stue is on her way with some more hot coffee.

It's going to be a short flight, so we should be able to get enough sleep later this evening for tomorrow's longer flight.

VYYY - VTBD

ETA: 08:15am
 
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The departure was beautiful in the early morning:
LM VYYY to VTBD_1.jpg


Made it in to Bangkok. Due to low visibility I didn't see the airport until I dropped below 800 ft.
LM VYYY to VTBD_2.jpg

Was pretty scary, but by now I trust my navigation, and my navigator stayed awaik throughout the flight, finally doing his job. Stue had an easy ride. I only needed one cup of coffee, lol.

ATA:08:09:26.

Flight Time: 2:20:52
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

FlightLog_14-57-09.JPGView attachment FlightLog_14-57-09.TXT
 
After a very relaxing acupunture and spa treatment I feel fully rejuvinated, and eager to continue the race. So, let's get movin'.

Steu and the navigator seem to have had a nice afternoon and evening as wellm as they are exceptionally chearful.

So, let's go and find out what Malaysia has to off.

VTBD-WNKA

ETA: 09:00am
 
Darned, got a 25kt headwind slowing me down. Guess we might be running a little late.

So far the weather is not bad with scattered clouds. Stue...!! Where is my coffee?
 
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Well, made it in to this lansding strip, which was like searching for a needls in a haystack. What a sh.. hole this is. Luckily I do not need any maintenance done.
And another thunderstorm rolling in.

Let's all get some rest, and get ready for our trip to Singapore.

ETA: 09:03:03

Flight Time: 3:34:27
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

FlightLog_11-23-32.JPGView attachment FlightLog_11-23-32.TXT
 
Departed Singapore.
Plenty of coffee on board, and Stue was disappointed; She thought she had gotten a great deal on a tablet, but found out later that she couldn't read the text, as it wasn't in english, lol. That's what you get for getting soft on a child along the road.

The navigator has not said very much, and is already on his second cup of coffee. Hangover??!!

WSSL-WIHH

ETA: 09:00am
 
Oh boy, Aproaching Jakarta, we ran in to this major thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder every few seconds. Fasten seatbelts light are on, and seating for the crew is mandatory. It's a bumpy ride.

But we made it in to WIHH safely. The old lady kept us safe, and my pants dry, :encouragement:

ATA: 9:37:42am

Flight Time: 3:42:33
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

FlightLog_11-19-32.JPGView attachment FlightLog_11-19-32.TXT
 
To get an idea of the weather we encountered approaching Jakarta, here is a shot Steu took through the front window, as I was busy keeping our bird in the air, and on track.

LM WSSL to WIHH_1.jpg


And look who were there to welcome me, just before they got ready to take off for their next leg, as there are only a few days left, and still a long way to go.
LM WSSL to WIHH_2.jpg

On that note, I need to have a talk with the crew tonight. I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Happy flying,
 
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