PRB C2C Southbound

Well drat. Touat-Cheikh Sidi Mohamed Belkebir isn't where it's supposed to be. You'd think with a name that long it would be big enough to see from up here. I might have to stop and ask for directions...
 
I found it! When I got to where it was "supposed to be" and there was nothing but desert under me, I decided to continue towards a city that was dead ahead. No joy. Nice city, no airport. Then I decided I would follow the road to another city to the west, and if that wasn't it I land on the road in town, pick up a hot dog at the 7/11 and get my bearings. Well, half way there I spotted an airport off to the south...
 
I had a 20 knot crossind, from the west, for most of the flight. When I did find the airport, it was to the west. Which means I hadn't adjusted my course enough to account for the wind. Must do better on the next leg, which is much longer... Here's some kodaks of the last flight. 1 and 2: Lonely sight... 3: Final approach to destination!
 
Paul, while you're in DAUA instead of the hotdog stand (you never know what's in those things), try El Mexican Place down on Main Street. The camel burritos are pretty good. One hump or two?
 
Hmm, camel burritos sounds very tasty, but I think I'll pass. Of course, as you said, there's no telling what's in the hot dogs around here either...
 
Just broke out my Sanderson SC-3B (think E6B Flight Computer) to confirm my suspicion that I didn't have near enough drift angle correcting cranked into my course on that last flight. The wind during that leg was a constant 20 knots, but varied between 25 and 90 degrees from the west. When it was 25 off, I steered 2 degrees right, and when it was 90 degrees off, I steered 4 degrees right. According to the SC-3B, I should have been steering more like 3 and 6 degrees right, respectively, under the two wind conditions. Why I wasn't consulting the trusty SC-3B during the flight is a mystery, of sorts. It's actually easy to gonculate with this thing. You do need to know your true airspeed, but even if you don't, and you have a rough idea, within 20 knots, this thing would have got me much closer than my SWAG method did. And besides, you can get TAS using this thing too. You just need to know your altitude, IAS, and outside air temp (C). I plan on using it for the long leg ahead.
 
Time to make the long haul to Korogoussou (GAGO). It's only 700 miles across a vast and trackless, sandstorm driven, scorching hot desert. My tanks and full of gas, I have a stop watch, an SC-3B, a map, paper and pencil. What can go wrong?
 
Just picked up a strong (22 knot) tailwind at 9,000 feet. Think I'll hang out here for a while. According to my gonculations, I should be about half way. Fuel situation (if that's true) is looking real nice. There ain't a darn thing to look at down there. Haven't seen a cloud since we took off. Temp decreased as we went up, until around 8,000 feet, where it started increasing again. Interesting. Have to pay attention to OATs now, as I need it for TAS figgering.
 
Yeah, but we lost the tail wind soon after posting that, of course! You can see on my note sheet between minutes 132 and 174 was when we had the good tail wind. A long flight to Gao, about 700 miles. Using the SC-3B to manage wind drift steering angle and true airspeed, we nailed the navigation. At the exact time it was supposed to, GAGO appeared dead ahead. That was cool. If it wasn't there, I was going to pick a direction to scout along the Niger River, since GAGO is right along it, but there was no need. Kodaks: 1) The Trackless Desert. 2) GAGO appears, we start our descent. 3) Final approach. 4) Steerage calculations along the way. Imagine how much more “pucker factor” there would have been without having “SHIFT-Z” to simply tell you the wind whenever you ask?

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=QJ2vqCFWE5XoZSM0XhL6q2pGtuA

 
Headed for Niamey, end point for the first DR segment. All one has to do is follow the Big River, more or less. What's the worst that could happen?
 
An uneventful, more or less, leg. All we had to do was follow the mighty Niger River, and set the stop watch. Sort of. I set a course straight for Niamey, but still never lost sight of the river. And the weather was good, so no issues there. Kodaks: 1) This is where I finally recognized the airport Niamey. I started a right diving turn to get set up for a runway 9 landing. 2) Final.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=hiGrcauOkmL8yY1HSFNxpenx0

 
PRB said:
A long flight to Gao, about 700 miles. Using the SC-3B to manage wind drift steering angle and true airspeed, we nailed the navigation. At the exact time it was supposed to, GAGO appeared dead ahead. That was cool. If it wasn't there, I was going to pick a direction to scout along the Niger River, since GAGO is right along it, but there was no need. Kodaks: 1) The Trackless Desert. 2) GAGO appears, we start our descent. 3) Final approach. 4) Steerage calculations along the way. Imagine how much more “pucker factor” there would have been without having “SHIFT-Z” to simply tell you the wind whenever you ask?
Click to expand...

Nice flight Paul! I had a very similar experience myself, just tracking across the featureless desert recording speed, heading and wind (I used a spreadsheet, but I like your hand-written notes - very authentic). I was heading all the way to Niamey, but aimed for Gao to make sure I didn't miss the river, so in effect I flew your route for this leg and the next (down the river).

Nice pics too.
 
An uneventful flight, made slightly less stressful since I got my ADF receiver back from Miss Nellie... Even so, I never did pick up the SOKOTO station, and it was almost directly on the track to Kano. Maybe it was down for maintenance. In any event, I did pick up the two stations at Kano, so all turned out well. The Sahara has begun to give way to less dry country.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=fgUcwU059Gy1beUq6f44AIKU5E

 
Headed for Cameroon. Douala. FKKD. If I'm lucky the locals down there will have filled that three-foot hole in the runway that Henshaw discovered on his visit there...
 
It was a fun filled flight across Nigeria to Douala. The weather was good and the ADF stations were in abundance. While navigating with my National Geographic map, I had some time to kill so I read the article. The Benue River (Kodak 1) is at the bottom of the so-called Benue Trough, which, it says, is the “failed arm” of a “triple junction” formed when Africa and South America separated. It seems when continents break apart, they often do so along three fault lines originating at a point. Another example, it went on, is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the African Rift Valley. Huh. The southern border of the Benue Trough is defined by the Cameroon Volcanic Line (Kodak 2), or as we pilots like to call them, Cumulus Granitus. Article also says there is gold to be found in those hills. I drew a red circle around those hills on my map for future reference, then got back to making sure I didn't visit them prematurely, as it were... The weather turned stinko as I passed the airport and NDB station at Mamfe. Big thunderstorms and scary looking clouds (Kodak 3.) It was all in a days work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top