RTW Leg10 (almost!)...

[petermcleland]

Departing Islamabad through murky conditions.


Settled in the fast cruise at 16,000 feet and heading for the mountains of Afghanistan.


I expect they will force me to climb sometime soon!


One of the snags with using real weather is that it often spoils the view!


Well they have pushed me up to 18,000 feet and I can see why.


The wind is adverse today and I have a Head Wind Component (HWC) of 18 knots.


A glace out to the left shows that I don't have a lot of clearance.


Well they obviously think I have room because they have sent me back down to 16,000 feet!


Over the next hour or so they have sent me up and down between 16,000 and 17,000 feet


Well I suppose it keeps me busy!


We now have an HWC of 27 knots.


And it is increasing...now HWC is 41 knots


I think this place below...


...is Herat...


...and that means we are...


...approaching the end of Afghanistan and the start of Iran.


The murk is just not...


...going away.

And that is a convenient point to end my post! I decided to pop out to the bathroom to wash and shave as it was now afternoon and I had not managed it yet! I was using the cheat of accepting a handover from Kabul Control to Tehran but not actually checking in while I was doing things.
Having shaved I thought I would get my walk in...It's only 20 minutes...It was a liberty taken too far...I forgot that we were approaching the fuel cock change over from AUX to MAIN. When I got back into the flightdeck I was just in time to see my lovely C47 descending at low speed with both engines dead and then crashing into a granite mountain face!

Well I won't do it again...My next leg is Tehran to Istanbul, 1101 nms.
Thanks for looking

[Nigel H-J]

I forgot that we were approaching the fuel cock change over from AUX to MAIN. When I got back into the flightdeck I was just in time to see my lovely C47 descending at low speed with both engines dead and then crashing into a granite mountain face!

What a tragic end to that flight Peter, wouldn't mind betting that you were fuming through that mistake, easily done though as I have lost engines through forgetting to check fuel contents when I have been doing something else whilst the aircraft has been on auto-pilot and felt the same way as you, a perfect flight until.................but can't be *rsed to start it over again after all that distance I have flown.

Brilliant screen shots BTW even though the weather had clamped.

Look forward to your next leg Peter and hope that you do not have any more problems.

Regards
Nigel.

[petermcleland]

Thanks Nigel...Glad someone knows how *I feel!

[blanston12]

Oh no, tragic ending to a great flight. You're not going to start again from near where the last flight 'ended'?
Great pics by the way.

[blanston12]

I hate when that happens to me, I forget to switch over before the current tanks run out and even though I switch over I can never get the engines going again before something bad happens.

I did finally try editing the route in the flight planner, you just have to drag the route to a 'point' on the map (marker, beacon, airport), then that becomes the waypoint. Only thing is the GPS shows you the distance to the next waypoint rather than the destination, which makes my 'do I have enough fuel' calculations more difficult.

[blanston12]

Peter, I hope you will be able to repair your Dakota and continue your trip.

[Airspeed]

Thanks for the progress report, Peter!
You have way more concentration and tenacity than I can muster.

[petermcleland]

Thanks Mike...I'll be off flying for a while as I am commissioning a new iPad Pro...Back soon