An account of a trip to Africa in 2006
Over the summer I participated in one leg of an organised 6-week group trip to South Africa. I only had the time to go as far as Zanzibar and then left my aircraft at Nairobi where in due course it will be flown back to the UK by another crew. Several PPL IR Europe members participated, some for the whole trip and maybe they will write up their experiences. This article is not about the journey or the countries as such. It is rather a reflection on a few of the occurrences with particular reference to practical matter of aircraft handling and equipment which might help those doing similar routes in the future.
I have always held the view that one should fly IFR or VFR and that flying in a manner which mixes both procedures is asking for trouble. I also rather like the precision and predictability of the IFR system and for all its frustrations there is a sense that everyone is playing by the same set of rules. Africa and even Southern Europe just doesn’t see it that way. I came to appreciate that if you chose to fly in this airspace then you have to accept that their rules are different and changeable. This trip was VFR although the organiser (who did a wonderful job) insisted on one IR qualified pilot per aircraft. The suggested routings that were issued in advance caused me some concern. They appeared to be more or less straight lines on the map from departure to destination with small diversions to take in a sprinkling of airways intersections. Quite considerable efforts on my part to elicit the VFR rules for individual counties came to nothing. Talking to participants with previous ‘Africa’ experience produced the advice ‘relax it will all work out’. Eventually having little alternative I planned some fall back IFR routes for the early legs and decided to await developments.
A great advantage of being part of a group is that mostly you get to hear someone else dealing with mysterious procedures and incomprehensible instructions. By the third of fourth repetition they have the embarrassment and you have the hang of what is needed. The departure from Salzburg looked interesting (ie frightening). The airport is surrounded by very high ground and the day was hazy with some low cloud which obscured the mountain tops in the intended direction of travel. Here ATC were quite professional as you might expect but it appeared that it was local practice to depart to the North then turn back to the inactive side of the runway where there was a sort of visual hold. One could then climb to whatever level was deemed necessary before heading off towards the VRPs in the valleys to the South. We were reasonably comfortable with this and at FL85 we felt OK to head South with the highest ground appearing out of the haze. This is the first time I have ever felt the terrain mapping on my MX20 MFD to be of any use. I would prefer not to trust my life to its mapping standards but it definitely gives a good impression of the high ground and escape routes relative to the track line. Eventually having climbed on oxygen to about 12000 ft we escaped the Austrian mountains and headed for Croatia. The direct routing, completely ignoring Croatia’s VFR routes which I have used previously worked fine and efficient ATC saw us landing at Dubrovnik without drama.
Here departures for Greece started well but then clearances dried up. Eventually it emerged that Montenegro, a whole country which was missing from the charts, would simply not accept any more traffic. Although there was absolutely no evidence of heavy traffic for whatever reason this sector did not want us. Flight plan acceptance does not imply a right of access to airspace even in IFR and a VFR the route is not even transmitted. Even with efficient ATC there is not necessarily any commitment to resolving what they see as your problem.
I knew from previous experience that a long and unlikely routing via Italy might work. We abandoned the initial plans, refiled and with the helpful advice that it was the weekend so the extensive danger areas would be inactive and cutting the corners might work we were off. The general lesson to draw is the need to be proactive. You cannot assume that airport or ATC have any real interest in getting you away. (On one memorable occasion I was told by Italian ATC you can hold for ever as far as I am concerned.) You need to have a feel for alternatives and whenever possible have a plan B and even a Plan C.
Greek ATC is a little variable. In theory you should be on airways at VFR levels. In practice you may be routing anywhere working an information service or you may be effectively under the same control as IFR traffic while flying semi circular plus 500 ft levels. For example we were told to avoid an airfield on our route by 50 nautical miles because of intense activity. This was plainly impractical as we were only about 10 miles out and we wondered if 15 and 50 were being confused. We compromised on a token gesture of avoidance by a few miles in the indicated direction and saw absolutely no other traffic. While I do not advocate ignoring ATC it is simply impossible to safely comply with some of their requests. You should not assume under any circumstances that they have taken account of terrain clearance or the fact that you would prefer to minimise long over water legs. Consideration should also be given to the degree to which ATC understand English. Even controllers who are easily understood and on top of the job can be completely thrown by unusual language or information overload. The people of southern nations are often proud and it is quite common for them to imply they have understood a communication from you when in fact they understood nothing at all. You should always speak slowly, provide the absolute minimum of information and not assume that you have been understood. Repeater stations are few and far between and you are quite likely to lose radio contact but this seems to be the norm. The worst aspect of this is that it can be less than obvious which ground station to try next.
Some controllers are very keen on estimates occasionally even for points you have already past or for points you have no intention of passing over. Sometimes it is obvious that estimates are being taken seriously for procedural separation and in this case your estimates should be carefully calculated. However in most cases it is clear that ATC are just going through the motions. My suggestion is to just tell them the minimum of barely credible guestimates which makes them happy. Repeating some other aircraft figures adding 10 minutes seemed to work well. You can try to maintain situational awareness re other traffic but IFR or VFR you need to keep a good lookout. One or two of the other aircraft were equipped with TCAS type equipment and this journey was the first time I had truly appreciated its value as they were able to identify conflicting traffic and in some cases agree avoidance or separation measures with the other aircraft. A low tech approach to separation where there are multiple aircraft flying the same route is to deliberately fly a mile or two off course.
On a trip of this sort you may have to face up to the fact that you may well have no satisfactory alternate destination. There will be airfields with instrument procedures but no AVGAS, airfields with no procedures and rumours of AVGAS, airfields marked on ancient ONC charts which last saw action in the 1950’s. Weather information will be sketchy. In some places I simply could not relate the TAFS and METAR (all that is available) to the actual conditions on arrival and wondered if they just sent out the same one each day to save trouble. A further advantage of a group is that some aircraft are likely to be an hour or more ahead of you so there is a chance of bad news reaching you in time for you to return to the point of departure. Often the airfield of departure will be the only place where Avgas is certain.
Airfields on islands and those set in high terrain can have very strong and very variable winds. It is unlikely that your aircraft’s published crosswind limit will seem that much of a priority given the alternatives. A little lateral thinking may be called for. You might land on a taxi track or use the grass. Less dramatically you can take out some of the crosswind component by landing at an angle across a wide runway. You might be lucky and be able to wait for the wind to abate by landing at some nearby airfield with a more helpful runway direction. Sitia on Cofu has a daunting overshoot to add to the fierce winds. Full control deflection in all directions failed to hold runway heading and only firmly planting the upwind wheel while hoping for the best with wingtip clearance saved the day. The same occurrence in a high wing Cessna would have been a non-event. There is no doubt that a trip of this sort does carry with it an increased risk of minor damage and it is prudent to carry a few spares. Tyres and tubes .should be high on the spares list together with tools sufficient for the job since available assistance could be zero. In Port Sudan a Saratoga lost a tyre from the rim and in 40C temperatures where the only lifting force was the backs of a group of pilots. Fortunately one group member had the tools and skills to do the job and the aircraft only suffered an hour or twos delay. Without this support the aircraft would in my opinion have been a write off to theft unless a crew member was willing to sleep in it to guard it.
Refuelling from drums warrants a mention. Try if at all possible to only use drums sealed by the supplier. You will probably have to buy 200 litres irrespective of your requirement as there will be no means of measuring. The decision to use a filter and funnel if available is difficult. Typically they are not earthed and cause additional fuel spillage and fire risk. My view is not to use them if it is a sealed drum particularly if you have seen a previous aircraft use a filter and there is no evidence of debris. You should not underestimate the time take to refuel. Even with a bowser it can take 15 minutes to fuel up and pay. With drums 30 or 40 minutes easily pass by. Twelve aircraft can therefore take 6 or 7 hours to get refuelled. Guess how I know. A head torch may seem rather over the top in the UK but is a godsend on the Djibouti apron refuelling at 2300 hours.
This trip has caused me to reflect on the value of endurance against real and supposed cruise speeds. With a wide variety of aircraft in the group only a Cessna 340 pressurized twin operating at FL 150 and above was faster than my B36TC. The Bonanza is advertised at a 200 knot aircraft at FL200. In reality it is a 150 kt aircraft at FL 100 where you want to be with a fuel flow lean of peak (LOP) of 14 GPH. This compares with the 21 GPH needed to keep CHT;s down with OATs of 40 C plus to achieve perhaps 170 KTS. 6.5 hours endurance at 150 kts =975 NM or 5 hours at 170 kts = 850 NM to say nothing of avoiding CHT’s which will make a 400 hour cylinder replacements very likely.
Bill Tollett who accompanied me is far more experienced than I am holding turbine, jet and DC 3 ratings as well as US and UK instructor ratings. Let us admit that neither of us is in the first flush of youth. We found ourselves repeatedly making stupid errors, mis reading altimeters, mis entering radio frequencies etc. We eventually deduced that it was a combination of inadequate intake of water, possible inadequate oxygen and the cumulative effect of inadequate sleep and high temperatures. Really, when you think a little it is not surprising. This sort of trip can deliver a deadly combination of exhaustion, dehydration and hypoxia. I took to going on O2 at 5000 ft whenever we were headed for FL90 or above and made a conscious effort to drink lots of water. It was not possible to do much about tiredness when in some cases we reached the hotel at 2300 and left again at 0530 the next morning. The main defence is awareness of the issues and a willingness to cross check each other continuously.
I am not keen on over water flying. The leg from Crete to the Egyptian coast was two hours over almost totally deserted water with minimal radio contact and little faith that either of the two nearest counties would be well provided with air sea rescue resources. Just to remind us who was boss the Bonanza gave a small but definite cough mid ocean the reality of this ‘over water rough patch’ confirmed by simultaneous startled alertness from both Bill and I. This came to nothing and I was glad coast in over the equally empty Egyptian desert. At this stage the low volts light flickered and I noticed the alternator had tripped out. It had done this before and reset but on this occasion it was out for the count. We had a further 2.5 hours flying, no obvious diversion and a rumour that the Egyptians were serious about flights keeping to airways. We announced the problem on the radio in as simple terms as possible, received an acknowledgment of our intention to re-establish contact when within 10 miles of Luxor. We minimised our profligate use of electrical power in this aircraft with lavish electronics, took a note of our fuel state from the engine analyser, noted the time and the track / distance to the next way point and shut off the master switch. Although perfectly aware that this has no effect on the engine there is a slightly sweaty moment as all the gauges drop to zero and every light on the panel is extinguished. The only installed equipment functioning were the AI and the standby compass. I have taken a lot of stick over the years for the weight of my flight case and my propensity to carry everything except the kitchen sink. This was to be payback time. We had within reach a handheld radio and the connector for the spare headset (since our plumbed in Bose units would not connect to the hand held). Before the trip I had purchased a new hand held with Nicad pack but on discovering that there was no charge indication on the unit also bought the adaptor to enable dry cells to be used. We therefore had ample handheld life although later events indicated its range was very limited. We had a colour map hand held GPS with a fairly recent data base however this was a Nicad unit with limited life as I had mislaid the charger. I also had a very old dry cell powered handheld GPS with plenty of capacity. We decided to conserve the life of the colour unit for later use. We put the waypoint into the older unit and fortunately noticed that the NDB was located in Iran rather than Egypt. Entering the point on the more modern GPS had the same result. The waypoint designator had evidently recently been reallocated.
While I flew on limited panel trying hard to maintain heading accurately Bill grabbed the latest Aerad directory and entered the waypoint coordinates into the GPS. With a few minutes struggle to remember how this old unit worked we were back in business. Experience showed that the easiest way to fly was with the P1 holding the handheld and making small corrections so as to make bearing and track coincide. We had been operating lean of peak (LOP). Indeed this was the only way that this 5.5 hour leg was possible. In the absence of instrumentation we could not make significant alterations to engine power without risking overtemping the engine. When LOP the fuel flow and TIT readings are part of my normal scan. We also needed to keep a proper fuel log to ensure even fuel usage from the two tanks there being no both position on the Beech. We and all other aircraft had been given a rather circuitous routing just prior to the electrical shutdown. One aircraft from the group had been arguing that they would not have sufficient fuel and would need to divert. We compromised by generally following the routing but cutting a big corner on the basis that we doubted Egyptian radar would spot us without a transponder. Overall we felt in good shape. About 20 miles out from Luxor back on the flight plan route and with a quick position check from the colour GPS we switched the master back on and the alternator came back on line. Apparently it has just needed a long rest and possibly the fault was temperature related. Luxor evidenced no surprise at our popping up and we had 15 minutes for the alternator to fully charge the battery before an uneventful landing. The lessons here are obvious in theory but less easy to deliver in practice with cramped GA cockpits. Standby equipment is useless unless you can reach it and useless unless it comes with necessary connectors and batteries.
We had a couple of nights at Luxor and the opportunity to consider how to proceed. There was no engineering support nearer than Nairobi several days flying away. The next leg was over some of the most hostile territory imaginable with a stop at the only airport for miles with a specially arranged supply of AVGAS. We decided to fly non radio but in loose formation with another aircraft so as to avoid ATC problems.
It appeared that our explanation on the inbound leg, although acknowledged had not been understood and the loss of our squawk had caused considerable consternation to ATC. The only issue was whether Luxor, quite a large airport would allow a formation departure. Fortunately we met socially the Air Force General in charge of local ATC services and he arranged for Luxor to accede to our request.
I have no experience of formation flying even lose formation. The take-off was no big deal. Having established very poor radio contact with the lead aircraft using the hand held and in possession of half the battery stock of Luxor we again shut down our electrics. Maintaining position without the ability to change engine power by more than tiny amounts proved difficult. We tried S turns , flying with crossed controls and climbing and descending. Eventually we got a technique that worked and became cocky enough to come up alongside our leader for air to air photography. At this point I got it wrong and a fairly sharp bank and a 360 turn was needed to assure separation. In the event it is surprising how far a 140 kt aircraft travels in level flight while another aircraft does a 360. After some moments without contact we re established behind a distant dot and started to catch up. I gradually became uncomfortable and eventually realised that in this vast desert emptiness we were now following the wrong aircraft! Fortunately this was another participant and after 20 minutes we re-established contact with our agreed leader From now on we concentrated on the matter in hand having to exchange P1 duties every few minutes as the dot we were following degenerated into dots before the eyes. If the world were to have a contest to find the best place to designated as it’s …hole our immediate destination Port Sudan would win although over our next stop Djibouti might be a contender. We eventually found this airstrip in the middle of nowhere switched on our electrics and got the gear down. As we established on long final our saviours in the lead aircraft suffered a blown tyre and ended up partially blocking the runway. The controller was quite excited by this and instructed us to climb away and enter the hold. I had no intention of complying. The runway was long I could see that the aircraft was at about the halfway point and well to one side. I doubted that the airport would have any ability to clear the runway and fuel was not abundant. Our gear was down with an uncertain electrical system and I did not want to raise it. I simply responded ‘negative landing after’ to several increasingly strident radio calls and in the event landed easily well short of the disabled aircraft. Other aircraft from the group followed suit without difficulty or further comment from ATC.
After many many hours of arguing about bribes and laboriously refuelling from drums in 45C temperatures we were on our way. We decided this time to chance the alternator. For no apparent reason our problem went away and remained a distant memory for the rest of the trip. I suspected a voltage regulator issue and ordered a spare to be delivered at Nairobi but in the event decided not to fit it until the problem reappears which I have no doubt it will given time.
A word about the survival gear carried may be of interest. Neither of us had immersion suits not as a matter of principal but because we had not been able to find one which we thought we would be able to wear in prevailing temperatures. We had a dinghy, albeit a lightweight one which I don’t have much faith in and a ditch bag. In a Bonanza with two crew there is no chance of having the dinghy to hand because it is almost impossible to lift it over the front seats due to lack of space. W therefore decided that the P2 would scramble into the back, occupy a rear seat and deploy the dinghy from the rear doors. The P1 would then have space for a grab bag on the vacated P2 seat and room to exit via the only forward door. The grab bag contained an ELT, a desalinator, shark bags, some water, sea sickness pills and first aid kit. A second ELT was on the person of the P2. Both these ELTs are the new sort which transmit GPS position to the satellites. Obviously we both wore life jackets. These arrangements struck us as far from perfect but the best we could manage given the configuration of the aircraft. For desert survival we carried water purification and anti mosquito equipment and a minimum of 4 litres of water each. Here we worked on the assumption that if we were in a state to use survival gear the aircraft would be sufficiently intact to enable us to retrieve it so made no particular provision stow this gear in grab bags.
The most useful additional aircraft equipment were sun screens. A purpose made set install in no time and cut down temperatures in the cockpit at once. They also discourage inquisitive visitors who may be on the lookout for easily acquired items. In addition we put a cover on the aircraft at every stop both to protect and to discourage theft. Its really the same principal as home security. If people are determined to break in they will but if you can make it difficult they may go elsewhere.
One of my gripes about light aircraft is their ludicrously inadequate carrying capacity.
Any 6 seater can (legally) barely carry three and any four seater barely carry two. I note that the latest Mooney and Lancairs are remarkably fast but are barely legal with a single heavy pilot after far from generous full fuel. Before I am overwhelmed with objections when did you last weigh your aircraft, yourself or your equipment. Most aircraft in the UK are overweight if they carry two people and baggage. The Bonanza with its notional 6 seats I stripped to three and spent a lot of time working on a packing scheme including installing temporary flat floorboards. In the event we did manage to carry all our gear and for part of the trip were joined by my wife. I have to say that I considered our one take off from a shortish gravel strip three up with some care but in the event the B36 with its recently installed vortex generators coped well.
Just to add to the interest in these demanding take offs just before the trip it appeared that the governor ceased working and the prop overspeeded. To cut a long expensive story short it was not the governor but the tachometer giving erroneous readings. 10% overspeed warrants a compulsory engine strip down and 10% is only 3000 RPM against the usual 2700 max. We therefore took a hand held optical tach checker with us. I do not recommend taking off from a somewhat bouncy gravel strip needing max power, doing mag checks on the move to avoid gravel striking the prop with the P2 calling out the actual revs while pointing this optical device at the prop.!
Having now had time to reflect I suppose I would sum the flight up as an experience I am glad that I have had rather than a holiday. I am confirmed in my opinion that that on a trip of this sort the level of personal risk is slightly higher than usual but the risk of minor aircraft damage is significantly higher. While precautions can certainly be taken to address specific issues to some extent this additional exposure just goes with the territory. I think that I will be more relaxed in my flying and feel more able to take on long over water and over mountain legs. Certainly even in Northern Europe I feel I will be more inclined to be little assertive with ATC in resisting unreasonable routings or when access to controlled airspace is difficult. I will be persevering in my seemingly impossible quest to have all the many systems on the B36 working at the same time even if this is only achievable for a few seconds. I will not be bashfull about the contents of my flight case and other over the top precautions. One final precaution not previously mentioned was the carriage of a lightweight potty for dire emergencies. (pun intended) This German device is clever with a gelling agent in a plastic bag and a sealing device operated by closing the lid. We also needed to carry large bundles of new 1$ notes for emergencies and possible bribes. The wasted space in the loo seemed an excellent hiding place. The potty was placarded with strict instructions as to priorities even in that moment of most urgent need. Fortunately the device remained virgin and concepts of dirty money and money laundering did not take on a new dimension.