salt_air's ... Southbound Stroll to Cape Town ... "Old School"

[salt_air]

Many Thanks Paul and Jeff!


This is going to be very interesting ... luck will be a big factor on this route.


I'm snacking on a huge bag of roasted peanuts and tossing the shells out the window.

May still be a few around for folks coming along behind me.

Make sure to read the posts ahead of time so you don't follow me if I screw this up.



What a great event!

Best to you both!

[salt_air]

So it time to roll up the navigator's sleeves ... across the Sahara in the Vega ... this is a first.



Taking a LOT of extra fuel ... maybe I can sell it bandits if I have to land in the wrong "neighborhood" to ask directions.

Loaded up and ready to go .... going to try for the airport at Adrar, Algeria (DAUA).

Meets the requirements for an intermediate stop between here and the next Compulsory Stop at Niamey, Niger (DRRN).



Shouldn't be too bad at just 253 NM, but that will leave a substantial amount of sand to cover on the next leg ... 871 NM ... ouch!

Going to be taking some notes of my own on this flight to add to the collection I already have from various sources.

"Old School" rules here ... visibility at the top of the list and doing some good timekeeping ... the rest is on the watch, drift meter, compass, e6b and Lady Luck.



Let's do this .... out of DAOR - DAUA using only Dead Reckoning ...

[robert41]

Good luck on that Sahara flight.

[Willy]

Best of luck Salt!

[salt_air]

I'm not even going to post the picture of the Vega taking off, turning left and climbing out.

Or the pictures of all of that open dessert ... 360 degrees of it as far as you could see.



You weill be checking out the visibility on arrival and approach .... disaster awaits ...

In my planning, I have grossly underestimated what very poor visibility will do to any effort to cross the dessert by means of dead reckoning.

That was a close call.



Pretty easy set up ... and was lucky early ... to be able to climb out, get trimmed and get set up for a timed straight (as I could) line cruise to Adrar (DAUA).

Almost like throwing a dart at the dartboard ... initial WCA appeared to hold for the whole flight (good luck) ... clouds went away for most of the flight (good luck).

That allowed me to occasionally see the river (that showed on the map) off to starboard .... just like the charts (good luck) and average GS was close to my guess for figuring to to destination ... that was almost bang on.

Then all the (good luck) got cashed in for some (bad luck) as the visibility went to record lows for me even be flying ... much less with no instruments.

Vis was zero to a 1/4 mile at the best ... at least there was no terrain to sweat ... actually flew blindly right past the airport and barely caught a glimpse before I lost it in the haze.

Started wide sweeping almost procedure pattern and didn't see it at the end of the pattern just about to land and get some direction it appeared again ... this time I kept it in sight until we landed safe.




Lord have mercy ... what sort of "Happy time" is the remaining distance going to bring? ... I'll be watching the weather for sure ... and there are a lot more landmarks too ... that's encouraging.

It sounds crazy, but I think I would have been better off if it were night so I could see some towns or roads or something lit up.

Lost a good 15 minutes after I was lucky enough to nail the airport .... "What a ride ... pass the Visine" ... please.




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Off to bed ... whew!



Thanks Willy!! ... Thanks Robert!!

[salt_air]

Perhaps another day's planning or so.

So far every flight has be wrought with some unforeseen near disaster ... not so alarmed at that, because they aren't surprises, but rather neglected or overlooked known issues.

Sure signs of a hasty plan ... more in vogue with a "Getaway" or some sprintlike short trip ... not a very educated way to plan a long one.



Need to sit down and do a bit more planning before this next jaunt ... a true test of airmanship ... nearly 900 NM's of it ... that's a day's work in the Vega.

During the Apollo mission(s) to the moon I remember being pretty impressed with this fact that was brought to light in reporting the event.

If at launch the rocket had been off in it's aim by the width of a dime ... and not corrected over the distance to the Moon ... then the Astronauts would have flown right past the Moon and never even seen it.



That last shot in the dark flight was lucky in that the only negative consequence happened at the end after I had found my way ... but this next leg is almost 4 times as long.

It will be impossible to make a lucky shot that far ... and that much more time to get off course ... I could fly right past target and never even be close enough to see it ... even after doing a fair job of Reckoning.

Off to the map room for some deeper study and extensive notes covering as many what/if's as I can ... then find 8 hours in a row to be in attendance ... almost feel like Hand Flying just to stay connected to whats going on.

An unscheduled stop for directions may well be in order ... and I may have spoke too soon to Willy about not planning to go to Timbuktu ... just may wind up there ... planned or not!



This stuff right here is what makes a good event great ... forcing you to get off your virtual butt and to use everything you ever knew to make a trip that you are not really you can accomplish.

But somehow you will and be better for it in the furtherment of education about this wonderful hobby of ours and geeze! ... what a memory and cool story to share, huh?



Seems I always spend over half of my sim time planning flights rather than flying them ... no time for shortcuts now ... catch ya later!

[Dil52]

I know what you mean salt.

I have a simple solution for your next leg.
Just fly over brown until you see some green and blue, then flip a coin to see which way your going to turn to the airport.

or

as you said take your time, plan the trip, and check the weather...... it looks a bit foggy today over the desert, or perhaps I'm seeing a sand storm.

Good luck, this could be your toughest flight yet...

Fred

EDIT: Seriously, although you're using DR only, use the sextant day time trick when all that you have is the sun to navigate by.
At about half or three quarters the timed distance there, steer 10 degrees to the left or right of your course, then use the river as your LOP turning the opossite direction that you set your offset course by.

[jt_dub]

Austin,

The Red Bull racing team has off-loaded a case of beer on ice and it will be waiting for you in Naimey. Keep an eye out for the Niger river.

Good Luck.

[salt_air]

Should be having a robust lunch at DRRN ... airport in a town named after famous Blue Jean designer Diori Hamani ... the far end of the first DR Segment enroute to Cape Horn.

After several ponderances and the manufacture of a list of bad things that may not even exist, I remembered the saying "If you think long ... you think wrong" .... so we're heading out.



jt's incentive weighing heavy on my mind today instead of worry ... I have a few beers onboard, but Jeff's offer ... "on ice" ... out here ... I gotta go!

Along with Fred's words of navigational wisdom "fly over brown until you see some green and blue" .... What am I waiting for?

Just hope I'm not black and blue by day's end ..



Yeah ... it's a trip filled with possible hazards and pitfalls, but looking at it from maps and charts there seems to be just enough landmarks that will be in view along the way for confirmation.

Of course if worse came to worse and I didn't see or suddenly stopped seeing those items on the list I've made ... with an approximate timeline ... for some reason, then it's going to be another story all together.



If the visibility is okay for at least half of the trip ... I should be rinsing down a hardy lunch at the airport (DRRN) with the ice cold beer that was left by Team Red Bull .... sounds good dunnit?

Setting up now and doing all of the preflight checks to takeoff for Diori Hamani with hand written notes, a chart, a good watch, a driftmeter, and visions of a Big Red Bull off in the distance.

Weight isn't that much of an issue ... the fuel load will be ample ... the crew is ready .... so am I.




Begining Part 2 of the Sahara segment of Dead Reckoning .... DAUA - DRRN .... Old School.

[salt_air]

Boy this beer is cold!



Me and the Gal (crew) sitting parked at DRRN after safe arrival along a crooked path from DAUA.

Cheeseburgers in Africa? ... who knew ... and if it ain't cow meat ... it's still good and who cares?

Ahhhh .... rinsing them down with all this cold beer Jeff arranged (Thanks Jeff!) ... and yes, they will ALL be gone in rather short order ... the whole case.

Never one to waste ... I will be taking over the remaining ice as well to carry aboard the Vega so I can chill my ration .... what few of those are even left.




I don't want to spoil the "end of the movie" for folks yet to come this way with a play by play, but I will share a few simple dos and don'ts.

First off ... after you "draw" your direct line on the map or chart you are using ... make tick marks at what you think will be your approximate location for each hour you are in the air.

Those increments seemed to be paced out well enough to not keep me jumpin' so much, but seemed to catch when I had strayed off course ... using landmarks ... before I got too far out.

There are landmarks and terrain features ... not right in front, but at either or both sides .... that can be utilized as position confirmation.

That is for an east to west reference (drift) I mean ... like the walls of a hallway ... particularly those I just finished bouncing off of ... one side to the other ... to get to the latrine.

Your reference north to south or distance to station .... in this case DRRN ... is measured solely by the flight time clock and your best guess to groundspeed ... by whatever means.

I will clue you in to the fact that the "I Follow Rivers" style has never been any better applied ... the Niger River will catch you coming across your starboard side .... just follow it right in.

Airport's on the left .... there's a similar stage to the north and west where the river will catch you in the same way, but that airport .... Tillabery (DRRL) is a bit smaller.

You could get photos of each one (screenshots) so you could be sure you had found your way to the right one ..... further confirmation would be the crafty pyramid made of empty beer cans in front of the hangers.




I had my doubts early on as the visibility went from bad to worse for a good hour or more .... though about turning back, but held out to find terrific visibility for the rest of the flight.

Made some pretty big swings in WCA (5 to 10 degrees) in both directions .... winds were brisk ... and I still have to give credit to Lady Luck.




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[Willy]

Thanks Austin! I should be starting my trek across the Sahara tonight.

[salt_air]

Thanks Austin! I should be starting my trek across the Sahara tonight.

Sure Willy ... things are set up just right with the time you are the most accurate ... beginning .... having the least amount of visual help.

Then the further you get the closer the landmarks are spaced and the closer they are to the plane .... easier to see.



If you can hold it in the road until you get down to where the Niger River gets in to view from the west, you'll have it made .... it'll take you right to it.

Sorry about the beer .... supposed to have been another "drop" made at Douala, Cameroon (FKKD), but sorry about that too because there won't be any left there either.




Headed that way now ... fire up the radios lady, we're headin' to Douala ... fuel up and we're gone .... DRRN - FDDK

Betcha I sleep good tonight!

[teson1]

Great job, Austin, pathfinding through the Sahara.
Now we know it can be done. Just have to do it.

[Moses03]

And you had a modest tailwind too.

[jt_dub]

Austin,

Great job on your leg across the Sahara to Naimey. I checked the tracking site this morning and saw that you had jumped off. When I checked again at work in mid morning I was getting worried. It looked like you were gonna go to far to the east and would miss the Niger river which would not have been good. I kept sneaking peaks and saw that you had corrected for your drift to the east. When I came back from lunch you were turning to final approach. If you felt a chill as you landed, that was me, I was your virtual lurking observer courtesy of Google earth tracking.

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[robert41]

Great run Salt. You made it!

[salt_air]

Austin,

Great job on your leg across the Sahara to Naimey. I checked the tracking site this morning and saw that you had jumped off. When I checked again at work in mid morning I was getting worried. It looked like you were gonna go to far to the east and would miss the Niger river which would not have been good. I kept sneaking peaks and saw that you had corrected for your drift to the east. When I came back from lunch you were turning to final approach. If you felt a chill as you landed, that was me, I was your virtual lurking observer courtesy of Google earth tracking.

Ah hah! ... I knew I had that "feelin' somebody was watchin" .... good thing too ... keep me somewhat on my toes ... so thanks for that!

Jeff, I remember making that turn back to the west it was a shot in the dark ... It just felt like I was too far east.

So many little things can go wrong and make several of the legs in this event a warp into the Twilight Zone real quick.

Kevin mentioned tailwinds .... that's normally a big help ... higher groundspeed and lower fuel ... happy days!

Different situation when you are guessing at groundspeed and using a watch to measure against an average time over distance ... so you know where to turn in the absence of a landmark.

It's an educated guess, when to turn or look for a landmark from what you had documented from charts and looking at the watch.



There was an overall lack of WCA ... when ever I checked ... which meant the I was getting hit in the ol' mug or rackin' up with a nice tail wind .... didn't know how good it was until the text file printed.

More good fortune ... to back up that I was "feeling" was the great visibility at decision time .... I could actually see a much more defined river to the west ... so I cut back that way.

I didn't want to see it up close (Niger River) until way later, but it had gotten too far out of sight.

The natural landmarks at about the 2/3 or 3/4 of the distance began to form a funnel that just got tighter and tighter .... like a funnel and forces you towards where you intended to go.




Looking back now .... I don't want to make it sound too easy, but I hadn't had descent visibility I would have realized the nightmare you were anticipating .... that danger is right there .... I was lucky.

Yeah the sweet spot was east of the River .... safe way would have been to follow the river ... had third visibility been poor that's just what I would have done.



Thanks for all the encouragement guys! ...




While I've got the floor I'll recap this leg into Douala .... just completed.

Same sort of navigating for a lot of this leg even though the DR requirement was satisfied at Diori Hamani (DRRN) ... most of the nav-aids were not in ideal spots and short on range as well.

You'll be able to tell I was "chasing" a couple of them, but couldn't really "lean on" NDB's untill near the end of the flight where there are to 75 NM signals.

One just past the runway and in line with the runway and another to the west to help monitor distance to the airport by displaying relative position to the direct line in ... watch RMI needle move as you pass by.

Oh yeah ... watch out for the mountain that sits smack in a direct flight path to Douala ... if you have done a good job staying on course this thing will hurt your feelings ... I'll put up a screenshot ... I was at 8000'.

Being able to use the radios and sextant on this leg was okay, but the main thing it did was to take away the stress of not being able to use them .... still had the watch out ... oh yeah and watch out for that mountain.




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Nap time for me and the crew ... hope to get back at it tomorrow.

Thanks again!

[RedGreen]

All the time you've spent studying old school navigational techniques are clearly paying off in this race! Well done so far, Austin! :salute:

[salt_air]

All the time you've spent studying old school navigational techniques are clearly paying off in this race! Well done so far, Austin! :salute:

Thanks for the kind words brotha Red!

It has been very timely and beneficial to actually use what I've been able to pick up in fairly recent months.

Bonus having this opportunity in an era I find interesting and enjoyable.



Studying is one thing. but applying what you've studied and read about ... that's really how you learn.

Things you just sorta memorized cause you knew they were right, but didn't quite "get it" will finally start to make perfect sense as you get you hands on them.




Have I mentioned that I am having a ball ... and this is one great event?

10000 NM is going by so quick (flying ... lol) ... even in these 1938 (or older) aircraft.



You up for tag teaming a Trimotor on a second round?

[salt_air]

Think I'll take a break on this one ... looks like a NBD plan won't be all that much off track.

I'll key on NDB's till second half of the flight then visual with a little DR.

DR has been a part of most flights so far and it will surely be incorporated into the rest of them.




Headed to Compulsory checkpoint #5 at Kinshasa (FZAB) ... sounds of thunder in the back ground ... hope all of that stays here.

[salt_air]

A good flight ... pretty near to the description I gave on departure.

Found some cloud buildup and a couple of thunder boomers, but was able to maintain site of the ground on one side or the other.

Winds weren't too awful ... a little left and a little right.

Misjudged WCA in the later portion of the leg and was off line a good bit when signal from the NDB at N'Dolo was received ... no probs though.

A dicey end to the flight with not one but two go-arounds .... folks on the ground were waving after a while ... I reckon they thought it was an air show.



He he ... anyway happy to be here in Leopoldville N'Dolo Belgian Congo ... I roll out the charts and do a refresh on rules to see where to next.




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I've miscounted Check Points ... this one is # 4 ... pardon moi

[Dil52]

Very nice job with the DR flights across the Sahara Salt! As Red pointed out, quite resourceful vintage piloting there. :salute:



I've been sitting here still contemplating whether to head south and try the trans Sahara desert run or remain flying the coastal route. You've inspired me for sure.

Once again, my mechanic, fabricator, and I have been recalculating, planning, retrofitting, and testing some options!

That's all I can say for now, the project is still classified.

[salt_air]

I have a ton of respect for everyone that has thrown his hat into this ring.

Mine is right out there with all the rest.

If I had to pick one that I thought would fare out the best across the Sahara or anywhere else DR it would be you.



For me the decision was easy ... first off ... I've already flown in and out of the majority of the prepared airports along the coast in other events ... namely past RTW's ... and wanted to see some new terrain.

Secondly ... I didn't think coastal bonus was worth the effort, but that remains to be seen ... never count you chips while your sittin' at the table.

If I can keep up this pace, I'll run it again ... something a bit more vintage and maybe carry the mail that trip ... or not ... this is great!

Call me crazy .... and be right ...

[salt_air]

The last segment(s) of DR for this fine event will be carried out with the help of the Congo River and Great Lakes.


Cancel first take off .... forgot to check duenna for Disable Autopilot (gunna enjoy the scenery on this flight) ... and to make post .... details ... details ... good thing my head is attached to my shoulders.

May as well clear up the checkpoint count ... Leaving FZAB (#4) headed for FZGA (#5) .... got ahead of things in earlier posts and lost the edit function before I "caught it".



A little different situation on this series of DR's in that there are substantially more landmarks for bearing ... uh. that is if the visibility is good enough for you to see them ... knock on wood.

Safe bet in worst case would be to crawl right along at low altitude flying directly over top of the Congo River all the way.

It looks like today that the visibility will be good enough to stay closer to a straight line ... further away from the river, but not so much that you loose sight.

Along with that there are several landmarks ... lakes (one left and one right) to jog me back into line so to speak ... and four or five small airports that should be insight off the starboard side.

Smaller rivers that I will cross are spaced out nicely ... almost like yard lines on a football field.



Okay restarting for a hopefully uneventful dawn flight out to Lisala.

[salt_air]

This added bonus of disabled autopilot ..... not such a swell idea ... but I'll hang in there.