Willy's African Adventure II

[Willy]

Crossed the Equator and made it to Leopoldsville. After flying over the airfield, I just decided to land in the Congo River and park on the bank. Saves airport fees that way. Got a pic of when I crossed the Equator.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...T2igKjF5CzYofU

[Willy]

Time to head upriver. FAZB to either FZEA or FZGA.

[Willy]

I seem to have found one of those tall deep fogs that Real Wx likes to develop at times. Just the ticket for flying dead reckoning across the Congo jungles. Hopefully it will have lifted before I need to find the river again.

[Willy]

The fog finally lifted. Nothing down there but jungle and some crazy white guy swinging on vines from tree to tree....

[Willy]

Made it safe on into FZGA. I originally wanted to go on to FZIA, but then realized that FZGA was a mandatory stop, so I'd best stop there.

Once I found the Congo river again, it was just a right turn and then follow the river until I came to the right town. Buzzed the airfield and then landed on the river. Next stop Stanleyville.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...Pr4P40ERu3Ol6k

[Willy]

Time to head on upriver to Stanleyville (FZIA)

[Willy]

Major oops. Forgot to refuel before take off. Hope 30% will get me there. It's gonna be a squeaker.

[Willy]

Went high and throttled back to conserve fuel and made it with 23 gallons to spare.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...vgGhImvHJmICog

[Willy]

Getting ready to put the Congo behind me and head eastward towards Kenya (HKKI). But, if my gas situation starts looking bad, I'll divert to Entebbe (HUEN).

[Willy]

Seems someone didn't check the time of day before takeoff and got caught enroute by nightfall. So, I stopped at Entebbe as I know the general layout of the airfield there and I don't HKKI. Discretion being the better part of valor and all that.

We'll save Kenya for next time.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...6RHKyau3rFuK4g

[salt_air]

Discretion or a bit of prudent caution ... either or both ....good move Willy.


The only safe way to hit HKKI would have been to swing wide right over the lake ... starting the turn as your course path hit the banks on the other side.

Would have been tempting to wait, but in the dark trying to cut the corner to shorter final and longer base leg over land could have been bad.


Depending on the mesh you're using .... you may have had to hold to a higher altitude than normal on descent or waited later before descending .... making up for it after you got over the water.

What charts and maps I had didn't eluded to that .... if I hadn't seen it I may have "landed" before I even turned final ... (to whatever runway was straight in).



Fare well into Cape Town!

[Willy]

My original plan was to land on the lake at HKKI, but not being able to see the lake surface and how close I'd be to land kind of turned me off that idea.

Everytime I've landed, I've saved the flight once I've gotten parked. That way I can pick up right where I've left off. I had meant to reset to about 9am in the morning before take off yesterday, but in my hurry to start the rather longish flight to Kenya, I clean forgot to check the time of day. So, as Flight 19 had flown around Africa several months ago and I kind of remembered how Entebbe was laid out as far as the ground goes, I decided to land there instead.

[Willy]

Off to catch up with Moses at HKKI....

[Willy]

Made it to Kenya. No sign of Moses though....

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...Sxsk3rvRd5s1mw

[Willy]

It's only a short hop to Nairobi....