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

[salt_air]

A Hand Flown flight to Marseille for the night ... 15 min bonus.


Time to regroup and run a few numbers on the rest of the "road" to Cape Horn.


LIPB - LFML


[Forum was on temporary shutdown for an upgrade ... started 15 minutes after it should have been back on line.]

[salt_air]

Last leg of the "Alpine Hand Fly Series" .... ending for me at Marseille, France.

Another 15 minutes of bonus time.... as long as Miss Nellie's review of an error comes back "OK".

Details in a minute ... stay tuned.



Leaving Bolzano for Marseille in poor vis it was necessary to stay down in the river basin for a good long time or burn up a lot of time with a slow steep climb ... terrain present ... both sides and did I mention poor vis?

By the time the Vega was high enough (following the river) to start a turn back to the planned course heading we were a good bit down range and south.

The profile of the skyline off in the distance showed a lower pass through the left side mountains ... more in line with where I was.

Couple that to the fact that during practice runs I never did locate a pass (along the direct course) that would allow me to fly at 12000' or less ... there were a couple of peaks that would have been in play at almost 15000'.

With that thought in mind, I choose to do an end run around the left side ... south of, but parallel to a direct course since I was already off course anyway.

Just aimed at the pass and stayed at a lower more efficient altitude for the Vega (seems to like 8000') and keep the mountains tight to my starboard wing ... and both eyes open.



A couple of warnings now:

One for "like minded" folk.

Going around the mountains to the left brings you into Marseille from the southeast ... don't be tempted to descend too early as there are still several hills.

Random in placement along that path they will come out of nowhere if the vis is low (and it was) .... even right up to the airport the terrain is not what I call flat ... be careful and start at dawn if you can ... not dusk.



For any and all "Hand Flyers" beware of this pitfall:

Go into key assignments and change the default autopilot on/off switch from Z to something else ... Maybe Ctrl + Z or whatever.

When the disable box is checked on the duenna screen it does 2 things .... one it checks that the autopilot is turned off and two it registers a text file error if the autopilot is turned on during that flight.

My (Green Duenna) text file for this flight shows that I had the AP off when the duenna started and flew with it off except for the 1 second that I fumble fingered the z key instead of the s key to change views.

Now you see why I patiently wait for Miss Nellie's OK and it would be prudent to make the assignment change.




Need to decide before next takeoff which routing I will follow through Africa to Cape Horn ... there's a good bit of difference in headings for each ... no turning back or thinking about it after this.

A nice 4 hour bonus to haul mail for the Gov't of France ... maybe even pick up a contract after the race is done ... easy navigation and relatively few terrain issues ... a break and a long one at that.

Kick the "crew" to the curb ... load up the cargo and mail for Dakar and giddy - up!




Still there's the thrill of the hunt .... finding my way across the Sahara .... might even be joined by my now trusty crew .... just wanted a ride to Marseille in the beginning, but now excited as me about Cape Horn.

Dinner a cool one (or two) and a good nights rest .... sleep on it ... wait to hear from Miss Nellie.





http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...gvWCWK8a6N7iBc FlightLog_19-52-00.TXT

[Willy]

Austin, Cntrl-Z is the default key command for altitude hold with the "otto". (I use it to lock in my altitude when Otto is flying the ship) Cntrl H is heading hold. Both are very useful for when Otto's brother Sperry doesn't want to play nice.

[Moses03]

Now you see why I patiently wait for Miss Nellie's OK and it would be prudent to make the assignment change.

Again, through the frosted glass door. Miss Nellie examined the Duenna log closely and tapped her pencil against the desktop. She sighed for a moment and then said, "Tell that fellow that he's lucky the Duenna prints the timing of his momentary error. And tell him: Don't let it happen again."

[salt_air]

Good points ... Willy ... should have said Ctrl + Shift + Z



and Moses ... was happy to see both the error time log and the Highlighted *** Disabled *** next to the autopilot line.

It was a long flight in to Marseille ... that happened at about the half way mark ... couldn't check the file of course until the duenna had stopped.

That's a long time to wonder if you are wasting your time finishing the flight ...



Special thanks to the fine Miss Nellie.

Ma'am, that won't happen again!



Thanks All!

[salt_air]

Okay .... nice break along the southern coast of France ... very relaxin'.

Belly full ... all showered and shaved (maybe the last time for a while) ... even had the Vega washed off and serviced.



Must have painted a fairly exciting picture of the journey's continuation to Cape Horn ... I see the crew decided to stay "on" and is already at work.

A relief to see ... even with the hand drawn chartage from a few of the locals that have made all or part of the trip themselves ... I'm not at ease with what's ahead ... a seasoned crew will help.



Brand new Compass and Watch .... oh yeah, can't forget the Field Glasses I won in a poker game yesterday ... and a copy of a prototype E-6A replacement called an E-6B.

A bottle of vinegar to help with keeping all of the glass clean (especially the bomb site style drift meter) and of course a fresh roll of Duck Tape ... "rope on a roll ... never leave home without it!"



I see the provisions at what appears to be a kiosk for recruiting flyers to haul mail for the French Government .... attractive, but not for me ... not now anyway.

Pushing any remaining thoughts of that excursion behind I'm getting onboard to follow a route that has been spoken of called by the name ... "Transaharienne" ... new names and new places ahead.

Fueled and ready to go .... I'll make the jump over the Mediterranean Sea ... entering the continent of Africa across the coast of Algeria ... and into Colomb - Bechar



Once there I will be hand delivering an envelop to the Commander of the French Foreign Legion Post ... refueling and making preparations for dead reckoning across the Sahara.

It was suggested that I inquire as to the whereabouts of an exploration party looking for a rumored man the was raised by apes ... welcome to my world folks ... ... I guess I got into the wrong business.

Supposedly they have a more accurate description of the terrain we will be crossing .... every little bit helps as there are no navaids in that region and very few landmarks.



Leaving Marseille, France in short order ... headed straight for Colomb - Bechar, Algeria

[Willy]

Say hello to the guys in Timbuktu!

[salt_air]

Landed safely at our second Compulsory Checkpoint today ... Colomb - Bechar (DAOR) ,,, after a brisk flight across the Mediterranean Sea.

Plenty of clouds most of the trip and had pretty good winds out of the North ... WCA was such that they were obviously out of the NW ... would have been great from the NE ... but I'll take it.

Must have been stiff too ... looks like a 173 kt average GS ... woo - woo !

A real good balance of available aids and sextant readings at a near perfect distances ... each time through a no preferred signal zone (along the flight path)I was able to take readings from some of the planets.

Pace between sextant and NDB signals was spaced out just right ... never without reference for the whole trip except for a short while over Algeria, but even then I had great visual of the Sea and coast.

Drifted a little more than I thought in both directions, so I still need to hone that down a little better.

But not now! .... about to get into more than I can chew .... Dead Reckoning now all the way to Niamey, Niger!

Time to get all of the info I can find from hand drawn charts on the backs of bar napkins to tales of lore from the locals ... oh yeah, need to find that crowd that is looking for an Apeman ... who knows?



FlightLog_12-56-41.TXT http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...TTHnuDI5Osf1dg








Willy ... Don't plan to go to Timbuktu, but I got people that will pass your message on ...

[PRB]

You're in Africa! Good stuff, Austin!

[jt_dub]

Well done leg. That Vega has very nice range. Best of luck crossing the Sahara.

[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.




FlightLog_22-18-13.TXT http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...bQd2Z0TPcJTwdE












Off to bed ... whew!



Thanks Willy!! ... Thanks Robert!!