Flight PIL021 to Luxor

December 14, 2012

Our arrival last night at Djibouti was easy and uneventfull, except for the fact that I succeeded to park the a/c with her nose wheel precisely on the yellow taxi/parking line, somerhing which usually only is managed by Commander Urs only. So now I am finally equal with him … hm hm?

Djibouti/HDAM. Harry parked the PC12 perfectly on the yellow line

In the Sheraton Hotel in Djibouti we were upgraded to Floor 6 though at an upgraded price, at a degraded waterpressure and at a non excisting Wifi connection. The hotel was again full with German soldiers assigned to a UN mission called NavFor? Still their championship for the heaviest smoker must have been undecided since they all smoked like hell. We have been unable to discover a single German Officer or soldier not smoking. May be it was a condition to be admitted to this mission.

In the 20 minutes we had left to go out on the street in front of the hotel, we managed to buy our last Christmas presents from a local fellow.

The dirt and mess on the streets of Djibouti can only be compared with Nairobi, though here most of the streets were not paved at all. No holiday destination either.

The next day we had much to our regret put a quarter of BP Oil in the a/c. The first time on this trip!! We could possibly have waited until Luxor even but with a flight of 05:30 hrs ahead of us, being at a quite airport, we took no chances.

I will not bother you too much with the condition of the toilets at the tower of the airport, but just say they could go for the Gold Medal. Perhaps Bangladesh could be a competitor. Shame upon the airport of Djibouti.

leaving Djibouti via the Gulf of Aden

Just whilst typing this blog we are overflying our most favourite aiport: Jeddah. Not many ships in their port.

over Jeddah

our flightplan via Jeddah to Luxor

The entire flight went ok and we made it in exactly 05:42 hrs, in other words it was a longer flight than Fiji-Kiribati in 2010, but still 32 minutes shorter than Praia-Natal in 2011. We knew it was a bit tricky to try to go directly to Luxor without a $850 stop in Jeddah, but our fear for another humiliating treatment there, gave us wings. In spite of a headwind at 75 knots in the second part of this trip we made it and we still had enough fuel to do a hold, proceed to an alternate and what have you.

I looked at the Red Sea to see if I could discover any Spliethoff ships. Negative result. Most of the trip our airway was on the coast of Saudi Arabia.

leaving the sand of Saudi Arabia

still perfect engine data at 28000 ft with OAT of -28°

Easy landing in Luxor, not any other a/c in the air nor on the airfield.

Our favourite handling agent in Egypt An Aviation Services gave us the treatment we believe we deserve.

again on the yellow line

It is a strange name for a hotel in Egypt we believe: Steigenberger.

End good, all good.

only one A/C on the apron at Luxor

We now have handed out all 20 PC-12 books all over Africa. Most were in German language. May I remind Pilatypus that English is the aviation language, so please Fabienne, make the next book only in English. Still we are sure it will result in the sale of at least two PC12 NG a/c.

Will be continued