Ulaanbaatar

June 13, 2013

You see it happened. Ulan-Bator is transformed into Ulaanbaatar. One day is enough for such a change. Same procedure as Isfahan to Esfahan. One learns every day.

What we did not learn is not to loose too many things. In Victoria Falls my pc was stolen from the a/c, in Ulaanbaatar we lost another pc during our transfer from the airport to the hotel.

After our arrival in Ulaanbaatar we decided to have a real rest, take breakfast at 1000 and do nothing. Well the regular reader must have guessed already, that I appeared at the breakfast only at 1050 ie. 10 minutes before it was closed.

We went straight to the office of Blue Sky Aviation to make investigations about the missing computer where we met Tom Mason. He helped in every respect and let us use his desk and pc to download the INDS software (Blue and Purple CD pour les connaisseurs) we need for the a/c.

Then we had a look at Ulaanbaatar’s National Museum and part of the City. Alex Bisi demanded some local photography.

After that we had dinner in a Mongolian restaurant with Spanish wine and Perrier. No better life than a good life.

The second day, Wednesday, was not a day of rest since we needed to be at Tom’s Office at 0845 in order to depart for the airport and to download the 540 Mb software into the Apex Honeywell system.

Our grossly overpaid Handling Agent refused to come to the airport. Full stop (..). Tom managed to get us on the tarmac. Thanks to Urs we carried our crew badges with us; this did it.

We succeeded to complete the download in 90 minutes. It took longer than usual since AGM2 [Advanced Graphic Module] reported a malfunctioning, so we had to load it once again for another 44 minutes. The chocolate on board was good.

In the meantime Ryan came back with his Cessna Grand Caravan C208.

After the successfull downloading of the software, Ryan taxied us with his a/c to the hangar of Blue Sky Aviation. Well organized, clean, just looking good.

After our return to the hotel we still had to visit the Monastry. It was a disappointment.

Another day we did nothing really, at least so it felt.

We have been very very happy with the help and efforts given by then entire staff of Blue Sky Aviation and I will bring Ed Groenen in contact with them, since MAF [Mission Aviation Fellowship] are flying all over the world with either PC-6 or C-208.

Now we will still have to face tomorrow our Handling Agent who does not even speak English and wants to cash the highest sum for his handling EVER SEEN. Just robbery.

We are mentally preparing ourselves for a battle, keeping on mind we still need to leave the airport in time for our flight to Chita, Russia.

Will be continued