britfrog 180 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Life doesnt get much better than this a 4 day layover in the Seychelles because my a/c went tech and we had to fly in 3 mechanics from our base in south africa to make it play ball. However all was finished last night and we undertook a short test flight to verify all was well for todays flight. The only fly in the ointment was the weather which was predicted to go downhill, so I really hoped that Jess would get her skates on so that we could get out of here, Nothing worse than a plane load of holiday makers being Moby to add to the misery of going home. The handling agent called me and said that Jess was inbound so he started the preparations to load the passengers, My crew and I headed out to get the plane prepped. The skies were getting ominously darker in the north as we made our way out to the aircraft, but for the moment it was still very warm and sunny as the seagulls and frigate birds wheeled overhead. Boy was it hot inside ! it was clear the ground pack was not running properly "ok no2 get the apu turning and burning and lets get some cooler air circulating here", he duly did as asked and opened the bleed air from the apu to the left and right packs and switched the aircon switches to auto. Ahhhh that was better I could smell the sweet scented cool air being blown in before I could actually feel the temperature change. It wasn't long before the passengers started climbing the stairs and the dispatcher arrived with all the docs and load sheet, 174 today he said including 2 babies , 7 children , and 1 wheelchair bound, we are just winching him aboard now he said with a big smile. I looked back past him into the cabin and could see the crew doing their best to make him comfortable in the front row. "ten thousand five hundred litres loaded sir!" the dispatcher shouted, , he made me jump but he had seen I was miles away, in my own thoughts. "Fine Singh!" with what we had onboard that will give us an hour and a half more than needed in case we need to divert I checked the load sheet figures and signed his copy and off he went and whilst the head stewey stood at the door waiting for the baton. Jess knows how to arrive in style fancy bringing in the first 380 to arrive in the region however as there were so many dignitaries and hangers-on milling around the apron, i decided to get away as quickly as possible as i could see a bun fight ensuing. Happily Jess arranged for the baton to make its way over promptly and we signalled to the marshaller that we were ready to go. As soon as the door was closed we called the tower and requested engine start and taxi clearance and no sooner had we started to taxi to the active than it started to rain cats and dogs (technical term) . we had to wait for an arriving twin otter to clear before we could backtrack the length of the runway but even with the wipers working flat out it was difficult to maintain visibility with the center line., once the end was reached we then went around a small loop to the hold where we waited as another jet landed "rather you than me " some unknown voice came over the ether as he passed us, and splashed down. Final checks complete and we lined up and eventually received clearance as the arriving a/c managed to splash his way to the apron. I opened the throttles and we both leaned forward straining our eyes to ensure we maintained the center line and it was with a sigh of relief that I finally rotated and headed uphill on instruments, however the relief was short lived as we were suddenly met by the turbulence as it curled over the hill tops . Luckily the stewies were still buckled in and had the good sense to remain thus , otherwise they would have been walking on the ceilings. we made a 45 degree turn to the right to parallel the coast which had already disappeared into the murk. After a few minutes we had passed the north coast of the island on a JEFY3A SID and headed onto a westerly heading to MIRON using UR782. The source of all this nastyness is the world renowned ITCZ (inter tropical convergence zone) or (eye tee cee zee as the yanks would have us call it) which is a region of thunderstorms and bad weather that wobble around the globe between the tropics. It gives rise to the monsoons in India , and the hurricanes in the Caribbean and is the subject of many a book that us pilots have to study. Still up we climbed with overhead lockers depositing their goods on those below and the odd sick bag being deployed. We finally levelled off at FL370 but there was little respite from the bouncing around which was unusual at this height, but not unknown so I continued to thread my way between the thunder heads . It was not until we passed MIRON some 200 miles later , that we started to get some respite and the stewies were able to get about to tidy up the disaster zone, and provide succour. Slowly but surely the atmosphere cleared and we could start to make out the sea. Under normal circumstances in this region one always keeps one radio on the emergency channel and keeps a scan on the sea below , because this region is heavily populated by Somali pirates who have been driven south from the Golf of Aden and Northern Arabian Sea by the scores of international war ships now patrolling that area. It is not unknown for a passenger to report seeing a distress flare in these parts. Still the flight continued without any further interruption and we started our descent at VOHID where we could just make out the cloud cap on the volcanic mountain above our destination. This island is home of one of the most active volcanoes in the region so it is not unusual to see some cloud around its top today at least it was not malevolent, and so we passed over the northern tip of the island enroute the last turning point of Megos where we headed inland directly at the volcano which now was much higher than us , and to make matters interesting both it and we, were in cloud again, deep joy! I was sitting there looking out into the gloom expecting a dark shape to emerge at any second when my concentration was broken by the FO who informed me that the localiser was active, Thank goodness for that I breathed as third world ILS's are not the most reliable and as the autopilot turned us on a northerly heading and intercepted the glide slope I could see the grey wall of the volcano on our right hand side, it seemed awfully close , but landing checks need to be carried out and the autopilot disconnected, and before you know it we were on short finals following the slope of the volcano downwards, the landing was a greaser and no sooner had we slowed to a walking pace than the peanut gallery behind started to applaud , why do they do that? , a quick back track along the runway found us winding down outside the terminal As the stairs arrived I started to look toward the arrivals area in case i could see signs of Rob to whom I must pass the baton. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Hey Nigel.. that was quick... two departure board updates in one day isn't very common Great flight despite the heavy turbulence and limited visibility.. I can imagine that approach into Moroni is a nerve wrecker in such conditions... Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 A very nice account of your flight Nigel, always entertaining and educational. Cheers ... Joe Link to post Share on other sites
hifly 925 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Nice trip Nigel. Liked the skies, are they REX or ASN? The reason why the peanuts in the back applauded is because they have experienced some of my landings. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Good pont Geoff! Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted May 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Nice trip Nigel. Liked the skies, are they REX or ASN? The reason why the peanuts in the back applauded is because they have experienced some of my landings. LOL ! the weather was care of REX 4 using DX10 Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Glad to be alive, oh yeah, nice flying too.(That's why. Great PIREP, written like a real pilot. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Superb shots and leg there Nigel! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Wery professional. My Son! Loved the rhyming slang and just enough technicalities to make it interesting. Great leg, Nigel - thanks for sharing. Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
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