PIREP Leg 56 – GVAC Amilcar Cabral Airport to DIBK Bouake Airport.

[J G 927]

Leg 56 – GVAC Amilcar Cabral Airport to DIBK Bouake Airport.

 

I had had a couple of months off, away from the ATWC.  Having completed leg 43 and finding myself in Houston Texas in the good old USA, I spent a week there, wondering about the challenge and how it would fit in with Christmas.

Houston is a town built on industry, the energy industry, and specifically the oil and gas industry.  It is not really known for its tourism and so I was hard put to know what sights to see. Eventually I gave up and took United Airlines Flight 97 back to Heathrow and home for an early start to the Christmas holidays.

 

United Airlines Jumbo

 

I dare say that my Christmas experience was much the same as many others, eating far too much, drinking a shed load of booze and having the sister in law come round with her kids and doing a fair impression of a lighthouse fog horn whilst trying unsuccessfully to control her offspring.

 

I was glad to escape when it was time to depart for the next leg of ATWC 6. Micke had given me a fair warning of what is was going for my next leg, and I was pleased that my contacts came up with a ferry job for the leg.

An RAF Harrier GR9 would be in transit from Trenton Airbase in Canada to Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai. It would be stopping at Amilcar Cabral Airport in the Cape Verdi islands for fuel and for a crew change.  I was to be the new pilot. The aircraft was due to fly a more direct route from Cape Verdi to Dubai, but my old friend Jasmine had arranged a southerly diversion to accommodate the batons transit.

 

First I would have to get to Amilcar Cabral.  In the world of commercial passenger flights this airport doesn’t exist. It took me fifteen minutes of fruitless searching to realise it was known as Sal Airport by the airlines, probably as it is on the island of Sal. I booked a TAP Portugal flight to Sal via Lisbon.  Setting off from Gatwick at a little after 4 pm, I arrived on time at Sal at ten past midnight the following day.

 

 

TAP Airbus A330

 

My hotel was to be the Melia Dunas Hotel, on the beachfront in the south west of the island near Santa Maria, about five miles from the airport. Mutley was doing me proud with the hotel quality once again.

 

Bad weather in Canada was delaying the arrival of the Harrier, and so I settled down for a wait.  I had expected that the Harrier would arrive ahead of the Baton but this was looking more and more doubtful. I picked up a tourist guide at the shops.

 

A brief history of Cape Verde

In 1456, Alvise Cadamosto a Portuguese explorer discovered some of the islands. In the next decade, Diogo Gomesand António de Noli, captains in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, discovered the remaining islands of the archipelago. When these mariners first landed in Cape Verde, the islands were barren of people but not of vegetation.

 

 

The Portuguese returned six years later to the island of São Tiago to found Ribeira Grande (now Cidade Velha), in 1462—the first permanent European settlement city in the tropics. In 1462 the Islands were used as a haven for Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal by the Inquision, The islands prospered with a large slave labour force under the Portuguese, but were raided from time to time by pirates, British and French naval forces.

 

 

In 1747 the islands were hit with the first of the many droughts that have plagued them ever since,. Three major droughts in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in well over 100,000 people starving to death. The 19th-century decline of the lucrative slave trade was another blow to the country's economy. It was around this time that the Cape Verde populous began emigrating to the United States.

 

In the late 19th century the island was made a coaling and submarine cable station, and there was plenty of work for local labourers. This was the golden period of the city, where it gained the cultural characteristics that made it the current cultural capital of the country. However, during World War II, the economy collapsed as the shipping traffic was drastically reduced and as coal waned as a fuel for shipping her countries economy was further crippled. Cape Verdi gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

 

 

Having seen the video above I decided to have a look around these stunning Islands while I waited. Although the Islands themselves are small, they cover a large area with as much as 70 or 80 miles between them. Island hopping by boat was not an option as I would have spent all my time in the water, so I took advantage of an offer to be showed around by the islands a female pilot I met in a bar, she went by the name of Constantina.

 

 

Mooney Bravo

 

Constantinas’ aircraft was a Mooney Bravo.  Connstantina didn’t trust anyone with her precious aircraft and despite telling her I was a very experienced pilot, she told me in no uncertain terms, that I probably didn’t have enough experience to pilot her Mooney Bravo, it wasn’t a Cessna you know. So I wasn’t good enough to be pilot, I was to be a passenger for the trip arranged for tomorrow. Well that’s put me in my place then!

 

I had what was left of the day to look around the island of Sal before we set off on our Island tour at in the morning.

The island of Sal is famous for its salt. I guess that’s why the ex-Portuguese colony named this Island Sal, the Portuguese word for salt, so I abandoned the fabulous beaches with their pale sand and azure waters and went in search of salt.

 

 

Beaches at Sal

 

I found it at Pedro Do Lume on the eastern side of the island. Pedro Do Lume, is the name given to a crater of a now extinct volcano. Entry to the crater was made possible by means of an artificial tunnel built in 1804. Salt here is abundant and has been collected since the fifteenth century

 

 

Sal’s salt (or if you are Portuguese, Salt’s… errm….salt)

 

The very next day we started a round trip that would take us to all the islands and be back before supper. The timescale meant we would not be landing but merely taking a bird’s eye view.

 

 

 

Cape Verdi flight plan, start and end point is the upper and right most island, Sal.

 

We would be flying from Sal island to Sao Nicolau island, from there to Sao Vicente island, then on to Fogo island, Sao Tiago island, Maio island, Boa Vista island and finally back to Sel.

 

 

 

Start of the tour.

 

We flew out of Sel and as we crossed the coast we could see Sao Nicolau on the horizon ahead.

 

 

 

Sao Nicolau Island.

 

This mountainous island is mostly agricultural but is subject to droughts. Flat areas and hills dominate most of the coastline and the central part. A peninsula covers the eastern part of the island. The highest point on the island is Monte Gordo (1,312 m). Other mountains include Monte Bissau in the central part and Pico do Alberto to the east.

All too soon we had traversed the island and were heading to the Sao Vicente Island.

 

 

 

 

Sao Vicente Island

 

Although volcanic in origin, the island is quite flat. Its highest point is Monte Verde (Portuguese for green mountain) located in the northeast-central part with an altitude of 725 metres (2,379 ft). Although a great amount of erosion has taken place and much of the Island has been deforested, some volcanic craters still remain in particular near the bay of Mindelo. Other mountaintops include Monte Cara and Topona.  The urban area of Mindelo is in the northern part of the Island.

 

 

Our flight took us in a curve over the centre of the island, and so the town of Mindelo was to our right and, as we passed over the western coast the air strip at Sao Pedro passed below us as we headed south and then south east towards Fogo Island and the only active volcano left in Cape Verdi

 

 

Fogo Island

 

The crater on Fogo is one of the highlights of Cape Verde and has created what is a very fertile island. The scenery on Fogo is impressive: dark rocks and black sands give an impression of a lunar landscape. São Filipe, the capital of Fogo is a pretty town full of Portuguese squares and cobbled streets.

 

Our passage over the island was brief but stunning, however we were soon on our way to the next Island, that of Sao Tiago Island.

 

 

 

Sao Tiago Island

 

Santiago was the first of the islands to be settled, the town of Cidade Velha being founded as Riberia Grande in 1462. It is also home to the nation's capital city of Praia. Santiago is the largest island of Cape Verde, and is mountainous, although slightly flatter in the southeast. Praia, located in the southeast coast, is the largest city and capital of the country.

 

 

 

 

On our way to Maio

 

This rather brown island seemed to rather desolate from the air, and so we swiftly flew on to Maio island.

 

 

Maio Island

 

Maio is the easternmost of the islands of Cape Verde. The island is known for its sandy beaches and large forest, the latter of which makes a change from the previous islands we had flown over. There is a central mountain range and salt pans in the north of the islands which like Sel are a source of local industry. We set down for some lunch taking a taxi from the airport for the three kilometres to its capital city of Villa do Maio.

 

 

Yum-yum

 

After a sumptuous lunch of seafood paella we returned to the airport and were soon in the air again. Maio is a small island and so we quickly left behind this inviting islands and flew on to Boa Vista Island.

 

 

Boa Vista

Boa Vista (Portuguese meaning “good view”) is the easternmost island of Cape Verde. The island is known for marine turtles and traditional music, as well as its sand dunes and beaches. Its main industries today are date farming and, increasingly, tourism, with several tourist attractions and large hotels being built in recent times. As of July 2015, the island boasts the highest income per capita in this island nation.

 

 

Boa Vista hotel

 

After passing Boa Vista, head of us lay Sel and so we had come full circle. As we touched down I saw the familiar sight of Brian’s green a white 747, so I knew the baton was in town.

 

I said my goodbyes to Constantina, whereupon she presented me with a bill for the days’ tour. I should have seen that coming but I was in no mood for arguing, Mutley’s credit card took an unexpected hit.

 

I found Brian in the airport bar drinking something long and cool with half a ton of fruit and one of those fancy umbrellas in it. I bought him another, which took ages to prepare as the barman had to harvest the entire islands fruit production for a week and settled for a nice refreshing gin and tonic myself.

 

“Ahem” said a voice behind me. “What about a drink for me? Especially as I have just delivered your ride for the next leg. Arn’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” I looked around to see who this was. It was an RAF air crew suited woman.

 

 

“Brian, meet Jasmine, she is an old friend of mine” Introductions done, Jasmine stole my G & T and handed me a package.

 

“Change into these, you need to get going, and here is your bone dome”. It seemed that both Jasmine and Brian had arrived when I was on my tour.

 

I set off to the gents to change just catching Jasmine turning up the charm on Brian and saying “any chance of a ride out of here?”  Brian was putty in her hands.

 

Having changed and looking suitably like a fast jet pilot Brian Jasmine and I wandered out on to the apron.  Brian kindly took a photo of Jaz and me before saying goodbye and returning to the bar to finish his fruit harvest.

 

 

 

Brian’s photography

 

Jaz and I walked to the waiting Harrier. With this flight planned in advance there was little for me to do but for a detailed handover from Jasmine.  The aircraft was parked the alongside Brian’s massive aircraft, with a certain persons Mooney Bravo on the others side. Constantina had wondered from her aircraft, around Brian’s 747 and was staring with something akin to wonderment at the RAF Jet. “Hello Constantina” I said. “I would give you a ride in my ‘plane but there is only room for one”. She looked at me and did a double take.  I have never seen someone blush so deeply in my life.

 

 

Flight Plan

 

The flight plan would take me south southwest from Sal, to a refuelling point over the ocean, from there to Dakar airspace and then down the coast to the point where the border between Liberia and the Cote d’Ivoire, Ivory Coast to you and me, meets the sea. There was no point getting permission to fly a military aircraft over West African countries when it could be avoided.

 

 

An unusual line up of aircraft.

 

The Harrier was still dressed for her Canadian winter exercises, and looked a bit strange here on this warm tropical island, but as  I did my walk round all seemed well so still smiling, I climbed into the cockpit with Jasmin following to help me get strapped in. Jasmin and ladder cleared I started the pre start checks. Jasmine would be acting as my ground crew.

·         Battery switch – ON

·         Master Caution light – RESET

·         Parking brake – SET

And so on…..

 

Soon I was ready to start the engine. The engine wound up to the rushing air sound as the turbines speed up. Then the rushing gave birth to a whine as the engine ignited and settled down to its idle speed.  All was looking good on the instruments. Time to taxi, I closed the canopy.

 

 

Start up

 

Out at the runway threshold, take off clearance was given, I decided to put on a show for those on the ground, Constantina in particular. Lined up on the centreline for short take-off, I would have done a vertical take-off but I was way too heavy on fuel.   

 

Now before you say hang on what about the fuel use for this and the small matter of 1,200 miles yet to travel, what about your range? -  Well actually the aircraft has a ferry range of 2,129 miles, however this is with full drop tanks, and although I had the tanks, it seemed that the RAF wanted me to top them up in flight as they didn’t want to hang around at my destination, which was, to say the least a bit of a dodgy neighbourhood. So I was to mid-air refuel about 350 miles out.

 

 

Take-off!

 

I opened the throttles wide and in less than eight seconds I was airborne, I cleaned up the aircraft and continued to accelerate. Twenty seconds had elapsed since the throttle had been applied and I was transitioning to full forward flight.

 

I thought I would give Brian a show and rub Constantina’s nose in it a bit and so I circled around the field and passed down the runway at 250 feet and doing 250 kts. Not my top speed, but good enough for a bit of a show.

 

 

Low pass

 

At the end of the pass I pointed the aircraft at the blue yonder and climbed up to 36.000ft. As a youth I can recall the Harriers of the taskforce screaming in towards Port Stanley to deliver the good news the trespassing Argies, or sticking a sidewinder up the exhaust of a Skyhawk to stop its evil intent. Not this mark, but I was flying a truly iconic aircraft.

 

 

Climb.

 

Up at 36,000 feet and a good few pounds of fuel lighter it was time to look for the tanker aircraft. Five minutes later I had her on radar and in another five minutes I was manoeuvring to take on fuel.

 

 

Refuelling – Approach

 

I approached the tanker, an old VC10, perhaps on one of her last sorties.

 

 

About to dock

 

After overcoming the turbulence of the VC10 I carefully approach and dock with the fuel lines basket. Docked with the tanker, I started taking on fuel at rate of about 1000 kg a minute.

 

 

Goodbye – and thanks!

 

I had to fly docked for two minutes to top up my tanks, but once done I was good for the rest of the flight.  All done I rolled away and set a course for Bouake.

 

I settled into a cruise, the Harrier was not the fastest jet in the world, subsonic and built primarily for short range strikes, and for its STOL and VTOL abilities. My cruise speed was going to take about the same time that an airliner would take.

 

 

A low Sun reflecting off the tail plane.

 

As my flight continued, the sun neared the horizon. It would be a night landing at my destination.

 

 

 

Sunset

 

If it wasn’t for the normal orchestra of sounds emitting from the aircraft, it would be a beautiful evening.

 

 

 

The last vestiges of light.

 

The sun finally dipped over the horizon and the stars gently appear. Stunningly beautiful, I was a luck witness to the end of this day.

 

Having made the coast of West Africa at Dakar as planned I came out of my revelry and banked to my next reading. I could relax now.

 

Land – Ho!

 

The workload well and truly down, I had time to cogitate.  Things were going well at last.  Maybe Putinfeld’s gang had given up on me and I had avoided prison for some time now. Prison was usualy avoided by good behaviour but the Putinfeld problem was still nagging at me. I switched the Electronic Countermeasures just to make me feel better, but something else was nagging at me.

 

Then it came to me.  It was Brian’s aircraft.  There was nothing wrong with it in the physical sense, but there was in another way. Brian’s 747 was actually a white and green beacon. Let’s face it, you couldn’t miss it, wherever it went it stuck out a mile.

 

Bouake below

 

Perhaps a good thing for his business but very far from covert which was what I would want. When it was not in one of its usual haunts, It shouted out like a foghorn: “THIS IS WHERE THE BATON IS” and therefore a good chance where JG is.

The rest of the cruise went uneventfully and after a sightseeing tour of the coast of West Africa, I was contacting Bouake ACT, and then tower for clearance to land.

 

 

Approach

 

Lined up with the runway I bought the aircraft down for a conventional landing. With the fuel tanks still fairly full a vertical landing was out of the question. After a nice short landing, I turned off the runway on to the taxi way and asked the tower for taxi instructions.  They came, directing me to the far end of the airport, remote from all of the rest of the facilities, where there are some military hangers.

 

 

Touch down at Bouake Airport

 

This meant a long taxi as I had almost passed over them as I came into land.

 

 

Parked up at the remote north end of the runway

 

On arrival there I was greeted by an RAF ground crew, who were guarded by a detachment of RAF regiment soldiers.  A reminder of how unstable the Ivory Coast was.  After all it was only five years ago that the resident UN peace keepers had to fire on President Gbagbo forces to protect themselves. I wanted to get out of here as soon as I could. 

 

 

 

Bouake military area.

 

As I was changing into my civvies in the hanger that the Harrier was being backed into I noticed that the guys here to turn around the aircraft’s transport. An A400M, one of the RAF’s new shiny C130 replacements. I was given a lift by some trusted locals in a Toyota “Technical” to the other end of the airfield to the civilian airport.  They dropped me off and sped away without waiting. This was odd as the locals anywhere in this region expected some ‘baksheesh’ for any service rendered.

 

 

Bouake civilian terminal.

 

Entering the terminal building I headed for passport control where I was promptly arrested (without charge). Fortunately I had time to secrete the baton in a giant plant pot and so I it didn’t fall into police hands. I was allowed one phone call which I used to call Micke to tell him where the baton was hidden and to ask him to get in touch with Jasmine and to ask her to rescue me. Phone call over, I was lead out of the terminal to a waiting Police car. Just as I was getting into the car I heard the roar of aircraft, the Harrier and the A400M were already on their way.  They didn’t hang about.

 

At the cop-shop my cell which was home to another 15 condemned souls was clearly a front runner for Africa’s filthiest lockup, and I would put money on it winning.  It was so filthy I dare not sit down for soiling my clothes on the floor which was scattered with stinking rags, plastic and sacking. I think the rags were torn cloths with dried blood on them, so I remained standing, trying not inhale the stench and smiling at my 15 new best mates. They weren’t smiling back.

 

 

 

My new shared living space, with all my new found friends.

 

I didn’t have long until things in here got very nasty. Especially for yours truly. After 20 minutes the bigger of my fellow inmates had started to edge towards me while the weaker ones just stared at me with malevolent eyes. I was very close to becoming the big boy’s new toy.

 

Just as I thought the biggest of my companions was about to grab me, a guard appeared and said I was free to go. There were clearly a few disappointed faces in the cell. Apparently someone had stood bribe bail for me.  Thinking that it was Jaz and she had got here quickly, I said “was it a woman?” My guard said, that it wasn’t, it was a man, a Russian man. This wasn’t good, not good at all. It could only mean that Putinfeld had caught up with me at last and I was going to be served up to them on a plate.

 

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Excellent leg there John as always - very entertaining!

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

5 Stars. Awesome PIREP and Cliff hangar tale.

I was starting to worry that you wouldn't get a new decal, or stain in this case, for your travel case.

[brett 2,315]

Well done JG, great story and pics.  Don't worry at all, there are plenty of well intentioned Russian dudes waiting and willing to bail you out.

[stu7708 244]

Yet another classic from you John, great story and some stunning screenshots to top things off with!

 

Sadly I have not been able to get in touch with Jaz at this point in time.. I shall try my hardest to get hold of her over the weekend, but I can make no promises (international calls are so darn expensive, and you've managed to max out the credit card!!!)

 

Also, that chef that served you that yummy lunch at Maio looks very familiar.. could it be that DCI Barnaby of Causton CID moved down to Cap Verde for his retirement.. or is it possibly an ageing Bergerac that moved from the channel islands to an even more remote set of Islands??

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Great pics and an entertaining PREP, John, although I was sad to see that you got banged up again at the end —  but, seemingly, only briefly?       

 

Although I'm afraid your theory about my aircraft ("It shouted out like a foghorn: 'THIS IS WHERE THE BATON IS'") can't hold water. The Brian's Charter fleet actually comprises quite a few such white and green beacons of various Boeing varieties and sizes (oh, and one Bell helicopter), so poor old Mr. P. would have to play a pretty good guessing game in order to conjecture which of them might (just occasionally) contain the baton!   

 

 

But well done for making your point to Constantina, too!       

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

[hlminx 301]

Great PIREP John

You are a tough act to follow.

Some lovely shots there, and lovely to see the VC10 still being a useful workhorse.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I got a closer and larger look at that pic of you and Jasmine now that I am not on my cell phone, and I say she has a quite lovely face, but I doubt I would want to 'cross' her. She has Very powerful looking hands...and could probably crush anyone in an arm wrestle...for a girl, cough. If it's not classified... just how far back do you two go?

[J G 927]

I could tell you Matt, but then Jasmine's employers would have to kill you!

[mutley 4,498]

Great PIREP JG, so you now belong to Putinfeld?

Can't wait until he finds you haven't got the baton.. Muhahaha!