mutley 4,487 Posted November 24, 2018 Report Share Posted November 24, 2018 Forward by Sir David Attenborough. <attenborough><whispers> So we find our ATW Challenge stalled out in the wilderness of the Serengeti. Chuck Marshall, in his haste, left the baton at Seronera airfield with his head filled with railway track layouts, signalling, and power supplies for his mega train set, and as he sped away in his Hunter jet, he sparked off a stampede of immense proportions of over 70,000 Wildebeest, the resulting tremors shook the ground so violently, the baton slipped away down into a Meerkat burrow. </whispers></attenborough> Thank you, Sir David (Attenborough exits stage left..) Ah, I hear you say, Meerkats don’t live this far north? but these were Sir David’s personal troop. After the dust settled, Dave started squeaking, as I started to back away slowly and reach for my tranquilliser gun, a Meerkat appeared... It looked vaguely familiar with his beady eyes, and hammer and sickle scar. I think Putin has been cross-breeding again? (remember there is a plan to spread his genes throughout the world, even to the wildlife? ) See what I mean? ... After some VHF whistling and screeching noises between them, I realised they were having a conversation. Then Vlad darted into his burrow, and returned with the baton, in return for a tasty scorpion. (What an easy catch!) Phew! What a relief, we can carry on at last. Ah well, that's the end of the interesting bit, we are left with the reality of a 365 nm flight through central Africa over mostly featureless terrain. It's downhill all the way from Seronera (5080 ft) out of Tanzania, into Kenya, then back over the equator to Fergusons Gulf (1245 ft). As always, Plan-G (or Baldrick as I call it) came up with a cunning plan, which pointed me towards two VORs reaching ToD just before the second, with a 37 nm glide in to the final leg. Part 1 - The beginning. I had arrived in good time the day before, there was a definite whiff of burnt fuel lingering from Chuck's airshow yesterday. I parked my Twinkie in the shade of an Acacia tree to keep the searing heat to a minimum. I rise early and start checking the aircraft. All appeared in order, so I stowed the baton safely in the rear. So with a final check, we're ready to go. Great, just as we take off it starts raining. I get annoyed with myself as I start singing Africa by Toto (1982)... "The wild dogs cry out in the night As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company I know that I must do what's right As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti" Yada Yada.. "I bless the rains down in Africa" (I bless the rain) . etc, etc. <soundFX> Needle being ripped from vinyl record (you know the one)..</soundFX> Part 2 - Part 2 ... 30 minutes later - Ah that's better, we are clear of the rain belt so I reach for my flask, (of coffee), we say goodbye to Tanzania and say welcome to Kenya. (welcome Kenya!) We approach Africa's biggest inland body of water, ladies and gentlemen, I present... Lake Victoria... Part 3 - The 20° right turn And at our first waypoint, the VOR at Kisumu Intl Airport, we take a breathtaking right turn from 375 to 017, the G force was, well, imperceptible! Part 4 - The high bit Here we are at the highest section of the flight, if you know where it is, please share, because there was nothing on the map! That is Turkwel Gorge Reservoir ahead, a huge man made made reservoir, and dam serving the hydroelectric power station. I tried to find the station, honest! Part 5 - Just deserts We are running out of lush scenery. Now its sand dunes all the way to our destination. A mirage (or so I thought) turned into this beautiful oasis ahead. This is my penultimate waypoint, thw airfield and VOR at Lodwar. We are now vectoring for the approach to runway 30. (I know, a dramatic shot!) Not far to go, I lower the gear before I forget. There's our goal - Ferguson's Gulf Part 6 - The dramatic finale Asphalt ahead! and besides the sand, not much else. Floating over the (badly drawn) numbers. Down and bursting for the khazi! Part 7 - The relief of Mafeking! Aarrghh! no trees to pee against! Welcome to Ferguson's Gulf, here endeth flight 49, hoping to see a pilot for leg 50 soon! Over, and out. Joe Materials used: Orbx FTX Global Active Sky 4 REX Sky Force Plan -G Milviz PA-30 Twin Comanche Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 25, 2018 Report Share Posted November 25, 2018 Nice trip Joe...especially the Trippy part at the beginning. Vlad'a'Meer looked so rugged and outdoorsy. You can bless the rains down in Africa all you want, but they don't do a damn thing to help the scenery grow down there. Wish I could assist on leg 50, but my RL legs and butt are crushed with work these days...the days off are to precious to devote to ATWC at this time. Fortunately there are no reports of Squidley activities on the Dark Continent at this time so THRUSH is on standby in the region and/or monitoring active situations elsewhere. The Twin Comanche looks like a lovely model...big MilViz fan here. Cheers. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted November 25, 2018 Report Share Posted November 25, 2018 Very funny that first part, enjoyable romp for the second and what looks like a long and hot third part. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Nice flight boss! Link to post Share on other sites
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