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Leg 9 - Atyrau (UATG) - Bukhara (UTSB): Part 1


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One early morning in Atyrau I get a call to my hotel room. After trying my best to rub the sleep out of my eyes I reluctantly get out of bed to answer it.

Airport Official: Hello Sir. I understand you are a qualified pilot that are planing to depart for Bukhara in a couple of hours. Is that correct?

Since I pre-filed my flight plan before i got to bed last night I can't really claim I'm not, so I admit that his statement is true.

Airport Official: Great, we have a bit of a situation here this morning, and as a last resort I'm turning to you to help us resolve it.

By now I'm wide awake and reply: You have my attention, what can I do for you?

Airport Official: 20 minutes ago a fishing boat located about 100 nm south east of the airport sent out a distress call after one of the fishermen fell over board. We have a Search and Rescue Boat en-route to the area to locate the fisherman, but our problem is that all pilots qualified to fly our med-evac airplane are either away on training or to sick to fly. We are hoping that you can fly down to the area, pick up the fisherman and fly him down to Aktau Airport for transfer to the local hospital. I realize this will put a spanner in the works for you plans of the day, but we will make sure there's an airplane to pick you up in Aktau to get you to Bukhara with as little delay as possible.

Hardly in a position to say no I agree to take on the mission, pack up my things and head down to the airport.

As I arrive on the apron the sun is rising over the terminal. The airport official greets me, and we walk over to the hangar where the plane is parked.

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Before we get on with the flight I get a glance at a map where the route has been mapped out. The airport official also informs me that the flight plan is already loaded in the GPS. How ever, the location of the fishing boat is still not confirmed, so there might be a need to alter the plan enroute. The S&R boat is due to arrive in the area pretty soon, and will report back on the location once it's confirmed.

The plane is parked up, cold and dark, in the hangar. I guess we better push it outdoors before we fire up the engine.

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Pushed out, and engine running, just waiting for ground to clear us to the runway.

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The nurse in the back is doing a quick inventory of the supplies and give me a thumbs up, we're good to go.

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Had to hold short of the runway as other traffic was departing

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But it didn't take long before I was ready to go on runway 14.

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And with the STOL capabilities of the Quest Kodiak we got airborne in no time

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Climbing out following the plan in the GPS

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Leveling off at 5000 feet for the cruise to keep below the clouds

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Leaving dry land behind and heading south east over the Caspian Sea.

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Pushing as much airspeed out of the Kodiak as I can.

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As I come to my first waypoint I start to suspect that something is wrong with my flight plan. Going by the map I got from dispatch I should still be over water, but it looks awfully much like dry land below...

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I call up mission control on my Com2 radio and relay the information

Mission Control: Roger that Rescue 1, we'll look into it and get back to you, proceed along the flight plan for now though, we should have some more information from the S&R boat in a few minutes.

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Following the original plan. The pick-up point should be somewhere in that green area! If a fisherman managed to fall over board here they were way of track....

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In mid turn mission control get back to me.

Mission Control: Rescue 1, we have worked out what went wrong here. The maps used to plot the original plans aren't actual maps, but rather a map showing how we think the area could look if the Caspian Sea breaks through the barriers and flood the area. Sorry about that. The S&R boat have located the fisherman and sent us their coordinates. We have relayed it to ATC, so get in touch with them and they will vector you to your pick-up point.

Rescue 1: Roger that Mission Control, switching to ATC for vectors. Kazakhstan Control, Rescue 1. Ready for vectors to the accident site.

Kazakhstan Control: Roger Rescue 1. Turn right to heading 270 and descend to Flight Level 040. Advise when you have the Caspian Sea in sight for further instructions.

Rescue 1: Heading 270, descending to FL040, will advise when the water is in sight.

Didn't take long before the sea was in view, and the instructions from ATC was to aim for the long bay extending eastward from the sea. The pickup was to be made on the south side of the bay where it joined up with the sea.

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Easing her down along the shore of the bay.

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And we are down on the water, heading as close to land as we can to pick up the patient.

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All systems off, let's get the patient on board.

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Patient strapped in and secure. I just hope the closest monitor isn't connected. Flat lines are seldom a good sight in the medical field...

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Engine running and ready to depart for Aktau.

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Rescue 1: Kazakhstan Control, Resuce 1 with you at 1.000 feet climbing to FL 050.

Kazakhstan Control: Roger Rescue 1, Radar Contact. Squak 7700 for priority handling. Proceed Direct to UATE. Expect ILS approach to runway 12.

Rescue 1: Roger, Proceeding direct to UATE. Squak 7700.

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The nurse informs me that the patient is stable at the moment.

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Passing some low clouds en-route to our destination. No turbulence at least, so the patient gets a smooth ride.

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The airport is somewhere out there of my left side. Looks like ATC is vectoring me for a very short final.

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Runway in sight. Short final indeed...

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Vacated the runway and looking for my parking spot.

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Aircraft secure, and the paramedics are scrambling to get the patient to hospital.

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As I was shutting the aircraft down mission control extended their thanks for my effort and informed me that my connection flight for Bukhara was due to arrive any minute. So I guess I'll just hang around the airport until it gets here.

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