74 Jiddah - Djibouti
25. Feb 2010
Getting to the GA terminal I passed 8 guys washing the floor! It was only a short time getting my passport back and get on to the operation office of Arasbesco. They filed a flightplan for me, and presented me with a bill of some 765 US dollars for the trouble!
After Paying, I could get in their car for the 200 meter ride to the plane.
Part of the charge were, of course, landing fees, parking fees ( and a “security” fee of about $ 300??). But the only thing I asked for, was to have my oxygen bottle filled. I did that the first time just after arriving, and twice this morning. But nothing came of it? Now this is a safety issue. Minimum altitude for the route of the day was FL140 – and at that altitude you are not allowed to fly for more than 30 minutes without using oxygen!
I did not get a General Declaration either (to be used to present to customs at destination).
It was not an arrogant reception I got – but they just didn’t seem to care. Was I happy to get out of that place!
But before I could get going I had to get fuel transferred from my front ferry tank to the wing tanks. I managed to use the “Goat Throat” pump by cutting off the cap piece on the access hose to the tank. It worked – but it was hard to do the hand pumping in the heat, and after a while it became difficult, so I decide to siphon the fuel into the 5 gallon Jerry-can instead, and then empty the can into the wingtanks – that worked better. -
So after 1 ½ hours of hard work I was ready for departure, and thankfully the departure runway 24 Center was next to the where I was parked. Departing on a “Alfa One Departure” I got vectors right after takeoff, and soon I was enroute at FL110. About 70 NM from "RASK", the FIR border, I was handed over to Asmara – but it was another 100 NM before I had radio contact with them.
Before that, I had a call from an Emirate flight, who relayed my position, and I received instruction to climb to FL 140 before apport point “IMDAX”. And descend to FL 145 after that point. I also got a new transponder code.
It was smooth flying, but early on I had an Easterly wind of up to 40 knots.
I leaned the engine more than I normally would – my calculations showed that I only just would have enough fuel to reach Nairobi, the first stop where I could expect availability of Avgas.
Landing in Djibouti an hour after sunset, was a breeze compared to Jeddah. The controller was very helpful all the way to parking, and on ground I was met by a guy, who asked if I needed Avgas. That was a surprise to hear, because I had been unable to get information about it? I arranged, that I would come to the airport the next morning. After a 6 hour long flight I looked forward to get to the hotel.
The morning after, I bought a barrel of Avgas from Total at the price of $715 + the cost of $15 to the 3 guys pumping it, as they insisted they wanted it. Keeping the change of $5 was not enough! It was cash only – and then they insisted, that 3 of the $100 notes had a wrong date of issue – so I had to find 3 other notes, which I only just had!
On top I filled my Jerry can 3 times from the ferry tank, and emptied it into the wing tanks, before I again had full tanks. It seems to me, that the hard leaning, had resulted in a higher oil consumption, as I could add 2 quarts of oil?
But now I was ready for departure tomorrow Sunday.
