AfricanEagle
21st Jul 2004, 09:54
Does anyone have experience overflying Algeria in a Cessna SEP.
End October / beginning November I'll be flying Rome (Italy) to Gao (Mali) via Algeria in a Cessna 172.
I would like any feedback on wind conditions, best altitude to fly at, if there are any specific ATC compliances, particular precautions regarding the aircraft etc.
Thanks in advance.
AE
Sahara, Yes; Algeria, No!
I flew from France to Mali and Burkina faso a couple of month ago in a group of 4 DR400 + 1 HR100. We chose not to fly via Algeria due to the rather unconfortable political situation in the South.
We crossed the Sahara from Laayoune (south Morocco) to Atar (Mauritania) for refuelling. We had bought 800 liters of fuel in advance. Then from Atar to Mopti (Mali), my longest flight ever: 6 hours. We had planned to land in Tichit, a dirt strip in the desert to fuel the DR400 from the HR100 if we did not get an average of 115kts GS.
All I'd say is:
File flight plans (can't do without anyway)
Get a good GPS (we all had Pilot III)
Maps: we all had NOAAA aircharts. They were crap as ther is no ground feature and hardly any beacons anyway. The map we used was a Michelin road map.
Wind conditions vary. We stacked the 5 aircrafts at different altitudes to pick up the best ground speeds. In the Sahara crossing we found ourselves between 2000ft and 65000ft (up to FL 125 over other bits of the trip).
ATC: You won't be able to raise them anyway. We told jokes on 123.45 to keep each other awake (I did fall asleep at the controls once!), and we had a couple of calls relayed by nice airline captains. Whenever you'll raise an ATC, he'll probably want you to give him all sorts of ETAs at IFR points.
One important thing though: we got done for landing fees at Mopti. These B***ds got 300Euros from us when we should have paid only about 15 Euros. Do get a copy of the ASECMA Notam on Landing fees. Shove it in the face of any idiot who'll want to get too much money from you. ASECMA has a web site and the Notam is there.
Take lots of pictures and let us know how the trip went.
(We have put pictures of our trip on
http://www.bellapix.com/expos/public/index.php
Click on "Afrique, select page 3, we are under Ouaga.xxx
Oops! I meant "6500ft"!