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FlightLevel660
31st Jul 2016, 15:13
Hi guys,

I am flying the owner of a private PC12 from Europe to Ethiopia this August.

We have 2 scheduled stops there: Mekele (HAMK) and Bahir Dar (HABD).

My main concern in Ethiopia is the weather at this period of the year. Here are a few question for those who have / had an experience flying over there:

- Based on you experience is it advisable to transit through Ethiopia in that period or is the likelihood of encountering prohibitive weather too high for our single turboprop (FL260-270 max)?

- is there a weather pattern which would advise us to fly in preference at certain hours of the day (morning or afternoon) or is there no real pattern?

- the cloud formations are predominantly storms or is it rather stratified clouds?

Obviously these are generic questions on the usual whether for the season and We are aware that stormy conditions can happen any time and anywhere.

Thanks a lot you for your time, fly safe.

captseth
2nd Aug 2016, 02:05
It's the rainy season now, lots of CB's but mostly navigable if you have radar. You'll be fine in the 20's as most of the MSA's are around 140 at the highest. There is a general tendency for the storms to form after lunch, so a morning operation tends to work better but YMMV.

Depending on when you go in August, the rains may start to wane. September starts the dry season.