Info required on a flight from Lisbon to Kigali...

[Jet Jockey A4]

Hello folks,

We are planning in the following week a flight from Lisbon to Kigali and was wondering if there are any special things I should be looking out for.

Our international dispatcher proposed to us a flight/route that takes us over the following countries and he tells us at the altitudes we fly at there should be no problems. He said he read about South Sudan and possibly even the Congo that flights below FL310 are not recommended. We should be between FL4100 and FL470 for the flight.

Countries being over flown... Algeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo and finally landing in Rwanda. His warning about flying below FL310 over the Congo becomes a problem (if there are any), because we need to descent from our cruising altitude over the Congo to land in Kigali.

If anyone has any insights on that proposed route and possible problems I would greatly appreciate some comments.

Thank you.

[CentreOfExcellence]

I'd avoid overflight of DR Congo. Great Circle takes you over it, but I'd route East and come in to Kigali routing over Entebbe. I would also list Entebbe as your alternate. DR Congo has no radar coverage, no suitable emergency airports and very large mountains you need to descend over entering Rwandan airspace. There aren't even any night airports, other than Kinshasa. Goma is not safe, nor suitable for a business jet. You might get other opinions, but I'd personally burn a bit more fuel and route over Uganda. Easier and SAFER.

Just a humble opinion from a fellow aviator who has flown extensively in, around and to the locations you have listed.

EDIT: You'll love Kigali. It is a beautiful place. Clean, orderly and a temperate climate. Enjoy!

[wabulabantu]

Fair points all, but ET flies a scheduled Q400 service into Goma, so it's a bit of a stretch to say that Goma isn't suitable for a business jet.

[Jet Jockey A4]

I'd avoid overflight of DR Congo. Great Circle takes you over it, but I'd route East and come in to Kigali routing over Entebbe. I would also list Entebbe as your alternate. DR Congo has no radar coverage, no suitable emergency airports and very large mountains you need to descend over entering Rwandan airspace. There aren't even any night airports, other than Kinshasa. Goma is not safe, nor suitable for a business jet. You might get other opinions, but I'd personally burn a bit more fuel and route over Uganda. Easier and SAFER.

Just a humble opinion from a fellow aviator who has flown extensively in, around and to the locations you have listed.

EDIT: You'll love Kigali. It is a beautiful place. Clean, orderly and a temperate climate. Enjoy!

Thank you for the info and I will pass it on to our flight planning people.

I have already been to Kigali in 2012 but our flight at that time originated in the Mid-East so we did not fly over the Congo... and yes we enjoyed it a lot... The people were very nice indeed... Even had the chance to visit the gorillas in the mountains, very worthwhile!

[CentreOfExcellence]

Fair points all, but ET flies a scheduled Q400 service into Goma, so it's a bit of a stretch to say that Goma isn't suitable for a business jet.
Good for Ethiopian and their Q400! Not necessarily referring to runway lengths. I know that a business jet can land and take off from Goma. Am very aware of the airport. Lots of different size aircraft fly in/out of Goma. An adequate runway doesn't make it suitable for a business jet needing emergency ground services OR guaranteeing safety and security for corporate/VIP passengers..

EDIT: Additionally, wabulabantu (https://www.pprune.org/members/132289-wabulabantu), noticed that you are NOT a pilot. Thought pointing that out might have some relevance to your credibility advising PILOTS. Cheers!

[4runner]

You don’t want to land anywhere in DRC, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t overfly it. Consider it etops. As far as getting into Kigali, you can absolutely overfly the DRC and descend below 310. As a matter of fact, you have to. From the NW, you’ll probably and I would recommend the DME arc. Entebbe is your best bet for an alternate as Bujumbura is Abit dodgy and doesn’t always have fuel for non sked operations.

[Jet Jockey A4]

Just thought I’d update you on our flight...

So we arrived in Kigali this morning and all went well.

We did requested and got a route that made us fly just over the northeast part of the DRC and then right away into Ugandan airspace for out descent into Kigali via the waypoint EGREK. The small detour added about 20 minutes to the flight of 7hrs and 04 minutes total air time between LPPT and HRYR.

CPDLC work pretty well throughout most African FIRs and only once did we need to use the HF.

We cruised at FL450 and we’re on top of all CBs requiring no deviations due to thunderstorm lines we crossed although some aircrafts flying at lower altitudes required up to 100 miles for deviations.

Again thank you or all of your inputs.

[CentreOfExcellence]

Glad you made it to Kigali. Must be nice being able to make 450! You made the safe choice and an easier approach in to Kigali. Enjoy your visit to the land of 1,000 hills. Cheers

[Klimax]

Thx for reporting back. Good style. An NO, I would never park a biz jet wt Goma airport, or anywhere else in DRC,if I could avoid it. I would probaby even recommend repositioning if the client was going to Kinsasha, unless of course he want a jet ready to GTF outta there, real quick.