867th fly-in: Nosy Be, Madagascar (FMNN)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

Two more destinations are here for next weekend's continuation of our tour of Africa, on Sunday, August 22nd.. First of course is the refueling stop already announced last week, Abeid Amani Karume Intl, Zanzibar, Tanzania (HTZA). From there, we head overseas for Fascene Airport (FMNN), serving the island of Nosy Be, a major tourist resort in northern Madagascar. For this main destination, some detailed custom scenery is available courtesy of @leroy29, and the separate W2XP Madagascar package should also be worth installing.

And as for the following week's refueling stop, it will be Chileka International Airport (FWCL) in Blantyre, Malawi. For Blantyre custom scenery, see the Scenery Gateway.

Safari njema / رحلة سعيدة / soava dia / bon voyage / have a good trip / muyende bwino!


Current tour itinerary:

Jul 11th: Tripoli, Libya (HLLT/HLLM)
Refueling stop: Tamanrasset, Algeria (DAAT)
Jul 18th: Monrovia, Liberia (GLRB)
Refueling stop: Cotonou, Benin (DBBB)
Jul 25th: São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe (FPST)
Refueling stop: Douala, Cameroon (FKKD)
Aug 1st: Bangui M'Poko, Central African Republic (FEFF)
Optional bonus stop: Gbadolite, Democratic Republic of the Congo (FZFD)
Refueling stop: Juba, South Sudan (HSSJ/HJJJ)
Aug 8th: Ambouli Int'l, Djibouti (HDAM)
Refueling stop: Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta Int'l, Kenya (HKJK)
Aug 15th: Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (FZNA)
This week's refueling stop: Zanzibar, Tanzania (HTZA)
Aug 22nd: Nosy Be, Madagascar (FMNN)
Next week's refueling stop: Blantyre, Malawi (FWCL)
????

 

Link to Blantyre scenery on the Gateway


New pilots are always welcome, read the guide below by @bootsie to get started:
How to connect to X-Flightserver

Or to connect using the new Swift client, see this tutorial by @ostkamp:
Swift client quick reference guide (pdf)

Be considerate towards your fellow pilots, and above all, have fun!

 

[rajo]

travelling, black forest, then berlin, germany, so I did before http://www.dlhvirtual.de/crew/index.php/pireps/view/312834

Edited August 22, 2021 by rajo

[Quintao]

Started a day earlier than usual on the first leg of today's fly in. Decided to use the Embraer Phenom 300 for today's flight, borrowing the real life livery from N550KF  that was made available by @Digimagician , looks very muck like the real plane! This time I installed the suggested scenery.

This livery in 4K looks like pretty much the real plane , superb work!

 

 

Winds were calm on Saturday at Zanzibar (HTZA 212300Z 00000KT 9999 FEW012 23/22 Q1015 NOSIG) so took off from RWY 18, which was the closest to the ramp. Very different from the NE USA where @CHASMAN2014 is located and due to the storm, wasn't able to join us this morning.

Went past the first cloud layer around 8000ft, while still enjoying the coastal view.

 

Cruised at FL420 for the next 55 minutes on my way to Madagascar FMNN airport . 

 

While this was taking place, @Vega66 was en-route from Italy back to Zanzibar.

 

Top of descent initiated with 150nm to Fascene. Went by the cloud layer around 8000ft above sea level.

 

Flew over the airfield, in order to loop around, following the VOR approach for RWY 23.

 

Landed on RWY 23 guided by the VOR just to the side of it.

 

I floated above the runway quite a bit providing the passengers with a smooth touch down, but that caused me to miss the exit to the ramp and had to back track.

Parked at the terminal for the evening, would be back on Sunday on Fascene Airport (FMNN) for a flight to Malawi, Chileka airport (FWCL)

 

Next morning, came back to the Phenom 300 parked at Fascene Airport and serviced ready for departure.

  

Back tracked don RWY 23 for departure.

  

Used all the power available to climb quickly. Passengers complained of ears popping. 

  

Cruised at FL360 on my way to Malawi.

  

With less than 1 hour to go, the Mozambique coast appeared.

  

While descending, was surprised by the terrain on the Mozambique-Malawi border, maintained 17,000 Ft until was clear of it.

  

Had to go around twice before landing, due to terrain and my inability to identify the runway on the scenery until I was right on top of it, had to switch from RWY 28 to RWY 10 which proved to be the correct one

  

Parked and called it a day.

 

I'll be out of town next week, thus unable to get to the sim. See you all next time in a couple of weeks!

[Vega66]

Two very interesting and beautiful stops this week, with some challenges that were rewarded with great sceneries.

After a week of intense work, climbed into a 787 departing from Italy, to rejoin this great African tour.

As I approached Zanzibar, spotted @Kumiankka on the apron, preping the flight to Nosy Be, which made the right timing for me to switch aircrafts and join him for this leg.

The Falcon was already ready and refueled and flight plan confirmed, so the start procedures didn't take long.

 

 

Waited for Kumi to taxi and take-off and got myself clearance right after his departure, after which joined him shortly at cruise FL350.

 

 

Time was running a bit short for my usual sunday lunch break, so had to change places a push a little for reach Fascene Nosy Be in time. The fast descent rate and high speed forced a wider approach curve, so the planned VOR approach ended up to be a Visual alignment with the RWY on short final, challenged by the tall trees on the edge of the runway. With some effort got the right alignment almost on top of the runway, landing hard and about 400 feet ahead of the recommended spot. Fortunately the reverse thrustes did their job and the plane slowed down in a very short distance.

 

   

Found a spot near the fire station to park and leave place for incoming flights. Kumi was already on short final, so I watched him perform a superb landing, just before taking the brake.

Returning to the Operations, there were plenty of folks on the apron, while @Quintao was almost reaching Malawi, and Kumi about half way.

Here a couple of nice group photos of the crowded tiny apron with @surfintucson, Chaser, Merlin and 49TE filling every available place.

Filed the plan to Chileka and departed right away, shortly followed by Surf's 777.

Uneventful flight, reaching the beautiful Malawi Mountains a few minutes before sunset.

This time the ILS approach went 100% right, allowing the best landing of the day, just in time to join Kumi and incoming Surf, enjoying a truly amazing African sunset.

Thank's everybody for another great Fly-In, wish you all amazing week.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Vega66

[surfintucson]

Greetings, Pilots!

@Kumiankka, @Vega66, @Quintao

Did the first leg a day or so early again. After a nice stay in Zanzibar and a little fishing, it was back to the airport. 777 was waiting and ready. Start-up, clearance, taxi out, climb away, then feet wet and a cloud layer off the coast en route:

On descent into Nosy Be, the cloud cover got thick. And low. Fortunately the arrival was from the north over water. Dipped under the cloud layer at about 2300 feet:

Again no ILS but a nice string of waypoints on the map leading straight in to runway 23. Nicely configured early, passing over a couple of lakana fishing boats, and setting down easy on the somewhat short (for a 777) runway:

Taxied up to the modest terminal and parked--parking a bit tight here:

I spent the night in a little beach bungalow among some jacaranda trees; quite nice and relaxing. This Sunday morning I got out to the airport thinking with the parking tight I might need to move the big 777 to make some room for others; but, alas, there were not many pilots on today. In fact, most of the day it was just me, VEGA66 and KUMI.

VEGA took off as I was running the pre-start checklist:

Before long I was on my way too, climbing out and settling into cruise at FL350 over the water in clear skies:

An uneventful crossing and some clouds as I crossed the coast:

Pretty thick cloud cover with a setting sun as I approach Malawian airspace and began my descent for FWCL Chileka/Blantyre. A little hole in the clouds:

I could have used a few more holes in the clouds. And I should have checked the VFR sectionals. As it was, I had set my autopilot altitude to level the descent at 10,500; then I saw mountaintops to 10,300. D'Oh!! Fortunately they were a little to my port side and I saw them:

Fortunately I had clear skies lower don as I approached the filed and set up for a right base to runway 10. Took the downwind leg to about the Shore River, then a nice handflown base and final turns:

Approaching the threshold of runway 10 I saw the terrain off the 28 end that QUINTAO had radioed about earlier in the day:

Managed a landing, a little off centerline but otherwise okay. Sunset put some nice color in the sky. Parked up behind VEGA, shut down, and called it a day.

Until next time, Pilots,
Surf, out.

---

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by surfintucson

[ManofMac]

Missed today after discovering that my ISP had imposed data limits, up and down, and that after sorting out my on-line backup, I was bumping up close to the maximum, the "give me more money" point.

Discretion being the better part of my wallet, I sat out today and will probably miss next week too.

have fun

P

[Kumiankka]

Still continued the tour in the old .org 727, which is holding up a lot better than my USB headset which wasn't exactly 5-by-5 this week. A replacement is definitely in order, but I guess over a decade is more than enough use to get out of a cheap USB headset anyway.

 

Got off to an earlier start this time, sitting on the ramp in Zanzibar setting up for the first flight and waiting for my lunch order to arrive while @Vega66 arrived in a Qatar 787. It was a close race between Vega's Dreamliner reaching the airport and the food delivery arriving at my front door, in fact Vega would've beaten by a few minutes if it hadn't been for the fact that airliners take several minutes more to fly the approach itself, much longer than it takes to park a car (at least given decent parking space availability)

 

After the lunch break I returned to a 727 already mostly prepped for departure, and just had to start up the engines and get on my way to Madagascar.

 

Vega followed me most of the way, although somewhere along I drifted off from the airway noticeably once I was out of range of the VOR. Crossing a radial from another beacon in Mayotte let me know when to start the turn towards Nosy Be.

 

Descending for the VOR approach to Fascene, I broke out of the clouds at just the right time to see Vega arrive.

 

The approach to runway 23 was just as overgrown with trees as Vega had already reported.

 

Although I touched down quite far along the runway due to the treetop obstructions, there was still plenty of runway remaining too.
 

The takeoff from Nosy Be was scary, I probably should've taken off in the other direction but wanted to get underway before the next group of aircraft arrived, and backtracking would've probably prevented that.

 

Another close call here like last week, this time with Merlin's C-17. Luckily I spotted the C-17 emerging from the clouds in time, and was able to pull up to give us a bit of vertical separation, maybe scaring the passengers a little.

 

The sun was getting lower as I cruised west towards Malawi - there wasn't much time left if you wanted to arrive in Blantyre before sunset.

 

There was still enough daylight left as I flew a visual approach to runway 10 - the runway lights only lit up just after I touched down.

 

After parking outside the terminal, I stuck around long enough to watch @Vega66 arrive...

 

...followed soon afterwards by @surfintucson

[surfintucson]

12 hours ago, Kumiankka said:

The approach to runway 23 was just as overgrown with trees as Vega had already reported.

Hmmm. I didn't see that and it certainly looks different in our PIREP pics. Wonder what the cause might be?

[Kumiankka]

12 hours ago, surfintucson said:

Hmmm. I didn't see that and it certainly looks different in our PIREP pics. Wonder what the cause might be?

Did you install the W2XP Madagascar package? I did, so that might be the cause, maybe the trees aren't there if you're just using the default global scenery + the custom airport package.

[surfintucson]

11 hours ago, Kumiankka said:

W2XP Madagascar package?

I did but I may not have the *.ini file order correct. Will check into that. Thanks!