19 Esfahan - Karachi
31. Jan 2007
After I got to another hotel, than the one I had requested, it was off for some sight seeing. But I just managed to get to the Imam Square by the time the Mosque was closed for visitors. I tried again the next day - but this was also a public holiday, Ashura, in remembrance of Imam Hussein – and I could not get in.
I visited the Jameh Mosque, but the museum here was closed – like everything else. With the bazaar closed, and all the shops closed, the streets looked grey and uninviting – had there been leaves on the trees in the town, I am sure the town would look relatively pretty.
My dealings with Safiran was not over – in the evening I received a telephone call – translated by the receptionist in the hotel – that they had made a mistake on the fuel price, and that I had to pay another 280 us dollars on top of the money I had already paid for fuel.
Wednesday morning it was off to the airport in a Taxi. In the briefing office the Safiran representative turned up – and my request that he arranged for the additional cost of fuel to be paid had been ignored. So I had to go to a bank to deposit the money.
Getting to the plane, I realised that after the refuelling 2 days ago, they had left the fuel cap on the right wing off! By now I was really pissed off. Taking fuel samples, revealed no water in the tanks though.
It was another leg with a minimum altitude of FL170. My request for my oxygen bottle to be refilled was not met by Safiran, so I was a little concerned, but I figured that I would have enough until I reached Zahedan, where I could descend to FL 150.
It proved to be a very challenging flight for the first 4 hours, as the mountains gave a serious downwind in places – I now appreciate why pilots buy a plane with a turbo engine!
I had to forget about using the autopilot; it would just stall the plane. Instead I had to keep trying to maintain Vy – or at least Vx - to get a positive rate of climb to counteract the wind that forced me into a decent. At one stage I was forced down to FL 120. The wind coming from the right was up to 60 knot strong. But at least I was in VMC – otherwise it would have been pretty scary, and I would have had to rely on the topographic information on the MDF screen.
However once over Zahedan, it was smooth from there. I was unable to contact Karachi on the radio for the next hour or so, but I had an airliner to relay my position, altitude an ETA for Panjgur, and I received a squawk code in return.
Coming into Karachi was smooth too, and a very competent representative for the local handling company was there to meet me, and in no time I was through the airport and taken by a minivan to a hotel that was arranged for me.
Just as I taxied to parking in Karachi 2 days before, I had the agent I use for flightpermits etc, Mike formWhite Rose Aviation on the mobile, and he informed me that he did still did not have the permit for India.
This was 9 days after applying for it. Holidays etc. in India was the explanation. When the application was made I was told it was on short notice, so the landing fees in India would be doubled.
Later in the day, Mike called me at the hotel to inform me, that the best he could do, was 2 days in Karach, and the 2 days in Mumbai. I could not land in Goa as I had wanted – it is a military airport, and requires a 2 week notice for a permit – but then there is no room for parking. My alternative wish was 4 days in Bangalore: First I was informed, that there was an airshow from the 6th February, but that would not be a problem, as I would leave the 5th.
But now I could not go to Bangalore either. No parking was available.
