Flight Log: Durban FALE -- Cape Town FACT 25.11.2010

Distance: 759 NM
scheduled Flying time: 6h 40min
Filed Route: OKTAN GRV ERPOL NEVIR GE
ATIS Durban: 0600 rwy 06 wind 040 2kts 9999 BKN 045 temp 18 QNH 1022
Clearance: left turn alon coast line climb FL 080
Take Off Time: 06:25 (UTC)
ATIS Cape Town: 1357 rwy 19 wind 180/20 kts CAVOK temp. 29 QNH1009
Landing Time: 14:35 (UTC)
25.11.2010 Durban/Cape Town: With flying time of six hours 40 minutes scheduled, we had the longest flight in front of us to date. We were really looking forward to everything we would encounter along the coast of South Africa.

But to start with, we dealt with preparations for take off which always means a lot of admin. Nevertheless, this time we and our handling agent quickly got to Marie. We took all the necessary preparations for departure. While we were doing so, it transpired that the handling agent had forgotten to clarify with us how the airport and parking fees were to be paid and how the flight plan was to be checked with the tower. We decided that the handling agent and I would go back to airport admin. Martin on the other hand did all the necessary preparations on the plane and the packing alone.

As I was about to pay the charges, three credit cards suddenly wouldn't work. The computer just couldn't get any connection up and running. Eventually I offered to pay cash. After I'd fetched the amount concerned from the bank and wanted to pay, the connection to American Express suddenly started working after all. Now everything was fine and the handling agent and I returned to Marie. Martin had used the long waiting period to take some photos. He said that he was about to send out a search party for me because I had disappeared for a whole three-quarters of an hour.

Now we took off on runway 06 with little wind and in wonderful weather. After taking off, we made a right turn at 800 feet and flew out towards the sea. After the air traffic there had passed us, we took another right turn. We were now flying southwards and ascended to our scheduled altitude of 8,000 feet.

As there was no avgas on Durban airfield, we had to make a brief stop to refuel. We'd chosen Virginia airfield as the place. After we had landed there, two filling attendants signalled us to come and refuel with them. But we preferred to proceed to our handling agent and refuelled there. Everything was completed in 20 minutes. I was able to pay by credit card, we were given another four litres of oil and were soon back in the air again. Before we took off however, another helicopter had taken a look at Marie from a low altitude. But after a minute, it flew on and we completed take-off.

Now we were aiming for flight level 080 at last, or 8,000 feet or about 2,500 metres. As we could see from our wind maps, we had to expect slight upwind. However, it got increasingly stronger. After about one and a half hours, we identified upwind of 30 knots or 50 km/h which of course would significantly increase flying time. After another hour, we were giving serious thought to which alternative airfield we could approach if the fuel to Cape Town was not quite enough. The strong upwind gave us realistic cause for concern.

We noticed white crests on the sea waves which led us to believe that the wind was coming from a completely different direction there. Was that possible? Up here at 8,000 feet, we had 30 knots upwind and down below there was clearly tailwind. Our assumption was confirmed when we saw the smoke trail at the latest: on the ground and in deeper air regions, the wind really was coming from a totally opposite direction. We believed this was good enough a reason to ask radar control for a change in altitude. We wanted to descend from 8,000 to 4,000 feet. But this was not possible with an IFR flight plan. So we cancelled it and flew using visual flight rules. We descended to approx. 3,500 feet. And surprisingly at this low altitude, we now had tailwind of 10 to 15 knots.

Now of course we had to navigate differently. We had to observe restricted areas. To do so, we had to obtain authorisation from the airfield concerned. But there were no problems. Within the controlled zone, we had to descend to 1,000 feet over the sea to avoid the flight traffic there. We were totally surprised that at this altitude we had tailwind of 30 knots or 50 km/h. The tailwind propelled the plane towards Cape Town. As a result, during the two and a half hour flight at low altitude, we recovered the majority of the time lost due to the upwind. About 60 miles before Cape Town, we had to ascend to 8,000 feet again. At this altitude, we did of course have upwind again of 20 knots. And that didn't change until Cape Town.

Luckily the weather stayed fair. It was cloudless and sunny, so that we were able to carry out a visual flight. However, on the ground and with 20 knots of wind from 190 degrees, where the runway is at 180 degrees, this is virtually wind from the front.

The handling agency Signature welcomed us. We were directed into parking position. BP quickly refuelled the plane. We were able to pay with our BP card. Once everything had been organised, we set off for the hotel.