Flight Log: Cape Town FACT -- Lüderitz FYLZ 28.11.2010

Distance: 529 NM
scheduled Flying time: 4h 54min
Filed Route: KODES OKNOL EPNAD TIBIS PAREK XUDAN
ATIS Cape Town: 0655 rwy 19 wind 180 18kts 9999 BKN 042 temp 17 QNH 1019
Clearance: right turn along coast line climb FL 090
Take Off Time: 07:00 (UTC)
ATIS Lüderitz: Unmanned Airport
Landing Time: 11:10 (UTC)
28.11.2010 Cape Town/Lüderitz: At the airfield, the Signature handling agent very quickly dealt with everything. A brief excursion through the airport building, with passport control and baggage check, was over and done with in 20 minutes. Marie had already been refuelled. After all the bills had been paid too, we got into the plane and contacted the tower. The tower accepted the flight plan, so we were quickly able to taxi onto the runway and take off. The wind forecast again predicted that there might be upwind at our prescribed altitude of 9,000 feet. At 3,000 feet there seemed to be more tailwind though. And the forecast proved right. When we flew at 9,000 feet, we had upwind, during the ascent however we mainly had tailwind. As a result, we decided to leave this altitude again. The air traffic controller agreed to our changing the altitude. So we descended to 3,000 feet and set off on the authorised route to Lüderitz. In other words, we were now able to fly straight on for 450 nautical miles.

After another ten minutes, the air traffic controller offered to cancel the IFR flight plan and allow us to do a sightseeing flight along the coast instead. He had no objections and we were delighted. We flew along the coast the whole time towards Lüderitz. The tailwind was between 15 to 30 knots in some places, so we proceeded a lot quicker than our flight plan had scheduled. This coaxed Martin out of his shell. He wanted to fly at just 200 feet over ground, over the beach and sea. Which he did for about three quarters of an hour. He summed the experience up saying 'That was a real highlight for an enthusiastic pilot'. However, particularly during this flight at low altitude we noticed that the wind speed, in our case tailwind, was constantly increasing and now exceeding 30 knots. But we didn't consider this a bad sign to start with. On the contrary, we were pleased to be getting on more quickly than planned.

About an hour before reaching Lüderitz, we ascended to approx. 3,000 feet again. Again we noticed that the tailwind was very strong. At the same time, visibility on the coast became increasingly poorer. A yellowy mist lay over the coast. It took us a while to notice what was really going on: it was sand. We were witnessing a sandstorm on the coast towards Lüderitz.

Visibility was now becoming increasingly poor because the sandstorm was getting stronger and stronger. But from the air, we didn't believe the situation was that serious. So we pursued our plan to land in Lüderitz. We took a left turn and approached runway 22. It was only during landing that we noticed that the tailwind of about 35 knots - and of course there was the sandstorm too.

After landing, we taxied to the airport ramp to get out. It was very difficult to open the doors while the Cessna was subjected to the wind because the wind pressure on the doors was extreme and could only be overcome by applying force. Once we had got out, the sand really whipped around our ears. We secured the machine as best as possible with rocks and the hand brake. Then we tried to get into the admin building as quickly as possible. We ran to the airport building as fast as we could. Once we had got there, sand was everywhere, in all our clothes, in our eyes and ears, in our shirts, shoes - sand simply everywhere.

We had already decided not to stay in Lüderitz. With the wind at 40 knots and a sandstorm raging, we didn't think spending two days in a place like that was the best idea. A short while later, we prepared our departure for Windhoek.