Flight Log: Pointe-Noire FCPP -- Duala FKKD 08.02.2011

Distance: 587 NM
scheduled Flying time: 5h 06min
Filed Route: DCT TASIN R987F LV/N0125F090 G857G BT
ATIS Pointe-Noire: RWY 21 Wind 350/11kts SCT 021 CB 29/24 QNH 1008
Clearance: left turn TASIN climb FL 100
Take Off Time: 08:05 (UTC)
ATIS Duala: RWY 30 Wind 260/10 Kts Few 027 SCT 043 CB30/24 QNH 1009
Landing Time: 13:15 (UTC)
08.02.2011 Pointe-Noire/Duala: Everything went very smoothly after we arrived at the airfield. Passport and baggage control were completed in ten minutes and the tower had the flight plan. We were off on the flight over the Equator to Cameroon. The weather report promised a quiet flight. After reaching cruising altitude, we were well above the few clouds. We passed over the jungle for almost the whole flight. We crossed the Equator after Libreville. Jungle was still below us until at some point the famous town of Lambarene came into sight. In Germany it gained fame due to the theologist and doctor Albert Schweitzer and his fight against leprosy.

Due to the descent in Duala the additional tank in the cabin was empty. But we still had main tanks that were three quarters full. The radar controller had kept us at 4,000 feet for far too long, so that a proper ILS approach, even at 1,300 feet per minute descending and slipping was no longer possible. So an additional full circle using visual flight rules was necessary. If we'd followed instrument flight rules, we would have had a missed approach and had to take off and try a second approach. But it worked out fine.

Our handling agent Francis, who surprisingly spoke German, welcomed us at the C1 park. After the usual red tape, we got back into Marie to taxi to the avgas refuelling station. To begin with the attendant said that there was no avgas there and we'd have to go to another airfield. To start with I thought we'd have to take off again and fly there. But it turned out that there was a military strip on the same area with its own runway. So we taxied over there.

Now the next problem occurred: when Martin asked the tower for permission to taxi to the avgas station, the controller said that it wasn't located here. So we got out of the plane and had to ask again. But the handling agent had already left in his car. After asking a number of questions, Martin found out where the avgas station was supposed to be. However, the controller in the tower had not heard of this refuelling station on the military airfield, but let us taxi there anyway.

And we did manage to find it at the end of the runway on the military airfield: there was a rusty collection of pipes on a piece of rather unkempt-looking land with a hangar. Was this supposed to be the refuelling station? We filled the plane up and put approx 20 litres in the additional tank in the cabin. We needed the fuel to fly to Ouagadougou with.

After this job was done we felt we were almost at our destination: our hotel. But that was to turn out differently. At passport control we waited for an hour and nothing happened. Then after another hour they told us that they needed copies of the passports. After a further hour, they told us we would have to pay 220 dollars for the crew. Although a sign clearly said that transit visas were free, we paid without complaining. Half an hour later we got our passports with the entry visa stamp. In the meantime I found us something to drink twice so that Martin didn't collapse in the 34 degree heat...

The handling agent and particularly his boss were very cross about what happened at the airport. At that time we couldn't have guessed what consequences that would have.

When we got out at Hotel Le Meridien, we were glad to have made it to there.

We were really pleased to have Francis as a German-speaking handling agent at our side who we could employ as a guide for the next two days in Doula.