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In Part 1 we made our way from Osaka, Japan via Hong Kong to Cochin,
India. Our 36 hour layover in Cochin has now drawn to a close. None
of us had been to southern India and we'd looked forward to some nice
weather while we took in the local sights. Mother Nature had other
ideas, it rained the entire layover. Our enthusiasm for sightseeing
had been dampened by the incessant rain, leaving us antsy to continue
on our journey. Have you ever noticed how much slower time moves
when you have a fixed departure time? Combine that with a humid,
rainy locale, and a slow turning ceiling fan over your hotel bed and
time can truly stand still. Now we're in the minivan, enroute the
airport and I begin to think through various emergency procedures
(EP) I might encounter in the aircraft. The reliability of today's
aircraft is such that a pilot seldom encounters an actual emergency
in flight. So with only twice yearly simulator visits to practice, I
always take the time on my ride to the airport to mull over what I'm
going to do if something goes wrong. What about an engine fire on
takeoff, or in-flight, or a prop malfunction, or an RPM rollback
or...? About this time my concentration is severely distracted by
several hungry mosquitoes on their final approach to land on my arm
and neck, but I'm saved as we pull into the airport parking lot.
3rd Leg: Cochin to Tehran
2,109 NM - Flight Time 7+37
VOCI/COK - CLC - GGO - BBB - TAXUN - PR - (DCT) MINAR - KC - DOSTI - PG - ZAH - DAR - ANK - TRN - OIII/THR
It's a little after 6:00 AM, we're sitting in the cockpit all strapped in and the checks up to "Engine Start" have been performed. 'Wrench,' gingerly perched on the edge of his seat, flips switches on the overhead panel to bring the Hercules to life. Battery, bus ties, fuel pumps, fuel valves, oil cooler flaps, were all set for start. Then, he brings our Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) on-line. The high pitch scream of the APU announces to all within hearing distance that 'Chart 60' is ready to start engines. With Peter standing on the tarmac to monitor engine start, 'Wrench' gets the four 13' 6" diameter Hamilton-Standard props, rotating in a dizzying blur.
Pete then climbs aboard, secures the crew door and we're cleared to
taxi to runway 09. As we pull off the spot, we give thumbs-up and a
quick salute to Mr. Jeevan, standing on the tarmac, thanking him for
his support in Cochin. Not long thereafter we're climbing out into a
thick haze. A gentle bank to the left and we started tracking
northwestward up the western coast of India. Gunmetal gray haze
gives way to intermittent patches of blue sky and dingy clouds.
Finally, we break into clear skies as the sun claws its way upward in
the eastern sky.
Up the coast we fly, passing places with exotic names such as
Mangalore, Kolhhapur, and Mumbai - commonly referred to as Bombay in
the west. Over Mumbai we make a heading change to the left to take
us across the mouth of the Gulf of Khambhat. Just off our track to
the right, approximately 20 miles south of the city of Bhavnagar,
lies the beaches of Alang. The tidal range in this area is over 30
feet and has made the recycling of obsolete ships a huge business,
not only in the area, but for all India. Daily, super-sized ships
make their last trip up this Gulf and are then intentionally grounded
on the tidal flats at Alang during the flood tide. When the tide
goes out these behemoths lay stranded on the tidal flats, like dying
fish on a pier. An army of 300,000 Indian labors swarm over them to
strip them of reusable items, and to cut up the stripped hulls and
superstructures for scrap. Nearly half the world's recycled ships
are scrapped at this facility.
We're flying more northwesterly now and upon reaching Porbandar,
India we depart the airway and are cleared direct (DCT) to MINAR,
where we will join R88D and follow it to Karachi. Just south of
MINAR we enter Pakistani airspace. We over fly Karachi and then
Panjgur, in Balochistan province, which is nestled in the Siahan
Mountain range, very near the border with Iran. Once on Airway G8,
we cross and re-cross the Pakistan/Iranian border several times until
just south of Zehadan, Iran, where we leave Pakistani airspace for
the last time.
| FAA INTERNATIONAL NOTAM: Iranian civil aviation authorities have issued NOTAMs describing required procedures for entry into the Tehran FIR. Prior to flight, all U.S. operators must be familiar with applicable procedures for interception of civil aircraft and should check current Iranian ..." |
Tim's navigation log captures our progress over the Plateau of Iran
as he checks off navaids such as Darband and Anarak. Then we're over
the western rim of the Dasht-e Kavir (The Great Salt Desert) which
lies to the southeast of Tehran. This is an area of over 100,000 sq. miles
of desolate, inhospitable salt flats that have properties similar to
quicksand. This is not the place to land should something go wrong,
but true to her indefatigable nature, 'Chart 60' bears us steadily
towards Tehran.
Eventually we commence our letdown, running through appropriate checklists and we're vectored onto the localizer for runway 29L at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport. We land, and after a brief taxi in we're guided to our parking spot in the vicinity of the Iran Air maintenance hangars. With engines shut down and checklists completed, Peter opens the crew door, drops the cargo ramp and once again our tireless loadmaster springs into action.
Mehrabad is the older of the two international gateways that serve Tehran. The newer, modern equipped Imam Khomeini Airport lies approximately 20 miles to the south of the city. Mehrabad, on the other hand, seems caught in a time warp with 1970's architecture, furnishing, even aircraft. There are plenty of IL-86s, Tu-154's, B727's, and even an occasional B707 parked on the apron to reinforce one's feeling of a bygone era. Mehrabad is, however, convenient; since it lies within the western city limits surrounded by urban sprawl that would make any city dweller feel at home.
4th Leg: Tehran to Moscow
1,425 NM - Flight Time 5+08
OIII/THR - RST - DASDA - MGR - TBS - DF - NOSAK - LANIT - BUTRI - ZG - USMAN - TS - US - IN - DR - WM - KS - MR - UUEE/SVO
We've been on the deck just 'a tad' over an hour. Everything's ready to go and once again we go through the cockpit litany that will produce a successful engine startup. Then, just like that, we're not tethered to terra firma any longer and we commence a climbing, shallow right bank away from the terminal area, as the Elburz Mountains on the northern outskirts of Tehran begin to fill the windscreen. Once over these mountains their slopes will glide downward until they disappear into the waters of the Caspian Sea.
Our first WP after departure is Rasht, on the southwestern shore of
the Caspian Sea. From there we'll fly on, crossing into Azerbaijan
airspace and then into Georgia. Once you enter Russian or CIS
airspace the nuances of differing units of measurement becomes
readily apparent. Altitudes and elevation are given in meters,
visibility is either kilometers or meters, altimeter settings are in
millimeters, and wind and vertical speed are meters per second. We
had been flying at FL260 but 16 NM prior to entering airspace
controlled by 'metrics' we had to descend slighting to FL256.
Over Tbilisi, we continued northward towards 'Mother Russia'. The
border crossings came at a rapid pace and due to the sensitivity of
the political situation between many of these neighboring states, Tim
was under a lot of pressure. Things were pretty solemn on the flight
deck. Waypoints had to be made exactly, radio calls performed in
anticipation of penetrating various Flight Information Regions
(FIRs), and the reliability of navaids grew less and less as we flew
north. If you've ever carefully examined an aeronautical chart of
any area of Russia or the CIS's, you immediately ask yourself, "Where
are all the VOR's?" The chart seems to be a vast landscape populated
only by NDB's. Tim had taped an excerpt from the Russia Section of
our Jepps ATC Route Information Manual over his work station that
read:
| INOPERATIVE NAVIADS: VOR/DME'S and NDB'S are not operated on a continuous basis and some NBD'S are unreliable. |
Just north of Tbilisi, we cross the Russian border. Once again, the
intricacies involved in crossing a state border came into play,
requiring that we contact Russian ATC between 81 and 108 nm prior to
the border crossing to request entry. Having made all the
perfunctory radio calls announcing our intended arrival, and then our
actual border crossing, we were relieved that we not greeted by a
couple of MiGs.
Mile after interminable mile passes underneath us and we bear
steadily northward past places with unpronounceable names. The sun
is now slipping lower in the sky off our port wing, and as we
approached Moscow the clouds start to thicken. Sheremetyevo ATIS is
reporting: wind 210@4 mps, 4,300m VIS and a 300m overcast ceiling.
Runway 25 is the active. One thing I learned years ago about approaches
into Moscow was, there did not seem to be a rhyme or reason for the
vectors you received to set you up on final. This time is no
different. However there is one 'flight phenomenon' on this approach
that surprises all of us - the Aurora Borealis. As we maneuver in
compliance with the approach controllers constantly changing
directions, the undulating, greenish hue of the Northern Lights play
across the cockpit windows. Trying to maintain a vigil for other
traffic in decreasing visibility proves a test of concentration as
the beautiful lights dance all around us.
'Chart 60' is soon to the northeast of the airport and we're finally
turned inbound to intercept the localizer. Final checklists are
completed and we enter the 'soup' and break out just off the end of
runway 25R. The gentle squeal of tires, the moan of the reversing
Allisons, and the sound of flap motors straining to retract the
flaps; they all seem to announce in unison our arrival in Moscow. We
taxi to our assigned spot on the cargo apron where our marshaller
stands in the darkening night. He looks bored. We're just tired.
We block in, shut down and buttoned up 'Chart 60' for the night. As
we gather up our personal belongings the thought crosses my mind that
one adventure has just ended and another is about to begin.
AIRCRAFT:
Lockheed C-130H
Mike Stone - Aircraft Designer
Mercator livery design & repaint by the author.
PANEL:
C-130 Original Panel by Clive Ryan - Views by Steve Moore
Panel modifications by the author.
PART 2 SCENERY:
Cochin - Cochin Int'l
Praveen C. Pillai - Designer
File: CIAL.ZIP
FS2002/FS2004 v1.0
Tehran - Mehrabad Int'l
Touradg Morassaei - Designer
Files:
TEHRAN03.ZIP,
TEHUP205.ZIP and
TEHUP206.ZIP
FS2002 v2.06
Tehran Mesh
Yohann Baptiste - Designer
File: TEHRSRTM.ZIP
FS2004
Moscow - Sheremetyevo Airport
Files:
UUEE003.ZIP
and
UUEEAPD1.ZIP
FS2002
Moscow - 3 Major City Airports & Cityscape (Alternate Scenery)
Files:
MOSCOW3.ZIP
FS2002
Moscow - Photorealistic Cityscape
Olonovsky Alexey Nikolaevich - Designer
Files:
MOSCPH00.ZIP,
MOSCPH01.ZIP,
MOSCPH02.ZIP,
MOSCPH11.ZIP,
MOSCPHS1.ZIP
FS2004
Charts:
Cochin, India
http://www.ivao.org/specops/worldtour/Worldtour_new.asp
Tehran, Iran
http://www.fscharts.com/
Moscow, Russia
http://vatrus.net.ru/downloads/charts.xhtml
Global Enroute & Planning & DOD FLIP Manuals
http://www.apscharts.com/
Comments are always welcomed by the author.
Joe Thompson
ceo@flymercator.com
