(The featured photo shows how fogged up my glasses got right after getting out of the air-conditioned car!)
Here we are on the second-to-last day of this amazing journey. As anticipated, it’s pretty hot out on the tarmac but we planned an early departure to minimize the effect of the heat and our take-off was at 08:30 local time. We had to skip breakfast to make that happen. Thank goodness for those snacks we got last night.
08:30 may not seem like an early departure, but remember that we need to get to the airport, clear security once more, get our flight plans cleared with ATC and the tower, do the walk arounds of each aircraft, set-up our cockpits, get cleared by the tower to start the engines, do the run-ups, taxi to the runway and finally get cleared for take-off. So, that meant an arrival at the airport at 07:30 and therefore wake-up at 06:00.
Once we took off, we had to climb but the local ATC here wasn’t as demanding as the last and we were given a cruising altitude of 5500 feet, the reason being we were heading south right above the Persian Gulf, without really posing any threat to anyone, especially flying three little 4-seat aircraft. While climbing, we still had to monitor our engine and gear box temperatures, but we managed to keep them in check. Once at 5500, we were finally able to look out the window and observe our surroundings.
What a surprise! Dozens and dozens of oil rigs below us. It was unbelievable. They were all over the place with huge tankers docked or commuting from the rigs to the shores. It all of a sudden became very clear why Kuwait City and that part of the world is so rich. They pump oil 24/7 and since oil is used in just about everything these days (from fueling vehicles to heating homes to cosmetics, shoes and clothing, etc.), well, that makes the Middle East a very wealthy region of the world.
As we continued South along our route to Oman, the sea got more and more beautiful with shades of turquoise and long sandy beaches. In the United Arab Emirates, they are even digging up the sand to make bigger islands and building entire communities with huge mansions on them:
Man-made Nourai island, UAE
After 6.5 hours of flying, we landed in Oman. It was nice to arrive early, around 2:30pm local time. The aircraft I was flying was the first one to arrive at Muscat International Airport. I was pretty proud of my landing, but again, the temperature was unbearable and due to the proximity to the ocean, the humidity was much higher. Nonetheless, the flight was smooth and uneventful. We were able to fly VFR pretty much the whole way except for an hour or so where the haze was so bad, once we were over the desert that we had to use our instruments.
I was really excited about going to Oman because one of the things I love to do when I travel to new places is to make sure I get to swim in the ocean and I had brought along my bathing suit specifically to swim in the Arabian Sea. So, I really pushed everyone on the team to get to the hotel as quickly as possible. You see, yesterday, while we were flying from Egypt to Kuwait, the hotel in Oman cancelled our reservations saying they couldn’t accommodate us. The thing is, Sam had told me about this hotel that was right next to the beach and I had been looking forward to that end-of-day swim from the moment I left Canada. So, as soon as Sam arrived in Oman, he spoke to the locals and had them call the hotel. Magically, our rooms were available and I made it to the beach right at sunset.
After my swim, we went to a local restaurant and celebrated the birthdays of Steven and Jaxon. Jaxon is a nice, young pilot from Tennessee who I flew with from Belgium to India. He has a great sense of humour and absolutely loves to debate the strangest topics! Makes the long hours of flying quite entertaining. He couldn’t figure out what to order for his birthday dinner, but dared to order a camel burger! The rest of us ordered other local foods and we were brought these huge platters to share in a private dining room upstairs.
The fatigue was starting to get to us a little, so it was a quiet walk back to the hotel and off to sleep. For videos, check out this page!
Flight time: 6.5 hours
Distance: 649 nm (1202 kilometers or 747 statute miles)
