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Red Sea, Egypt to Iraklion, Greece

Following up on my report for the trip from Stuttgart to Crete and then onward to El Gouna, Egypt, here are a few pictures and notes on the first day of the trip back home.

As briefly mentioned before, I had a small engine problem on the trip to Egypt and some time was spent there trying to fix it. Luckily we were able to accomplish this without having to bring in a mechanic from Europe or spare parts. It does pay off to travel with a large tools collection and have a good and trustful relationship with your IA.

Our destination airfield El Gouna is private and does not have customs. The neighboring airport of Hurghada does have customs but they want $400 which are too hard earned to be spent for this. On the way to Egypt, we stopped at Port Said but this lead us through Cyprus airspace whom I have made very bad experiences with twice in a row (detours over the Med in a SEP) and the routing from/to Port Said in Egypt isn't the shortest either. Just like the UK, Egypt only has airways for the most common routes and ours isn't one of them. Unlike the UK, there is no flying outside airways at all (even VFR) and to make it even more interesting, airways starting with V are forbidden for foreign aircrafts.

An alternative was found, St. Catherine HESC. Just a 35 minute hop from El Gouna over the Red Sea to the Sinai peninsula, it featured an almost direct routing to Crete via Cairo and Alexandria and according to the AIP, it had Customs O/R just like Port Said.

The airport serves the famous Mount Sinai and the St. Catherine Monastery. On Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments and the region -- devoid of any civilization today -- is popular among tourists looking for history of Christianity. However, due to the political situation in Egypt, tourists have stopped coming some months ago. The area and especially the airport are safe though -- while Sinai is constantly in the news, this only applies to North Sinai and the border to Palestine. We knew this would be an adventure and there might not have been any foreign small aircraft before but I decided to give it a go and ordered customs via a handling agent.

From our sea level airport, we took off early in the morning for some serious mountain flying. Minimum enroute altitude is FL120 and the airport elevation is 4368ft at ISA+15. Don't try this with a non turbocharged aircraft! The approach was very interesting, I've never done anything like it. It's an instrument procedure, a circle to land NDB approach and the final takes you to the runway at a 90 degree angle! There really isn't much space!

We arrived overhead the beacon at FL120 and I requested a visual approach. This allowed us to circle down to 5700ft and then fly a traffic pattern. ATC were nice with good English. We were welcomed by a whole delegation who were very happy to see us and got the traditional Egyptian treatment: sit down in a huge hall with massive armchairs, flower decoration, a brass ashtray on a stand next to each armchair and 15 officials sitting with us. Tea was served and nothing seemed to happen. With my four stripes on the pilot uniform, I was the highest ranking officer on site and treated very respectfully A few people spoke good English and communication wasn't an issue. In order to fight corruption, Egypt has a rotation system for government positions so everybody came from a different region, some of them rather unhappy about having ended up at an airport without any traffic in an area without civilization. 15 days of work, 15 days off to spend at home. I also learned why Egyptian ATC are so surprisingly good: they receive their training in the USA by the FAA. I could instantly compile a long list of countries that should adopt this model!

The last international flight landed over 6 months ago and the last aircraft landed in June. Still, the airport has permanent staff 7 days a week, at least 50 people who live on the premises. There were two ATC employees and in addition the ATC department had a full time manager.

As I said, nothing happened. A few officers were busy with our passports but we were sitting and drinking tea. A bit of time was spent getting them to accept that we don't pay any landing fees -- the Egyptian AIP exempts all flights from landing fees that are conducted by "aviation clubs". All you need is some sort of letter from your (fantasy) aero club and the name of the club under OPR/ in the flight plan. Works great. There isn't any mandatory handling at St. Catherine so our entire stay there (including the tea and chocolate) was free of charge. But we were waiting. Apparently customs did not come but they were on their way, maximum 1h. We waited, then customs were about to depart, about 2-3h. Then customs did not want to come. So this wouldn't work out. I knew it was a risk because HESC was not used to seeing such traffic but I wanted to give it a try. We were promised customs by our handling agent and they owe us big time for their failure.

I evaluated our options: back to El Gouna and try again the next day? Not good because our fuel would not be enough for a fresh start and we'd have to do another stop at 6th of October, Egypt's GA airfield with Avgas ($5.30/l) but no customs. Going back would also mean defeat and I don't give up lightly. Continue to Port Said? No, not enough fuel and unclear whether customs can be arranged at such short notice, also I wanted to avoid Cyprus airspace. Our initially planned route would go right over the airfield of Alexandria (Borg El Arab, HEBA) which is a temporary airport while the main one is being renovated. Alexandria used to be popular for GA flights from/to Europe but Borg El Arab (military) is very expensive, about $400. Still the best option we thought and a new flight plan plus permission was arranged for (all foreign aircraft need CAA permissions for every leg). Ahmed from GASE did an amazing job getting this sorted out in short time.

While waiting for the permission and flight plan to go through, the airport staff wanted to take pictures with us and learn more about the aircraft. Even though the whole trip to HESC was for nothing, we were very impressed by the friendly people there and the Sinai region. Maybe in the future, HESC can be used once the customs issue is sorted out. Flying in Egypt also means contributing to the development of GA there.

Five hours after landing, we took off to Alexandria for a 3.5h leg. The wind in Egypt almost always comes from the north and we filed for the lowest possible (FL110 initially then FL090), configuring the aircraft for economy cruise. There was no fuel in Alexandria and all we had was what was in the wings after fueling from jerry cans in HESC and another 10l in a jerry can. Whether we could make it safely from Alexandria to Greece would very much depend on the wind.

The terrain wasn't ideal for a forced landing and if we actually survived it, we'd probably spend the rest of our lives as work slaves for some Beduins.

Approaching Cairo, we had a bit of convective weather just at our cruising altitude but we didn't want to climb any higher to not burn any more fuel in the strong headwind. At least the clouds were a nice refreshment and we could check that we've secured our cargo well.

The airplane was humming along in economy cruise and we were wondering what the experience in Alexandria was going to be and whether we could continue to Greece. Again, I have to say that the Avidyne DFC90 autopilot is a class of its own in GA aircraft, only comparable to the Garmin GFC700. Precision, features, usability and safety are simply amazing.

ATC continued to provide good service, a small separation vector in the Cairo region and then straight to Alexandria where we were radio vectored onto the ILS for landing. During vectoring ATC asked me how many miles I want for the final and adjusted the vectors for that. Great service!

The handling agent was waiting for us and so was the Jet A-1 fuel truck who assured me that my airplane would work with his fuel and didn't understand why I continued to refuse his service. Our passports were taken by the handler and we stayed at the aircraft putting the last 10l of fuel in the main tank and closely inspecting the engine. We agreed with our helper Ahmed from GASE to refuse any payment in Alexandria and insist on a credit note, claiming that we don't have any cash for this unexpected stop. After 10 minutes of tough arguments, the handling agent agreed so now we can escalate this with the company and settle on a reasonable bill, certainly not the $400 that are due for Alex. Once again it was shown that Egyptians are reasonable people and don't try to take advantage of you.

About one hour later we were ready for departure with a flight plan filed for a night crossing of the Med. Yes, that wasn't an easy decision. During the night over the sea with just enough fuel for the projected winds and an airplane that recently had engine troubles. I was 100% certain that the engine issue was completely understood and resolved and we really wanted to reach our goal of making it to Greece on that day. With an accurate fuel totalizer on board, we could always determine the point of return and fly back to Alexandria in case it would get too close with the fuel. My night flying experience is almost zero, the minimum 5h during PPL and about 2 more flights after that. I always considered the extra risk to not be worth the "fun" but in this case it was necessary to reach our goal. We departed Alexandria into dusk and were cleared direct to the border waypoint to the Athens FIR.

Long range cruise at 23"/2100rpm gave us about 145KTAS and a nice low sound, ideal for falling asleep but as you can imagine I was very alert. Being based in the center of Europe and with an airplane that has 7h of endurance, I never understood Peter's obsession with the LFOB (landing fuel on board) display of his fuel totalizer. I never used it before other than the occasional glimpse. This time it was my primary instrument and I kept watching it all the way. Initially it went to -120l but that was because of the full rich climb out. As soon as we were on our cruise level, the number went to 57l, about 90 minutes. I wouldn't want it to get much lower than that.

As we were humming along, the LFOB figure stabilized at 70l, a good number. It was moving in the right direction and my pulse started to get slower until I was relaxed enough to eat and drink something.

The night was pitch black, we had hoped for a bit of moonlight but nothing. We were surprised about how few ships we saw, this area was probably too far from the Suez channel for much traffic. There were absolutely no features to see and in my opinion VFR night is bollocks, there is no VMC at night unless you're over cities or there is moonlight. We were in clear sky solid IMC.

After what felt like an eternity, we saw the first lights of Crete! Greek ATC politely informed us that our destination Sitia was closed and we'd have to proceed to our alternate Iraklion. So our handler filed to Sitia, we somehow missed that (that's the issue with the "cleared to destination" that is so common nowadays, it can go wrong when you don't have the same idea of what your destination is). I quickly told Athina ATC about the mistake and apologized, asking them to change our flight plan with Iraklion as destination and Chania as alternate. Crete is only partially a radar environment and we were cleared on the standard arrival to Iraklion via the Sitia VOR. Iraklion only has a VOR non-precision approach but the weather was good with F020 clouds. The standard arrival contains a very long final leg (ca. 30NM) which is good to get things in order and prepare for the landing. There was a lot of airline traffic but Iraklion approach did a great job sorting everybody in and not causing any delays for us. An Easyjet crew before us did a go around and were asked by approach for the reason to which they responded "cause we f*cked up". ATC returned with "please say again reason for missed approach" and this time got "approach was not stable" which they apparently liked better. Very funny.

After landing (and a great sigh of relief) we taxied to the GA parking apron and were taken to Swissport's handling office. Our handling agent was very nice and this time they were able to take the complete fee, including airport charges and we were done in 15 minutes. A great improvement over my last experience in February 2013 where the whole process took over an hour. The total bill was 29,50€ with AOPA discount, very reasonable for the service we got and the size of the airport.

Off we went with a taxi to a hotel we booked during the taxi ride and a good night's sleep. That taxi ride was a story of its own but I'll keep that to myself.

We landed with about 100 liters of fuel, that is about 2.5 hours of endurance. In long range cruise, the airplane is surprisingly efficient. Unless you go for your typical $100 hamburger flight, you have to be flexible and build in reserves to deal with delays and other issues. I think we made the right decisions on this trip, St. Catherine was worth a visit and worth a try and Alexandria allowed us to continue the trip with the fuel we had and make it to the next Avgas source in Greece. The night crossing of the Med was a bit borderline for me but I still think it was better than staying in Alexandria for the night.

There are bold pilots and there are old pilots ...

EDXQ

Love report and photos. Thanks for sharing!

EIWT Weston, Ireland

There are bold pilots and there are old pilots ...

This is how I think women perceive me, being a pilot.

I don't think there was anything "bold" about it. It wasn't pattern flying in MS Flight Sim but everything was well planned and analyzed. My personal risk profile wouldn't make me say "let's fly over the sea at night, have breakfast there and fly back" but the weather was good, the pilot skills sufficient and the chances of an engine failure are small. Running out of fuel was basically impossible but arrival in Greece was not guaranteed.

In a dark night, a black hole, no ships in sight, ours away from the shore line. On an engine failure you even don't know when hit the water. So there is absolutely no chance for you. I won't do that...

EDXQ

Very interesting and informative!

I have landed in LGIR once in my Warrior. We have a small appartment there so we go there often, with the airlines. Next time I'll take the Cirrus. When I landed there the headwind was so strong that I landed with a groundspeed of about 24 kts, power on :-)

My favourite beach in Heraklion is under the short final approach. While the kids play in the (high!) waves there I watch airliners landing and an oocasional C-130 or GA plane ...

ACHIMHA,thanks for your nice report and fotos.It takes courage and determination to deliberately fight bureaucracy,inneficiency and tricky people.

But tell me,did you know exactly that you were going to meet problems or they just happened in a random way ?

Years ago I read in a UK magazine that a similar fellow pilot attempted Alexandria and Cairo and was allmost arrested for not paying the exorbitant "fees" imposed on him and then chasing around customs,banks and fuel problems.

As I am based only 380NM north of this area,I never had a spark to go and start fights. Even as a groupie,we had long delays for everything.South EU sloppines is enough for me.

LGGG

Interesting, thanks for sharing :)

ESOW Västerås, Sweden

Seriously great reading, Achim!

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

It takes courage and determination to deliberately fight bureaucracy,inneficiency and tricky people.

Are you talking about Greece or Egypt? Haha, just kidding There isn't really anything difficult about it. Egypt happens to have a great volunteer organization called GA Support Egypt (G.A.S.E), they do everything for you and don't even want money for it. You need permission from the CAA for every leg but GASE arranges that for you within a few days and if necessary within an hour (like in my example).

But tell me,did you know exactly that you were going to meet problems or they just happened in a random way ?

Well, I don't think there were many problems specific to the destination. Engine troubles took the most time and effort to resolve but I was in a comfortable situation in El Gouna with a hangar and complete freedom to do what I needed to do. That would have been more difficult on the apron in Sitia. St. Catherine was a deliberate decision. Somebody has to try it out and what was to be lost but time?

Years ago I read in a UK magazine that a similar fellow pilot attempted Alexandria and Cairo and was allmost arrested for not paying the exorbitant "fees" imposed on him and then chasing around customs,banks and fuel problems.

The fees are not random, GASE will tell you exactly what you will have to pay where and everything is with an official receipt. Cairo is a town with 15 million people and therefore not a prime GA destination. The GA airfield of Cairo is 6th of October HEOC which has Avgas and was very welcoming and nice when I landed there in February. A pity it doesn't have customs status. Egyptians are friendly people that treat you respectfully and I have never been threatened by anyone. As I wrote, I was allowed to leave Alexandria without paying a cent, the exact bill will be discussed with the handling company that failed to get the promised customs and a mutually agreeable solution will be found.

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