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Sitia, Crete to El Gouna, Egypt

10 Posts

This is part two of the trip from Stuttgart which took me to Sitia on the north east of the beautiful island of Crete in Greece.

Early in the morning on Wednesday, we drove to the airport to get ready for the Med crossing to Egypt. Just a few hours before that, our permissions for Egypt arrived. It is very normal for those permissions to be issued just shortly before the flight entering Egypt but it would certainly be better to get them a few days in advance and be a little bit less nervous about it. The permission number needs to be added to the flight plan under RMK. Our destination was Port Said HEPS, the city at the entrance of the Suez canal. Our destination El Gouna is a private airfield without customs so an immigration stop was necessary.

Unfortunately, the routing is far from optimal, a good and direct portion in Greek airspace but then a totally stupid routing through Cyprus airspace with an OK routing in Egyptian airspace. Skipping the Cyprus FIR is not possible because there is no possible routing from the Greek/Egyptian waypoints to Port Said. Well, there is always hope that ATC will do something for you when you are airborne.

Starting up the aircraft, there was a bad surprise. The engine was running a little bit rough and the engine monitor showed low EGTs for one cylinder. I immediately knew everything about it: the notorious Lycoming stuck exhaust valve, better known as the "morning sickness". It is very common and most pilots think it is normal but it never gets better by itself and while it usually goes away after 30-60s of roughness, it has the potential of causing a lot of harm if the valve gets stuck in the close position and the push rod hits it and is toast afterwards. I immediately killed the engine and evaluated the situation. The diagnosis was rather clear and after a phone discussion with my IA, I decided to remove the rocker cover and hit the valve a few times with a hammer (a Greek stone) with a piece of Greek wood in between to protect the valve. This would loosen the valve and help with the engine start. Well, it worked and the engine was humming. I have read a lot about this issue but like most pilots I thought I would be immune against it because my maintenance and engine management techniques are superior to what all the other unenlightened pilots do. Grrr!

One thing I should mention is that I didn't sleep very well this night. The reason was Eurocontrol. I had filed the flight plan on the evening and through the whole night, Eurocontrol kept bombarding me with messages about my slot being moved, in total 22 times! Usually by 3 minutes forward, then 3 minutes back, 5 minutes, then 50 minutes, etc. The last slot we got was about 30 min after the planned time but due to the fun with the exhaust valve, we had Sitia AFIS delay our flight plan and we eventually took off about an hour late.

The weather was superb, nice and sunny with a scattered cumulus cover at around 4000ft. Without asking for it, we got a visual departure, taking us directly to the Sitia VOR and onto our flight planned route. Greek ATC was friendly and helpful. On board with us were 333l of Avgas in the wings and another 150l in jerry cans in the cabin. The TR182 was at MTOW but I didn't feel any difference.

Once I was in cruise and humming along, I started on my strategy to use every option to get a shorter routing. I started by telling Greek ATC that I am a single engine piston and it is unsafe to fly over open waters so I would like to ask for a shorter routing. Instead of going through Cyprus (whom I have made negative experience with before), I asked Athens to call Cairo and see if a direct routing would be available. I told them any reasonable level, I am willing to do own separation or even cancel IFR, whatever it takes. Athens said that Cairo are generally very uncooperative but they will try. Five minutes later, I got the expected answer: nope.

Very shortly after takeoff, there are no longer any options for emergency landings other than ditching. I usually look for ships and remember where the last one was so we could glide to the vicinity and hope for a speedy rescue (of our remains).

At ISA+15, it was rather warm and keeping the CHTs within my personal limits (380F) was not always an easy thing. Considering the rest of the journey, ISA+15 was actually refreshing!

We were flying at FL110 as requested by Cyprus from the Greek controllers early on (to separate us from the other 3 aircraft that fly low level in in this airspace per year). The last time I chose FL150 but given the hot temperatures, I didn't want my engine to have to climb up to where cooling is even more of an issue. What is important for such trips is to always ask for the next frequency well in advance. I would expect professional ATC to know this by heart (I vaguely remember VHF range in NM = 1.23 * sqrt(altitude in ft)) but only Greek ATC provided that service, the others had to be asked for it and that was not always easy because their ICAO level 2 English made them think I want to leave their frequency right away.

Approaching KAVOS (Greek/Cyprus ATC border), I contacted Nikosia but as expected, nothing. Damn, this means I have to follow the stupid flight plan routing until I can get them. So I tried my usual thing: get one of the airliners to relay for me. It is absolutely shocking how little airmanship there is today. These pilot drones trained from no flying to Airbus flying have zero understanding and sympathy. I managed to get in touch with a few airliners and it took 5 attempts until somebody was willing to help. A Dutch crew. May those other crews be in need of help some day and get it denied! The Dutch got a few frequencies for me and one of them put me in touch with Nikosia at 2 out of 5 quality. Now try to negotiate a shortcut that way! Eventually the communication got better and I was shocked to learn that Nikosia refused to give us any shortcut at all and asked me to fly the planned routing. I asked for the reason but the answer was just "continue on your flight planned routing". Told them about single engine, being uncomfortable, willing to do own separation, willing to cancel IFR, etc.

I was cursing about the ATC, when I heard a new voice. OK, new ATC, new attempt. Gave my whole tear stained story again and got a "cleared direct LAKTO, the border point with Egypt. It came very late, about 80% of the detour was already made but better than nothing.

Now it looked like a home run with a direct routing to our destination but I cheered too soon. Not far from LAKTO, Cyprus ATC told me "Cairo wants you to fly to BLT after LAKTO". That was unbelievable, 20 degrees to the right off course and who knows when I would be in reach with Cairo to discuss this! Egypt does not have any low level VHF coverage because apart from me, there are like 2 others per year flying below FL270. This was not my day and I regretted to not have taken a cooler with beer on board to calm my nerves.

So I did the stupid turn to the right and tried frantically to get in touch with Cairo. Not possible, Cyprus had given me 2 frequencies (at my insistence). Beg the airliners again, most of the Middle East, ICAO level 1, zero interest in being helpful. Then my Dutch friends again! They talked to Cairo but it was inconclusive. We got a few more frequencies and after about 20 minutes on that nasty routing, I was able to establish contact, 3 out of 5, ICAO level 3. One of the bits of communication I was able to understand was "flight planned route". Well, that means direct to the IAP of Port Said, I read back what I thought I understood and immediately turned back on course. Looking for F16s appearing at our side and keeping fingers crossed they actually meant that, I managed to fly all the way to the destination.

We were then transferred form Cairo to Port Said, as soon as we were outside the normal ATC routes that in Egypt all go via Cairo. After first no contact, we were greeted by a friendly lady controller with ICAO level 5. Wow! They wanted regular position reports and even thought ahead and planned our descent for us. Then we got a visual approach into Port Said with a left traffic pattern (yeah, my read back of "downwind" was not accepted, she insisted on "left downwind"). We landed and were greeted by our handling agent. The passport officer turned out to be on site and immigration was fast. 3 jerry cans were transferred into the wings and our expired flight plan had to be redone. There is an FIC office on site and they insisted on doing it for us the old fashioned way, please no smartphone and internet and no do-it-yourself!

There is an airway from HEPS to DEGDI, i.e. going directly east and then south to Cairo (as I said, all airways in Egypt go via Cairo) but that HEPS-DEGDI airway starts with a V and the V airways are forbidden for foreigners due to military installations. Last time we got it but this time they refused. FIC even called the military commander. Apparently something was going on. This means a terrible 45 min leg out onto the open sea and a rectangular pattern back. Not my lucky day.

Note the amazing ground speed. About 15 min before reaching MELDO, Cairo showed some initiative and cleared us direct DEGDI. From then on we proceeded on our flight planned routing which was a good one because this is how all the holiday charter flights get to Hurghada. El Gouna is just a few miles north of Hurghada and uses both Hurghada approach and the HGD VOR for its instrument procedure.

The Cairo VOR CVO is right at the big airport which is great to watch from above. We got a few vectors for separation and were making good speed.

Few people know that Egypt is very green, export of crops is the largest industry of the country and the whole Nile delta is one huge farming area. Unfortunately, the EU mostly bans foreign agricultural products and I guarantee everybody who has ever tasted an Egyptian tomato to never eat a Dutch tomato again.

There was a lot of humidity in the air unfortunately so it was hard to spot things. Cairo airport was buzzing with three parallel approaches going on. Make sure that you pay attention to Left/Center/Right when you get ATC instructions!

Shortly after Cairo we entered the mountainous desert and lost radio contact. Unfortunately I forgot to ask for frequencies but I had the approach plates of Hurghada with the radar frequency so we continued. Every now and then I asked for relays but nobody bothered. I also did the odd "transmitting blind". For us Central Europeans, it is very unusual to not be in radio contact with ATC on an IFR flight but it's a perfectly normal thing actually.

At some point we were able to reach Hurghada approach who greeted us in ICAO level 5 English and knew everything about us, gave us a nice descent path. They put us on course to El Gouna and told us to expect a visual approach. "Report airfield in sight" which I promptly responded to with "airfield in sight" because I knew that would give me a bit more freedom with my flight path because El Gouna's VHF consists of a handheld radio they bought some 50 years ago with a reach of 500m.

I was flying kind of direct to El Gouna, politely investing moderate efforts to make contact. Once I was there and finally able to reach them, I asked for a low pass and a short bimble over the town. Flying without ATC instructions outside of airways is unheard of in Egypt so they didn't fully understand what I want. I then turned it into a low pass to familiarize myself with the airfield, then a traffic pattern for landing. They said they have to ask Hurghada which took 10 min on the phone during which I got the instructions "stand by". That doesn't mean orbit or hold or stay or whatever so I stood by, flying over the town at 500 AGL. Eventually they got back with "please contact Hurghada" which we did and they didn't object to what we had done already. Another 10 minutes of 500 AGL sight seeing and we landed.

Two days of flying, over 12h of flight time. No major issues, a great experience. Flying to Egypt takes more effort than flying in Germany but it is a very rewarding thing. The whole town saw our Cessna and everybody knows we're the crazy Germans that flew to Africa

Looks very nice. Great report, Achim. Thanks.

EDXQ

Very interesting, thank you!

Super!

EDLE, Netherlands

Great report, thanks a lot!

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

I forgot one more picture, the kitchen of the airport staff in El Gouna. This installation compared to a modern stove is like a Lycoming compared to a modern engine.

And reading my report again, I noticed that I was a bit harsh about Cyprus ATC. The routing they insisted on making me fly and their complete unwillingness to give me any reason for it drove me nuts. If there is one thing you don't want as a SEP pilot, it's spend more time than necessary over the open sea. ATC is there to serve pilots and the least I should get is an explanation why they expose me to a dangerous situation. I had the very same experience last time with Cyprus but after insisting and demanding an explanation, I eventually did get the direct route. On the other hand, nothing really to complain about ATC in Greece, friendly and efficient. Same for Egypt, especially considering the complete non-existance of small GA and the general situation in Africa. They made me fly a terrible leg out over the sea again but they did tell me why -- military prohibited area.

Cyprus ATC is a handful at times... I remember a case where a full A330 had to descend to FL230 or so from cruising altitude under threat of being refused crossing their airspace, because they had not been able to follow some kind of procedure before entry. Turned out to have been some kind of mix up between Nikosia and their Turkish counterparts whom one had to contact separately. Not fun when on a long haul from the far east and an epic waste of fuel too.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Achim , was that lady ATC in HEPS or at HECC_CTR ?

And reading my report again, I noticed that I was a bit harsh about Cyprus ATC. The routing they insisted on making me fly and their complete unwillingness to give me any reason for it drove me nuts. If there is one thing you don't want as a SEP pilot, it's spend more time than necessary over the open sea. ATC is there to serve pilots and the least I should get is an explanation why they expose me to a dangerous situation.

I am not sure that asking you to fly your flight planned route is exposing you to a dangerous situation. Of course we all wish for shortcuts and some ATC are more helpful in that regard than others but if you are not happy to fly the FP and think it is dangerous, is that their fault? Maybe I missed something and Cyprus actually diverted you off it or somesuch but I thought that was the Egyptians.

EGTK Oxford

Thanks :)

ESOW Västerås, Sweden
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