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This is already the last Pacific island that we will visit, and for me the very first time I land there. The distance that we will cover in this leg is comparable, in terms of distance, with a flight from western Europe to the Middle East. Meanwhile, after more than a four hours long flight, we will land in rather similar tropical scenery (same latitude). Another interesting point is that we will cross the international date line in the last quarter of the flight, then landing at destination the next day. This is more funny when you fly eastbound: you land then the day before you departed!
Flight plan
DEP: NTAA Tahiti Faaa 22 ARR: NFFN Nadi Intl 02 ALTN1: NFFA Nausori Intl ALTN2: - CRUISE ALT: FL330 CRUISE SPD: 460kts TAS M0.8 ROUTE: NTAA RUMIA ATURE LEMUN LUGLA LUTRA LASEN EXORA I-NN NFFN DISTANCE: 1893nm (3500km - 2190 miles) FLIGHT TIME: 4:16 HRS
Jeppesen enroute chart used
AS(H/L) 5 Australasia
This time, the alternate airport is located on the same island, the capital airport actually. I choose Nadi simply because of excellent add-on scenery available.
We started the engines at 15:30 local, expecting a nice sunset approach at destination. Runway 22 still being the active runway, we had to backtrack it on its nearly full length, after what we got the clearance for an immediate take off. We would not see French territories again until the very end of the tour. Once airborne, we contacted Tahiti departure that vectored us direct to RUMIA.
>> Tahiti departure Horizon 1989 Heavy turn right heading two five five proceed on course climb and maintain flight level three three zero
We passed then Moorea island, little sister of Tahiti (note: the airlink between the two islands operated by Air Tahiti is one of the shortest scheduled flight in the world).
At 17:15 local time we had Niue island (belonging to New Zeland) in sight, 50nm South of the airway. Half an hour later we passed over Vava'u island in Tonga. At 230nm from destination we could see the first islands of the Fiji archipelago as we were entering the Koro Sea.
The descent started a little while before reaching Gau island, the next land was the destination.
 Gau Island |
 Approaching Viti Levu |
I don't own any approach charts for Nadi (this is not a place were I land everyday), so I had to manage with the FS2002 database. Rwy 02 being equipped with ILS, we made a south approach of the airport, then follow the coastline - the localizer was intercepted at 21nm, and we had the aiport in sight at 15nm. The sun was setting very quickly.
 Approach |
 This is nice... |
We arrived at 17:45 local time with a 22 hours time lag with the origin!
I've visited Sydney (as destination) only one time before, in September 2000, arriving from Frankfurt via Bangkok (I was still using FS98 at the time) - I'm looking forward to see how it looks like in FS2002...
Flight plan
DEP: NFFN Nadi Intl 02
ARR: YSSY Sydney - Kingsford Smith Intl 16R
ALTN1: YSCB Canberra ALTN2: YMML Melbourne Intl
CRUISE ALT: FL330 CRUISE SPD: 460 kts TAS M0.8
ROUTE: NFFN VIPOB PUPEX NONON VIRAR NIVIT DUBEV TESAT
RUSUM RULIT OSIMO NOBAR SY I-KS YSSY
DISTANCE: 1714nm (3170km - 1980 miles)
FLIGHT TIME: 3:55 HRS
Jeppesen enroute charts used
AS(H/L) 5 Australasia, AS(H/L) 6 Australasia, AU(HI) 10 Australia
Once again, the flight plan is a straight line defined with intersections across the Pacific, leaving Vanuatu and New Caledonia on its right. We departed Nadi at 16:30 local and were vectored to rwy 02 were we had landed one day before. We had to backtrack the runway and made a U turn on the platform at the end.
>> Nadi Ground Horizon 1989 Heavy taxi to runway 02 using taxiways delta echo runway 9 runway 2 contact Tower on one one nine point one
On runway 02 I raised the taxi speed to 40 kts (74 km/h) - once airborne we would have to make another U turn above sea to join the first fix of the flight plan.
 Backtracking the runway |
 The 'ground' U turn |
 Airborne for the fifth time |
 Departure - starting the 'air' U turn |
The cruise, like with the two previous legs, was an uneventful flight above sea. No island was to be seen until we had the Australian coast in sight and Melbourne Center asked us to start descent. At 180nm from destination we had already got the signal from Sydney VOR/DME (SY 112.1).
But what an approach, guys. Having this time the official approach charts for YSSY (thanks Clearance Unlimited !) I could fly the real procedure for ILS/DME rwy 16R.
Arriving from the north-east, I first joined SY VOR, located on the airport, with a maintained altitude of 5000', then turned right to join the R-304 radial from SY and proceeded on course until reading 10nm at the DME, leaving the passengers sitting on the right side of the plane enjoy a beautiful view of downtown Sydney.
 Turning right heading 304 |
 Downtown Sydney from 5000' |
At 10nm from the airport, another right turn to observe a 12nm SY arc until the localizer interception, descending to 3000'. The speed was reduced to 170 kts (314 km/h - 196mph).
And soon we were on final, the localizer beeing nicely intercepted (up to my piloting skills this is not always the case), and let this time the passengers sitting on the left enjoy the scene.
 Sydney here we come |
 No rolling cars on the highway |
 Seconds from touchdown |
 Nearly right on the runway centerline |
The 13,000 feet-long runway 16R is one of the longest in the southern hemisphere - the NASA has financed its extension for the Space Shuttle emergency landing purpose (source: Sydney add-on scenery documentation, see credits) though up to my knowledge it has never happened yet.
We parked next to a Korean Air 777 that had arrived from Seoul I guess and shut down the engines at 18:35 local time. Local temp.: 25° C.
The crystal clear weather we have enjoyed at Sydney tonight will not be the same any more once we will be reaching the next stopover...
Well I'll celebrate the new year in Indonesia this time.
The Indonesian archipelago as everybody knows has also a volcanic origin but the tectonics below is not the same as in Hawaii, the result being 'grey' volcanoes, which are the most dangerous and deadly on Earth. Indonesia, belonging to the 'fire belt of the Pacific', owns 220 volcanoes among whom most are active.
We will cross the Australian continent through and through, leaving its northern coast at Broome, then flying over the Indian ocean direct to Java. Two and a half hours after departure we'll pass over famous Ayers Rock in the deep Australian desert.
Flight plan
DEP: YSSY Sydney - Kingsford Smith Intl 34L
ARR: WIII Jakarta - Soekarno Hatta Intl 07R
ALTN1: WIIH Halim Intl
ALTN2: WIPP Palembang - Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II
CRUISE ALT: FL340 CRUISE SPD: 460kts TAS M0.8
ROUTE: YSSY KAT PARKES KADUV TAROR GUGAB AGAGO OOD
AYE GULUM DOPAT BIGUP BRM NUNUL BOKOM OMALA
METUM SAPDA IPKOM IMABA HLM BTO I-CHR WIII
DISTANCE: 3030nm (5600km - 3500 miles)
FLIGHT TIME: 6:45 HRS
Jeppesen enroute charts used
AU(HI) 10 Australia, AU(HI) 9 Australia, AS(H/L) 3 Australasia
We requested pushback at 11:00 local - still clear weather at Sydney, the wind direction had changed and w'd make us take off from runway 34L in a way to let us enjoy the city for the last time - but bad news concerning the destination: thunderstorms and strong turbulence was to be expected.
 Taxiing out... |
 Take off - note the rather high pitch |
 We have just reached our cruise altitude |
 Passing AYE |
I'm quite disappointed: the famous red stone doesn't seem to be modelled in the FS2002 standard scenery, so we won't see it in this article. May be there is an add-on scenery available, but once the flight is launched, it's too late to think about downloading, especially if you don't have any home connection!
The sky was already full of dark clouds as we were approaching the Indonesian coast and started descent, we could already see the peaks of what looked like mountains (but wasn't) emerging in the distance. It was time to check the ATIS for our destination:
... Soekarno Hatta airport information ... weather wind two at twenty five visibility five with rain sky conditions ceiling one thousand five hundred broken thunderstorms in the area temperature two five dew point two five altimeter two nine point eight five ILS runway zero seven right approach in use...
The seatbelts sign was then swiched on in the first stages of descent.
The low cloud base added with a 25 kts north wind, strong turbulence making the vertical speed indicator crazy and rain was a nice mix for a thrilling approach. I did it well until the landing which was really not the best in my career, with a late touchdown (we were nearly at the limit for a go around or missed approach). Meanwhile, I managed to stop the aircraft in time and could exit the runway before the last taxiway available.
The rain welcomed us - we hadn't seen this meteorological phenomenon since we left Belgium. We reached Soekarno Hatta terminal at 15:10 local time (8:10 GMT), but due to the threatening sky, it was already dark there.
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Cedric De Keyser
cdk@ngi.be
