February 2014 - Tibet

My Month in Tibet:
By Ron Blehm
Sim Pilot
President and Founder of F.S Flight Club International
pretendpilot@yahoo.com

It used to be that pilots would drop clues or hints or first drafts of their Flight of the Month submissions on my desk for review prior to publication. That was in the past. It’s not unheard of these days that even I, the president of this club, have no clue what is coming up! Such was the case for February’s flight. There I was, relaxing in San Diego, getting up close and personal with the relatively high volume of traffic into the single runway with no idea what was coming up. (pict1) I went into Friday night only assuming that a flight had been prepared.

Everyone deserves one day off per week and Saturday is my day to “check out” and as usual, I did. (This is a good time to plug the inspirational sounds of http://www.plr.org Upon returning to my room Saturday night I was met with disgruntled messages about the lack of a Feature Flight. I checked my messages but there was nothing regarding a flight assignment or delay. I checked my mail and found only a certified letter from “tibetmissions.org” requesting substitute pilots for a few weeks to fly supplies and teachers and doctors to remote Tibetan outposts. It actually sounded like the perfect Flight of the Month!

Later that night I secured a jumpseat aboard a DC-10 headed to Honolulu. (pict2) We arrived late on Saturday February 1st.

After midnight local time (there is no tropical paradise for the President!) I was aboard another DC-10 headed to Singapore where we arrived just after dawn on (pict3)… Monday February 3rd. (pict4)

Later that afternoon I flew as F.O. on a 735 into Lhasa Tibet, (ZULZ) which is in a valley some 11,000 feet above sea level. (pict5) (pict6) (pict7)

Tuesday February 4th I was in bed with altitude sickness.

Wednesday February 5th I was in bed with exhaustion.

Thursday February 6th I was at the airport getting reacquainted with a KingAir 350 turboprop. I flew a few touch-and-goes Thursday afternoon. (pict8) (pict9)

Friday February 7th I loaded food and mission supplies and headed to Hak-tu (ZUKU) a remote northern outpost more than 17,300 feet above sea level. I set in a flightplan following the valleys more than the mountains. (pict10) I had set cruise for 22,000 feet but even then I wanted to be sure to avoid the higher terrain and follow the relative lowlands. (pict11) The landing on the semi-improved gravel strip was smooth but at 17,300 feet my 90 knots of airspeed was fast. The KingAir is not speedy-enough at reversing pitch on the props and I had to lock up the brakes to stop before smashing into the rocks at the end of the runway! (pict12)

The eager villagers poured out onto the runway to greet my arrival and directed me to park under the shade of some nearby trees. (pict13) Whilst I had been scheduled to return to Lhasa later that afternoon the hard stop on the gravel runway meant that I needed to make a couple of little repairs to the wheels/brakes. Namely, I needed to use a hammer and chisel to pound out the rocks that were jammed into the wheels. By the time that was done the brake discs were damaged enough that I wanted to call the Chief Contractor for advice.

Sunday February 9th I uneventfully returned to Lhasa in the AM. (pict14) (pict15)

Later that day I was asked to haul some motors and equipment down to Tukla (ZUTX). With further repairs made and the equipment loaded I headed out on the shorter flight. (pict16) I arrived without concern and began unloading the heavy gear. (pict17) As I listened to discussions I learned that there was a very ill woman there with her doctor and they needed urgent MediVac. Even though I wasn't scheduled to return to Lhasa until the AM we loaded the patient and child and doctor into the plane and sped back to ZULZ. (pict18) (pict19)

Monday February 10th: I was so excited by my success in flying and delivering the ill to better medical care that I was back at the airport by first light seeking a new assignment. I was asked to take some Medicine and "Mission Supplies" to a distant Tibetan outpost called Nyingchi (ZUNZ). As I was studying a map and carefully plotting my route (pict20) the Chief Contractor stepped up and asked for a favor. I wasn't likely to turn him down after the $35,000 repair I had cost him over the weekend. A Pastor needed to be dropped off at Nungu which was along the way. "Okay, that's fine."

We departed after sun up and followed a winding track through the towering mountains. (See photo 20 above) Even at 23,000 feet some mountains towered over us! Along the way I think I spotted Shangri-La, that famous "HAVEN" said to be hidden deep in the Tibetan Mountains! A more lush, green valley with a river flowing through it. I committed to checking it out on my return trip! (pict21) (pict22)

The approach to Nungu was crazy, following the poor excuse for a road down a steep, winding canyon until suddenly THERE IT WAS before us. This is a one-way-in / one-way-out sort of a place. (pict23) (pict24) (pict25)

Having dropped off the Pastor I quickly turned about, taxied out for the longest possible take-off and gunned the engines, climbing back out the canyon. (pict26) Beware that I saw some AI birds on departure and knocking into one of those would certainly be a deadly proposition here!

It was a short-mileage flight over the mountains into but I had to climb through 14,000 feet to get over and around everything. My approach into ZUNZ reminded me of Corcheval France - except that this runway is flat and longer (course it's also at about 14,000 feet above sea level!) (pict27) (pict28)

Having made the delivery at mid-day I turned around and headed back out from Nyingchi. (pict29) My route retraced my steps: pict30 (pict31) (pict32) I checked the GPS and this is actually (pict33) along the Yarlung-Zangbo River. (pict34)

(pict35)

Dawn on Thursday I set off for Bangda, far to the east. (pict36) (pict37)

Early on Friday I headed over to Machuka, just over the boarder in India. (pict38) I actually enjoyed it here enough that I called the boss and asked to stay until Sunday. After breakfast Sunday I returned to Lhasa.

I was then asked to return to Hak-tu for the weekly delivery. (pict39) I was a bit intimidated after the last outing but have learned more about the KA350 so accepted the offer. Much better this time. (pict40) On Monday the 17th I returned to Lhasa and bade farwell to my hosts. (pict41) (pict42)

Monday afternoon I flew an EMB-170 down to Kolkata and then took an EMB-190 to Phuket. (pict43) (pict44) (pict45)