World Tour Leg 29 - Qarnayn to Dubai

I've spent few hours on this island, but I'm worried about my Baron, since there is no maintenance in this island. If sand goes into the engine or something happens, I would have to wait a long time to get assistance. So few hours after landed, I decided to continue my World Tour towards the east, now over Abu Dhabi and ending in Dubai.

The take off was smooth and towards east, to gain some time. I used the surrounding islands to guide myself towards Abu Dhabi. Simply heading south would have been enough to reach the coast of UAE, but hopping over the islands was safer in case of emergency.

The history of UAE is similar to the history of Bahrain and Qatar. Neolithic evidence, conversion to islam, Portuguese and British occupation and then the independence, to raise nowdays as one of the strongests economic countries in the world, mainly thanks to oil and natural gas reserves.

Abu Dhabi, known in the past by pearl traders, nowadays is the capital and second city of population of UAE (after Dubai). During the last years it has been quickly urbanized and developed, increasing a lot its size and population. And, from the air, it's easy to spot all this development.

The flight was simple. Just flying over the Persian Gulf along the coast, from Abu Dhabi till Dubai. There are constant evidencies of artificial islands and territory build over the sea.

Obviously, the most iconic artificial islands, where waiting in Dubai. The Palm Islands, the Marina, the Burg Khalifa and the World Islands look amazing from the air. Dubai is the most famous city of UAE, mainly due to its tourism and high quality of life (aka. luxury everywhere). I cannot wait to see a decent scenario of this city, while following the VFR approach (FS2020 maybe?).

This approach is one of the most beautiful urban approaches I have made, following the coast till Khawr river and turning right directly to land, surrounding the skyscrappers.

And suddenly, a big problem. As it happened in Gibraltar, the landing gear didn't work. I was on final and the gear was locked. Luckily, on the second try, I maganed to put it down, so I ended landing safely on runway 12R.

I plan to spend few days in Dubai, and I'll definitely will have to take a look on the landing gear. I'll order some maintenance, since I'm seriously concerned about this. It has happened twice in a month, so I'll have to be careful and consider the possibility of emergency landings more often than I usually do.

I haven't planned my next legs yet, but I aim to fly over Iran, Pakistan and India as quickly as I can, to reach the Himalaya soon. Once there, I won't mind spending as many legs as needed.

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Technical details:

OMAQ - OMDB

ZIRKU MARAWAH AL-ARYAM COAST SP SR GB

Distance: 190 nm

Average GS: 200 kt

Average alt.: 7500 ft.

METAR:

OMDB 150200Z VRB02KT CAVOK 26/21 Q1005 NOSIG

World Tour Leg 28 - Dammam to Qarnayn

The maintenance I did on my Baron the last night was totally worthy. I didn't feel any weird vibration or feeling during this leg, that took me from Dammam to Qarnayn, a tiny island of UAE, next to Abu Dhabi, by flying over Bahrain and Qatar. I made this trip alone, since no passangers were interested on flying to such a remote location.

I took off from runway 34L, with headwinds of 10 kt, and quickly headed towards Al Khobar, south of Dammam, to turn towards Bahrain by following the King Fahd Bridge.

I quickly saw, between few clouds, the skyscrappers of Manama, capital of Bahrain. This location was the place where the Dilmun civilization settled during the Bronze Age. It was later ruled by Assyrians and Babylonians. They quickly converted to islam, thanks to Muhammad and, after being ruled by Portuguese, Persian and British, they finally got the independence in 1971. Manama, its capital, was designated as capital of the Arab culture in 2012.

I decided to fly over Bahrain Int. Airport, to remember those old times in FSX in which a highly saturated ATC asked me to go around until the ground was cleared. It's 2020 and still no ATC is able to provide that experience. Anyway...

I headed south, following the eastern coast, till Durrat Al Bahrain, a bunch of characteristic artificial islands, focused on leisure and tourism. From here, a short hop across the sea towards Qatar.

After crossing several miles of flat empty desert, I distinguished the Shahaniyah Camel Race Track, announcing that Doha was nearby. First signs of civilization here dates back to 50.000 years ago, during the Stone Age. Similarly to Bahrain, they converted to islam thanks to Muhammad. Later they belonged to the Ottoman and British Empires, getting the independence on 1971. Doha is the capital, the biggest and largest city, hosting 80% of Qatar population.

And the difficult part of the trip started here. From Doha I followed VOR navigation towards the tiny islands at the north of UAE. First, I arrived to Diynah and, heading 090, I reached the lovely and tiny island of Qarnayn.

I decided to do a go-around to scan the surroundings and get a feeling of the wind, that was quite strong. Not METAR was available, but the windsock showed intense winds. When the runway is short and surrounded by water, one has to be extremely cautious and ready to abort.

Finally, I landed on runway 31. I secured the plane next to a hangar and decided to take a short walk and a bath on the sea. Awesome landscape.

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Technical details:

OEDF - OMAQ

AL-KHOBAR BAH AL-DURRAT HAWAR DOH DIYNAH

Distance: 215 nm

Average GS: 200 kt

Average alt.: 5500 ft.

METAR:

OEDF 100100Z 33010KT 9999 FEW040 28/13 Q1009 NOSIG