Once the load was attached and secured, I made the inspection of the Baron and quickly rolled to the runway. My original destination was Mostaganem, in Algeria, but, as you will see, I ended up landing in Oran. In any case, I didn't want to leave Morocco without flying a bit over the Atlas mountains, so I took off from runway 27 and headed towards Allal El Fassi dam, a water reservoir close to Sebou source, the same river we crossed yesterday on our approach to Sidi Slimane. I barely had time to look back, towards Fes, part of which is declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO, due to the historical buildings and tanneries that still attract massive tourism.
The waving ground was the preamble of what would be an awesome landscape, by now covered by a dense layer of clouds. I headed southeast, again struggling to keep the aircraft in the narrow space between the ground and the clouds, but it was worthy.
The terrain was rising and, to be honest, I knew I couldn't stand this manual flight for longer. My intention was to see a bit of the Middle Atlas before leaving this beautiful country, and I knew that the minimum safe altitude was about 11000 ft. I tried to fly along valleys as long as I could, but finally I had to climb.
To be honest, I took risks that I shouldn't. More than once I had to overpass 20º banking to avoid a potential collision. But once I crossed the layer of clouds, the risk had been totally worthy...
I could recognize Mount Bou Naceur (3340 m, the highest of the Middle Atlas), on my left. At that time I reached 11500 ft. and I passed to the other side of the mountains, reaching finally my first desertic area.
From there, I headed northeast, following river Moulouya, one of the most important in Morocco, with source in the Middle Atlas and end in the Mediterranean Sea, next to Algeria border. The clouds didn't allow me to see much of a landscape that seems to be really interesting to fly over for hours.
I flew over Guercif and continued towards the north. Most of this are was desertic with some scattered farms and isolated villages. Finally, after about 80 nm and following Nador VOR, I could see the Mount Gourougou, flanked by Nador and Melilla, last Spanish city I'll see in a long time.
The rest of the trip was a confortable flight along the Algerian coast, being Saidia the last Moroccan city I saw. Low hills ended directly into the sea, creating a rough coastline with high cliffs and interesting rocky formations. Few villages were sitting along it, like Ghazaouet and Beni Saf.
Next to Terga I headed east, to fly over one of the most interesting landmarks I've seen until now. The Sebkha d'Oran, a large temporary salty lake whose layer of water is never thicker than 30 cm, depending on the season.
I left Oran on my left, as the VAC ordered, and I set the VOR of Mostaganem airport to do the last 50 nm and prepare for the landing.
However, here there was a big problem. X-Plane 11 doesn't include this airport on its database (IATA MQV, DA0E on FSEconomy), and I didn't think about it before the flight. One option was to land on the terrain, as in an emergency, completing the FSEconomy job. But I don't think I would be able to take off from the same terrain, for the following leg. So, to avoid the risk of getting the Baron stuck in an FSEconomy airport I couldn't simulate, I decided to turn around 180º and head to Oran airport (DAOO).
After another 50 nm flying over my previous path, I safely landed on runway 25R, at the same moment a Boeing 737 was holding short, waiting for me to depart.
This leg was amazing, specially on the Moroccan side, crossing the Middle Atlas and feeling a bit of desert. Algerian coast is also pretty interesting, with the thin salty lake as a feature that impressed me a lot. Another positive point about this trip was the endurance of the engines, that stand more than 2 hours of flight at 2500 rpm without overheating. Most of the trip was done at 3500 ft., so I didn't lean the mixture and the fuel consumption was quite large. However, fast downwind allowed me to travel at an average of 210 kt once I left the Middle Atlas.
It looks like the next trip will be still along the coast, to Algiers, carrying a family that asked for a bit of sightseeing. Somebody else will have to carry the medical machinery to Mostaganem, maybe by road.
Technical details:
GMFF - DAOO
BAU-MASSER GUERCIF MELILLA ORAN
Distance: 400 nm
Average GS: 210 kt
Average alt.: 3500 ft.
METAR:
GMFF 152000Z 07002KT 9999 SCT040 BKN200 18/12 Q1017 NOSIG
DAOO 152200Z 06004KT 9999 FEW026 15/14 Q1018
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