World Tour Leg 8 - Oran to Algiers

The family I met on Oran wanted to fly to Algiers on the sunset. I'm not a big fan of flying late, but they paid well, so... I packed their stuff between the front and rear storage, check the engines, removed the struts and taxied towards runway 07R. Few minutes before, an old Cessna Caravan had taken off from the same runway. It was nice to see such a classic model in the air. My take-off was simply perfect.

As soon as I reached a decent altitude, I cleaned the flaps and headed towards Mostaganem VOR. We left back Oran. Historically, this city has been in Spanish, Ottoman and French hands until Algeria got the independence in 1962, being nowadays the second most important city of Algeria (after Algiers).

Since then, I flew all along the coast, keeping 5500 ft. and a ground speed of about 210 kt, thanks to a bit of tail wind.

The sky was clear. There were very few clouds around. I didn't have the need to change my route or altitude during the whole trip. Along the coast we spotted interesting landmarks, such as the end of river Chelif, the longest of Algeria (700 km), used for irrigation since its source at the Saharan Atlas.

The landscape is full of farms surrounded by patches of sand and scattered houses and villages. Little by little, the flatness of the ground changed towards few hills that increased in size as we progressed to the east.

And my passengers had the sunset they were looking for. Funny for them, concerning for me, because we were not close to Algiers yet.

By the time we were over Bani Haoua and Damous I started to see the lights switching on the ground. And over Cherchell I started to orient myself with the roads.

I decided to pass the Chenoua mount, by the south, instead of surrounding by the north, to head as fast as possible towards Algiers airport (DAAG). The city of Tipaza was on our left. This city and the surroundings hosts one of the largests Berber-speaking group of Algeria. Tipaza was part of the Roman Empire and, because of the ruins that can still be seen here, it has been declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Next to the city one can find the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania, built in 3 BC by the last king of Numidia.

Returning to our flight, VFR was not possible at all and I intended to follow VOR navigation till the airport, keeping the minimum safe altitude. Luckily, there was ATC on DAAG, so I requested flight following and vectors for the approach.

I was cleared to land on runway 09, while few heavy traffics were on the ground. This was my first approach and landing with ATC, so I was extremely careful to follow all the procedures. With the help of a small lantern I revised the checklist, extended the landing gear, full flaps and very softly touched the ground.

Overall, a very nice trip that I (and my passengers) enjoyed a lot. Time to sleep and look for new jobs!

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Technical details:

DAOO - DAAG

MOSTAGANEM TENES TIPAZA

Distance: 200 nm
Average GS: 210 kt
Average alt.: 5500 ft.

METAR:
DAOO 161500Z 36015KT 9999 FEW026 SCT233 19/15 Q1014
DAAG 161600Z 08013KT 9999 FEW023 22/16 Q1015