Before going to bed I talked to the maintenance facility of the Algiers airport. I just had about 10 hours left till the 100 hours check of the engines. I usually wait to do this till the last flight of those 100 hours, but since I had repaired part of it in Gibraltar, and considering I was heading to more desertic area, I decided to do the inspection now. In addition, this FBO offered better price that what I would find later on my trip. In conclusion, about $6,000 less in my pocket. Hopefully, with the inspection passed and all the tuning I made before, this will be the last time I have to spend such a large amount of money on the engines. Currently, I have about $25,000, which is not much considering the challenging trip I'm doing. Therefore, I need jobs! I heard about an aircraft technician that needs to fly soon from Sétif to Tabarka, Tunisia. I'm not far from Sétif, and Tunisia is my next target, so... Let's do it!
It was early in the morning and the inspection was positive, so I loaded my basic luggage on the front of the Baron, switched the fresh engines and did the taxi towards runway 27. Bad news... the visibility was really low. I took off with the help of the instruments and kept the altitude low, to be able to see a bit of the landscape. In theory, this fog was just around Algiers. Few miles later should be clear.
My intention was to trust the main landmarks to orient myself towards the southeast. It was a short trip along low hills and valleys. But I had to respect the minimum safe altitude and set VOR navigation.
Luckily, after Bouira and Tilesdit dam the situation improved a lot. Still a low ceiling of clouds but the mist was gone. I could easily see the Djurdjura massif and their surroundings, protected area.
Considering there were still scattered clouds at low altitude, I went on following the VOR, that led me, after an abrupt change of landscape, towards Sétif, founded by the Roman Empire and currently consdiered trade capital of Algeria. Easy and calm approach to land on runway 09. Accurate as a bird.
Let's meet my next job!
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Technical details:
DAAG - DAAS
F K BOUIRA TAZMALT BORDJ-BOU-ARRERIDJ
Distance: 110 nm
Average GS: 210 kt
Average alt.: 5500 ft.
METAR:
DAAG 162030Z 27005KT 240V300 6000 FEW020 SCT100 17/16 Q1016
DAAS 162100Z 11003KT 8000 NSC 18/10 Q1022
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