Yes, there are several airfields in Saudi Arabia known as "Pump Station". And I understand it. Once you get some altitude over the sand of this country you realise how important it is the fuel and its distribution across the country. Very few roads cross the extense desert, so I guess fuel supply is quite optimized here. Actually, this pump station belongs to Saudi Aramco, the most profitable company in the world, with the second world reserve of crude oil and the highest daily production.
Anyway, short flight from the amazing Madinah to Pump Station 10, carrying 5 technicians that work at the destination. About 90 nm heading south west. I decided to take off from runway 18 and quickly ascend to 7500 ft.
By climbing a bit high I could detect some features of the sand and hills that allowed me to fly on VFR. And suddenly I found a surprise that I didn't expect.
Volcanic shapes. Dark ground topped with bright sand. Several of these are scattered at the south west of Madinah. I didn't know about this chain of volcanoes that range all along the read sea, many of them still active.
I left them on my right, following the road to Ad Dumayriyah, where I turned left to follow another road that would take me directly to my destination. The shape of the sand fields helped a lot to not get lost.
Smooth approach and landing, on runway 36.
Now it's time to refuel and start a long leg towards Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
------
Technical details:
OEMA - OEPJ
AD-DUMAYRIYAH
Distance: 90 nm
Distance: 90 nm
Average GS: 200 kt
Average alt.: 7500 ft.
METAR:
OEMA 072000Z 05004KT CAVOK 33/M07 Q1014 NOSIG
N/A
N/A
No comments:
Post a Comment