I found an interesting job from Dubrovnic to Bezmer, a military base near Bulgarian East coast. I have to carry 4 passengers and I don't have to ask questions. They pay well, so I accept. In addition, they want me to stop for few minutes at a remote airfield at Gjader, in Albania, next to Montenegrin border, to deliver a 1 kg package that they secured well when embarking. They also asked me to fly low between some rock formations, I guess to be stealthy.
So I planned the leg as follows. First, a short hop from Dubrovnic to Gjader, flying low and next to mountains. Then, after delivering the package, and refueling, a long fly towards Bulgaria, crossing Macedonia. It will be interesting.
I takeoff from Dubrovnic airport without any problem and in few minutes I'm entering Montenegro and flying next to the coast. Stunning rock formations and beautiful coastal villages.
Then, I flew over Skadar Lake National Park. What an amazing place! I didn't know anything about Montenegrin landscape, but so far it's being one of the most satisfying to visit. And after this lake, Albania, descending over thousands of fields near Shkoder towards Gjader airfield. A concrete runway, not even numbered, no services... I don't want to ask what they have in their package or in this base. But anyway, they treat me well, refuel my plane and my belly.
And now, let's say goodbye to the Adriatic and let's fly over Albanian mountains, towards Macedonia.
When approaching Skopie, capital of Macedonia, I flew next to the clouds, so time to descent a bit. For the whole leg I was flying between 7,500 ft and FL115, and following some VORs but leaving the radials to surround the clouds.
After about 1 hour, I arrive to Bulgaria and head towards Sofia, but I don't fly over it, since it's in the opposite direction to our destination. From here, there are many dangerous airspaces due to anti-hail systems (basically, rockets that shoot to the clouds). I learnt that these systems are used by some countries nearby, to break the clouds and turn the hail into rain. By watching the clouds around, and the immense amount of crop fields, I understand it. I fly next to the mountains, following them until a couple of lakes that I use as a reference to find some villages and Bezmer military airbase.
About 400 nm and 2h30 (including the refueling stop). I have enjoyed this flight a lot. I was not expecting anything great from these countries (I expected low resolution terrain) but I definitely will go back to fly slower and lower in some areas. Very pleasant surprise. And more pleasant is to see my passengers leaving. Time to return to my civilian duties.
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Technical details:
LDDU - LB44
B2 E5 SKADARSKO LAGJ SKOPIE SOFIA KOPRINKA PANICHEREVO YAMBOL
Distance: 400 nm
Average GS: 220 kt
Altitude: FL115
METAR:
LDDU 281830Z VRB03KT CAVOK 20/15 Q1010 NOSIG
N/A
