The great day begins. From Lukla to Paro, visiting Mount Everest, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Kanchenjunga. Extremely challenging take off, climb, cruise, descent... Nothing is easy in this flight and could be the last leg of this Tour.
The take off from Lukla, for this small aircrafts, is obviously easier than the landing, mainly because from Lukla one can keep the altitude or lower it towards the South. However, in my case, I plan to fly North, towards the Cho Oyu, so the taking off is followed by a critical climb in which I need to reach my ceiling of 20,000 ft as fast as possible.
From here I decide to follow this glacier towards the Cho Oyu and then turn right to surround Mount Everest and Lhotse.
At this point I think I'm going to crash, I'm reaching FL200 and I don't see a clear exit. Even turning back is a problem due to how difficult maneuvers are there.
Extremely difficult flight until now, but some easy landscape in front, after passing Makalu.
And now, the second group of mountains, including Kangchenjunga.
There are several glaciers that can be followed towards the top, and I intended to cross back to India by flying over a crest at 20,000 ft. But this was in the limit and I was not able to do so. Luckily, the valley was more open than at Everest, so I could turn back and surround the Kangchenjunga by the South.
From here, the "easy" part... Landing in Paro. This airport is famous because of its location, very challenging for airliners. Not a problem for a Baron, but I prefer to be careful on the approach anyway.
The touchdown was actually quite hard, due to the wind, and I touched the ground with the right engine propeller, causing it to stop. Luckily the engine was not damaged, so the cost of the repair won't be too high.
Without doubt, these last 3 legs have been the most interesting ones of this Tour, but it's not over yet... or is it?
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Distance: 200 nm
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