JGFly - Flight Simulation: World Tour 2 - Leg 27

Friday, June 23, 2023

World Tour 2 - Leg 27 - Murgab to Gilgit

I have been carefully checking the airfields around Karakoram to plan the following legs and I have found some connections with cheap jobs, but they are better than nothing and suitable to discover nice places. So I pick a small package and get ready to deliver it at Gilgit, in Pakistan.

In this leg I'll leave Tajikistan. There are 2 ways of entering in Pakistan, either crossing a narrow Afghan corridor or diverting over China. After checking the airspaces, I decided to do the first, more direct and apparently safe. So I prepare the Baron for takeoff and quickly climb from ground level (12,000 ft) to FL195.

I realised that the Sun was quite low at the horizon, so I'm afraid of arriving at night. It wouldn't be a problem since night VFR is possible, but on such a remote part of the world, I consider alternative bigger airports to divert in case everything is pitch black. But for now, let's head south, towards Afghanistan.

The Wakhan corridor looks amazing with this light. And, right after it, Pakistan Karakoram.

So far, we are just crossing the western part of them, heading south. In a couple of legs we will fly over the main Karakoram peaks, since I plan to visit all 8,000 m peaks. By now, the Kampire Dior (7,142 m) surrounded by numerous peaks about 7,000 m high.

From here, a quick descent towards Gilgit. It should be easy to locate, but the sunset happens fast and I end up just having few lights as guidance towards the village.

The approach was horrible, since the airfield had no lights at all. I had to fly over the town a couple of times till I was able to find the strip, just by following the ADF and waiting for the needle to twist around. I literally didn't see the strip till I had landed. Few meters more and I would have aborted and diverted to a bigger airport.