World Tour 2 - Leg 33 - Pokhara to Jomsom

I cannot stop thinking about Jomsom being so close. So after thinking a bit and checking the maps, I decided to embark 5 passengers that wanted to travel to Kathmandu and convinced them to do a little diversion around the Annapurna.

I takeoff easily from Pokhara, followed by a steep left turn towards Pokara Lake, VFR departure point. From here, I get to about 10,500 ft. Jomsom airfield is at about 9,000 ft, so I plan to keep this altitude along the valley between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna.

After very few minutes I spot the valley that I have to follow North. On my left, Dhaulagiri (8,167 m, 7th highest on Earth) and, on my right, Annapurna (8,091 m, 10th), one of the deadliest mountains till the last decade. I keep the altitude constant, while observing the mountains coming to me. If I don't find the passage, I might have big troubles.

And there it is, Jomsom. What a beautiful village, and a pity that everything is full of snow. But very nice anyway. I proceed with the typical approach for this airfield, which is from the North to land towards South. For that, I fly over Jomsom decelerating and find an open area to turn around. I had to make a very steep turn that, for a moment, I thought would end in tragedy. However, I managed to avoid a crash and could orient myself towards Jomsom again.

I decided to land on this try. I could have done a test flyby, but I saw it good. I touched down firmly and applied brakes. The end of the runway has a slope to help with the deceleration. The runway is theoretically fine for the Baron, but near the limits. Luckily I touched down at a good distance, just few meters later and I would have aborted. Definitely, a lovely airfield, with stunning views.

I'll spend a couple of hours visiting the village. And thinking about how I'll takeoff from there. At least, I have done it few times in the past and the numbers and weather are on my favor.

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Technical details:

VNPK VNKT

DCT

Distance: 70 nm

Average GS: 220 kt

Altitude: 10,500 ft

METAR:

VNKT 252000Z 09003KT 8000 FEW015 SCT030 BKN100 23/21 Q1012 NOSIG
VNKT 252100Z 00000KT 8000 FEW015 SCT030 BKN100 23/21 Q1012 NOSIG