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Morning at Skopje airport<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Wizzair A320 at Skopje<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>An icey Planey<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Preparing for flight<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nThe flight plan had apparently been properly communicated, and tower were quick to give us our start clearance and en-route clearance. In the sub-zero temperatures Planey took a few tries to get started. I was not used to cold starts myself, and though he was trying his best, I don’t think I was priming the engine enough or managing the throttle quite right after start. On the third try though he fired up properly and ran smoothly. I was glad that we had used the lighter 80 weight oil at the oil change on arrival in Shoreham, much more suitable for these cold temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were cleared to taxi, and headed out to the near end of the runway. Planey felt heavy – you could really tell that he had an extra few hundred liters of fuel on board. He performed just fine though, accelerating nicely in the cool dense air and climbing out steadily towards our cruising altitude of FL110. ATC quickly cleared us direct to the Greek border, and then direct to the SKP VOR on Skiathos island. Off to the right Mount Olympus could be seen, however no gods were in evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n
Preparing for departure<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Sunrise over Greece<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Morning over Greece<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Mt Olympus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Mount Athos<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Greek coastline<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nWe cruised on out past the Greek islands, including the striking volcanic crater of Santorini. Crete passed off to the right, but remained mostly hidden behind cloud apart from a single mountaintop peeking above them. Soon the final piece of European land that we’d see, the island of Kasos, disappeared behind us as we struck out over the main bulk of the Mediterranean. Contact with Greek ATC grew fuzzy before being lost altogether. We had received the next frequency from them, for Cairo, so we entered that into the radio and listened in as we droned across the sea. There wasn’t much point trying to call Cairo until we could hear them talking to other aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n
Evripos bridges<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Athens<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Athens airport<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Greek islands<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Santorini<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Over the Mediterranean<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nAs is usual, we could hear Cairo before they could hear us. Something to do with ATC having more powerful transmitters, perhaps. They could see us on radar though and told us to set a new squawk code if we could hear them; we did, and they therefore knew that we were receiving them. It took a surprisingly long time before they could hear us, only establishing two-way communication just before we coasted in over the Nile delta. They gave us a slight shortcut, cutting a corner on the way to Cairo.<\/p>\n\n\n
One cannot fly a direct route from Skopje to Amman. Lying along the way are several areas which do not permit overflight at low altitudes; Israel, the Sinai, Syria and the like. Our route therefore took us far south over Cairo before turning back to the north and flying up the Gulf of Aqaba to get to Amman. So it was that somewhere around Cairo the straight-line distance to Amman actually started increasing again, which was a bit dispiriting. A cloud layer had started forming below us and some of the tops reached up to our altitude. These deposited a little ice on the airframe as we flew through them, but they were isolated, and the ice quickly disappeared again. The cloud did mean that we had only glimpses of the ground below – no pyramid views this time.<\/p>\n\n\n
Over the Mediterranean<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Approaching the African coastline<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Over the Nile Delta<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Cairo airport<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Outskirts of Cairo<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Approaching the Sinai<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nAs we turned east and north to round the Sinai, Cairo asked us to climb to FL150. We could theoretically have done this, as we carried oxygen on board, but aircraft performance would have been poor. We requested, and were granted, FL130 instead. The reasons were unclear; there was certainly no terrain to worry about. The radio and ADS-B traffic screen were busy with a whole host of airlines running back and forth through the area. Turkish Airlines, Egyptair, Air Cairo, Ural Airlines, Saudia, and Air Arabia all passed by, as did United flight 164 from Newark to Dubai, and British Airways flight 60 from Mal\u00e9 to London. Etihad and Emirates were well represented, and we even heard a Ryanair flight on frequency coming out of Amman, surprising to both of us as we had no idea they flew this far. A little further up, as we cruised over Jordan, we heard the British Royal Air Force on frequency; a pair of Eurofighter Typhoons and an Airbus A330 MRTT flying a long loop to and from Cyprus, presumably in an aerial refueling role. <\/p>\n\n\n
Gulf of Suez<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Crossing the southern Sinai<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>The Sinai<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Approaching the Gulf of Aqaba<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Turning north along the Gulf of Aqaba<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Saudi Arabian coastline<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nThis leg of the trip was one which had given me a little unease around being shot down. A C182 is much the same shape and speed as many weaponised drones. We just had to keep our transponder broadcasting, stay in contact with ATC, and trust the system. Cloud lay off to our left so we had only glimpses of Israel as we flew, catching just the shortest sight of the Dead Sea in the twilight as we approached Amman. We had been using the Garmin InReach to get updates on the current weather in Amman as we went, and conditions were much as expected; scattered low cloud, and rain showers. It was dark by now, and we flew a somewhat sporting visual approach to land at Amman City Center airport (rather than the newer and larger out-of-town international airport). The flight had taken almost ten hours, and we had both taken off and landed in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n
Israeli city of Eilat<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Sunset over Israel<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Queen Alia International, Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Approaching landing at Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Final approach to Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Night view of Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nOur handling agent, Mohaiminul, met us at the plane and quickly shepherded us through immigration and out of the airport. Uber worked here, and we called a car to take us to our hotel. This was called the “Hotel Beirut” and when Ben told me the name I did briefly wonder if he’d booked in the right country. We found it just where we expected though, in Jordan not Lebanon, and another very pleasant place it was too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just a few meters from the hotel’s door, the busy street life of Amman was in full swing, so we did not have to go far to find dinner. We ended up at a nearby restaurant offering both local and international dishes, and wasted no time in eating and heading back to our rooms to sleep. We were both fairly exhausted after such a long day. It was December 31 – New Years Eve – but I was asleep before midnight and none of the festivities managed to wake me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On New Year’s Day we slept in a little late, helped by the two-hour time difference from Skopje, and caught the tail end of the hotel breakfast up on the highest of the hotel’s seven floors. Fed, we wandered out to see a little of the city. First destination was the Amman Citadel, perched high on a hill close to the hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amman itself is a truly ancient city, with evidence of settlement dating back to the 8th millennium BC. The city, Jordan’s capital, has a population of around four million, making it the fifth largest city in the Arab world. In the third century BC the city was renamed Philadelphia for about the next millennium. I had had no idea that Philadelphia was anything other than a somewhat gritty city in the US state of Pennsylvania, but given the propensity of the early European settlers of America to re-use names, it makes sense. <\/p>\n\n\n
Morning in Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Cats on a roof<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Street view in Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Mural in Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>"My house is the square beige one, you can't miss it"<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>View from the Citadel<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nArchaeological investigation of the citadel has shown evidence of occupation since at least the late Stone Age, with the earliest fortifications dating to roughly 1800 BC, and is considered to be one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places. Major structures still in evidence include the Roman “Temple of Hercules”, a Byzantine church, and an Umayyad palace; although these are in ruins, with a certain level of restoration in places. <\/p>\n\n\n
Temple of Hercules<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Umayyad palace<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Umayyad palace<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Street in the Umayyad palace<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Views over Amman<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>The Umayyad palace<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nAs well as these archaeological sites, the citadel hosts the Jordan Archaeological Museum, a highlight of which is the presence of several “Ain Ghazal” statues – these are considered to be among the oldest statues ever made, dating back a full 9,000 years. The Citadel also offers commanding views of much of Amman, given its elevated location, and we spent a while watching the life of the city play out below us, also being lucky enough to catch the “call to prayer” being blared from speakers on mosques all around us.<\/p>\n\n\n
Bust of Helios<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Ain Ghazal statue<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Jordan archaeological museum<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nFrom the Citadel we made our way back down the hill to visit the Roman Amphitheater. This 6,000 seat theatre was built in the 2nd century and is remarkably well preserved. It is fronted by a large paved public area, the Hashemite Plaza, which was full of children playing ball games and families passing time. Alongside the main theatre is a smaller, 500 seat Odeon; this looked to my untrained eyes very much like a mini-amphitheater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We walked back to the hotel via the Roman Nymphaeum. The gates were locked, but the caretaker noticed us peering through the bars in the gate and came over to let us in. This facility is thought to have held a 600 square meter, 3 meter deep pool, continually refreshed by spring water. Opposite the gates to the Nymphaeum was a small market and we picked up some more tangerines for the next day’s flight. The vendor didn’t have change for our notes, so told us to just take the fruit and come back to pay later – very trusting! We bought chips (fries for my American readers) and fruit juice near the hotel, and went back to pay the fruit vendor before returning to our rooms for a rest, and to complete preparations for the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Roman Amphitheater<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Hashemite plaza<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>The Odeon<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>The Nymphaeum<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Nymphaeum cats<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>Fruit market<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\nBefore heading out again I logged on to the Jeppesen website to buy a new database for the Avidyne 540 GPS – our current Europe database was good as far as Amman, but for the next part of the trip we’d need the Middle East and South Asia database. This would take us all the way to the final destination for this part of the trip, Johor Bahru just north of Singapore. Unfortunately the site was broken; no databases of any kind were available to purchase. I tried and failed to contact anyone from Jeppesen, eventually reaching an after-hours support tech from Boeing (Jeppesen’s owner) who promised to escalate the ticket and get back to me.<\/p>\n\n\n