Almeria

Today's flight was to Almeria, about 100 nautical miles east of Malaga. So once again I had to fly towards Malaga international. However this time, they let me fly right over it at 5500ft (see left). On the way down to Almeria I picked up a great 25 knot tail-wind, so although my airspeed was only registering around 85kts, the GPS said I was doing at least 120, that's 2 miles per minute. As a result I got to Almeria in record time, just under 2 hours, despite a planned time of nearly 2hrs 30m.

HOWEVER, on the way back, the tail-wind became... a headwind, and it increased in strength. At 85kts IAS (indicated airspeed) the GPS was recording a groundspeed of around 55. There was rain forecast from 5pm onwards at Jerez, and I wanted to be back well before the rain came through. I had left at 2pm but by the time I was overhead Malaga on the way back things were looking tricky. The earliest ETA I could count on via the normal route was 5.30. A whole hour longer than planned, giving a total airborne time of 3.30.

Now we come to the really interesting bit: Fuel. The venerable Cessna 150 that I'm flying has around 88 litres of fuel when full. The burn rate depends upon what you're doing (how high, how fast, climbing, etc..) but can be estimated at 33 per hour in the climb and around 20 per hour in the cruise at 85kts. My rule of thumb is not to plan for a flight of over 2.30 duration.

While approaching Malaga I did some quick calculations and worked out that regardless of my desire to avoid the rain, my fuel state required me to be on the ground by 5pm. That would leave just over 30 mins of reserve fuel, according to my calculations. And if my calculations were off, then the reserve would then be renamed 'calculation tolerances'. But I had a plan. There is another airport on the way back to Jerez, so if it looked like I couldn't get to Jerez by 5pm, then I'd divert to the other airport for fuel. No problem.

However, there was also another thing to try. The usual route back involves flying around the Malaga zone to the east, and this was easily an extra 30 mins of flying time.

So, "Hola, por favor Toro 810 requesting direct routing Malaga Jerez...".
 "Toro 810 approved, 6500ft caution your own terrain clearance".
"Uh, Roger, Toro 810". Oh yes, the mountains. From my previous post about yesterday's flying you may have remembered me mentioning that its fine flying the mountains with good weather and light winds. Well, dear reader, I can now tell you that it's a lot more sporting flying the mountains with a 25-30kt wind creating moderate turbulence and downdrafts.

At first my groundspeed actually went down to around 50kts, but once bumpily over the one large summit 30 miles west of Malaga the wind decreased, my groundspeed increased and the GPS started giving me more encouraging ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) estimates.  5.20, 5.15. Then a step down to 3500ft towards the plain, and the groundspeed increased to 75kts, ETA 5.10. Then at my decision point for the divert (10 miles northwest, rather than 40 miles west to Jerez), one final check of the GPS and the map. Now groundspeed 80kts, ETA 5.00! Bingo. Jerez it is.

And it was. Phew. Landing time 1659 local. Thanks to Fletcher Anderson, who taught me via his book which side of the mountain to fly, when to cross the ridge, at what angle, and how to manage the turbulence.