#fs2020

My route would be as follows: DCT IBMAD/N0182F080 DCT EGTAP/N0183F090 DCT AXOXI/N0181F080 DCT UTABU DCT EL2T1 DCT

I chose 29 as my arrival as I was more comfortable with that approach. So after checklists and all the admin stuff, I was ready to depart.

Departure was a breeze and the Cirrus SR-22 is an absolute beauty to fly, rotated at around 70 and was off the ground making my way to FAEL.

The flight was mainly at FL80 but I stayed at about 7500 AGL most of the way. There wasn't much turbulence and generally the flight was going as expected. After reaching cruise height and activating the Autopilot, it was time to set the aircraft for cruise, enjoy a cup of coffee, and marvel at the scenery.

The Free State is littered with the round farms that I would guess are easier to irrigate but the dark green is a stark contrast to the normally brown grasslands of South Africa.

I chose a bit of a scenic route for my flight and decided to go over this dam north-east of the airfield before turning towards FAEL (East London).

The skies were not too busy and the flight was pretty uneventful but was definitely very scenic.

Some clouds were about but nothing too dramatic, there was a bit of turbulence over these mountains but once passed them it calmed down and then I saw it.

This was going to suck, I was hoping the cloud cover would dissipate but the radar was showing it was going to be in my path all the way to my destination.

There was a brief moment when I thought, okay this would be fine; I was so wrong. Coming in to FAEL (East London), ATIS confirmed my worst nightmare, this would test my skills at landing a new aircraft at a mostly unknown airport.

Coming in to 1300 for final approach was an absolute nightmare and I could barely see the runway, but I was committed and chose to push on as the cross winds were within operational limits.

Things got a bit hairy so there was no time to take any pictures but I was a little left of the runway and had to make a correction about 1 mile out, I was still comfortable to land and so carried on with my landing.

This is where the Cirrus SR-22 absolutely shines, full flaps, idle throttle, and she glides down nicely to a gentle landing, and just like that I was in East London.

After a short taxi, I was at parking 12 and unfortunately the aircraft slipped a little when braking and slid off the edge of the parking. We quickly sorted that out and then secured the plane for the evening. The next flight will be from FAEL (East London) to FAPE (Port Elizabeth) where I will pick up a colleague and fly him to FACT (Cape Town).

I found a livery based off a real world South African plane and so my ride was chosen. I then tracked down where the current plane is based and with that I chose the first two flights to get to my home base Morningstar (FASP).

The first leg is from Bloemfontein (FABN) to a small airport near Jeffreys Bay (FAPX) with leg 2 running from Jeffreys Bay (FAPX) to Morningstar (FASP). I chose to run two small legs of just over 2 hours and 15 minutes each in order to not spend a whole night flying.

I have configured my flight controls, set up my navigation software, and prepared my checklists.