Preparing for the long flight from Karachi to the northeast of India , we were very aware of a depression which has lingered over the north western part of the Bay of Bengal . It had brought several days of heavy rain, flooding and thunderstorms to Calcutta and the Indian coast. The storm was moving to the northwest, in the direction of our destination, Patna .
All the weather reports had prepared us for a nice, smooth, clear flight, with light favorable winds, until we got close to Patna . The delays departing Karachi were not welcome as it gave the storms more time to reach Patna before we did. We wanted to get going, knowing that we would face some poor weather on arrival but the sooner we got there the better our chance of avoiding the heavier stuff.
We decided to fly at 11,000' partly to conserve oxygen in case we needed it for the long leg India to Thailand the next day. As we leveled off, we had a surprisingly steady 25 knot head wind slowing our ground speed to 135 to 140 knots. Not what was forecast at all…….and another element which was going to make our arrival in Patna later than I wanted. We had a wind chart from our briefing in Karachi that showed winds at 18,000 forecast to be stronger and swinging from a more westerly direction (possible tail wind). Since the 11,000' chart was not right I was doubtful that the higher level would be any better. But I needed to find more ground speed without adding power (and using more fuel.) Helpful winds were the way to do it. We requested a compromise level of 15,000' and Lec got out the oxygen system. As we climbed through 130 we noticed the winds shifting. Leveling off at 15,000 they had magically turned to nearly a 15 knots tail wind……a gain of nearly 40k ground speed climbing 4,000'. It was amazing and I've never seen a shift like it before. We were pleased as we now “raced” toward Patna at 180knots.
I had mentioned in the last update that the Shell refueler in Karachi measured the fuel by a dipstick in his truck and I had to trust his measurement. Well I was soon to wish I had checked his work more carefully.
The Garmin 1000 fuel gauges are not calibrated for the Monroy 130 gallon tanks. There is a calibration table in the flight supplement so you can calibrate the Garmin gauges vs. actual fuel. The Garmin's register much lower than actually in the tanks until you get down to about 22 gallons. Being aware of this, I was not too worried when, after several hours flying, the left gauge was reading much lower than I expected and the right was moving down rapidly. (these gauges do fluctuate quite wildly at times until the levels get down around the 25 gallon mark so no big surprise although this day they were really off scale) The Garmin gauges were reading some 20 gallons below where I calculate the fuel should be even after applying the calibration table……looking out the window the wing gauges (although only for reference) were also reading considerably lower than I expected.
Now I was getting a bit concerned. Could they have misread the dip stick and not pumped the fuel required? Was fuel leaking out of the fuel drains? I did a number of calculations using the fuel levels shown. The only way we would get to Patna would be if we reduced power, conserve fuel, slow our speed and take longer to get there. But we had no choice. We reduced fuel burn to 9.6 gph and slowed down.
Obviously, we then paid minute by minute attention to those fuel gauges. Gradually, I noticed both gauges were INCREASING their indicated fuel levels. After some time, unexplainably, the fuel gauges increased to where I calculated they should be if we had taken off with full fuel as ordered. Once they were stable at these higher levels (and the wing tank gauges also increased) and I was confident that we had fuel…….we powered back up and regained our ground speed.
The flight continued nicely across western India . Just as predicted we encountered storms approaching Patna . For the most part we were above the clouds but 40 miles out, descending towards Patna airport, we had no choice but to fly through rain and clouds. It was now dark and difficult to see the cloud formations but there were no thunderstorms in the area and we were relatively free of turbulence. Weather at the airport was rain, 3 kilometers visibility and 1000' overcast. We had to fly a VOR approach and broke out of the overcast layer right on the button, several miles from the airport with the runway straight ahead. It was really nice to see those runway lights knowing that this challenging and unusual flight was coming to an end. .
We had chosen Patna Airport as our airport of entry in India for one reason. To avoid the “nightmare” of bureaucracy at the larger Indian airports - Calcutta , Delhi , Mumbai. Pilots I know have taken up to 6 hours to clear the paperwork required for departure. I did not want any part of that…….
We were not disappointed with our choice. Although it was raining and after dark, there were no airport staff swarming our airplane when we got parked. The friendly tower controller parked us right in front of the main terminal door; not in the back corner where most GA flights get stored.
Patna Customs and Immigration officers……
As we unloaded the airplane, three gentlemen from Customs and Immigration approached us. They were very polite and patient. Eventually explaining the procedures and telling us were to meet them inside for processing. In we went and as they prepared the documents they served us delicious tea and cookies. There is a fair amount of paperwork and it took maybe 20 minutes to get it all completed but we were happy and comfortable after a long and interesting flight.
Then off to the Chanakya Hotel…..one hotel I would not recommend but maybe it is one of the best in a local town like Patna . It was wet and flooded in parts of the city. The cars drive quickly, honking horns at bicycle drivers constantly. It is frightening. It was dark and these bicycles come out of nowhere. How the drivers miss hitting the swarms of riders is beyond me. Unfortunately, we had no time to explore Patna as we planned to leave first thing the next morning for Thailand .
To finish explaining our Patna Airport experience; we arrived at the airport as planned at 8:00 am . Lec went off to the Customs/Immigration office and I headed up to the tower to do the flight preparation. The tower staff reviewed my flight plan and eventually entered it into the system. Then I had to go to another office for a Met Briefing. It took a while to find the Met Officer and when we got to his office I was surprised to see no equipment. No computer nothing but a few old charts on his wall. He explained that there was a depression to the east (surprise!!!) but weather all the way to Thailand was “normal”. I had an internet connection at the hotel early that morning and I knew he was wrong. I realized he could not help me and I became only interested in getting the required Met Briefing stamp on my flight documents. After 2 minutes in the Met office I had my stamp and was off to join Lec and the officials for the other required stamps to exit the country.
The Customs and Immigration officers continued their friendly and efficient service and we got all the paperwork done in reasonable time. Then I was back to the tower with all my stamps. They calculated all the fees, checked my stamps and documents and after paying them we were free to go.
Unlike some of the ridiculously high fees I have heard from other pilots, the total fees at Patna were $97. US. No excessive handling fees and none of the officers or staff would even accept a tip. After saying goodbye inside we got avgas from the India Oil Company (they accept BP Air credit card) and were airborne 1 ½ hours after arriving at the airport. Amazing for India ……
We thank the Customs and Immigration officers and the tower staff at Patna Airport for their wonderful, helpful and friendly service. You are all great aviation ambassadors for India . Thanks very much…..we hope to visit you again passing through India and we strongly recommend Patna as the best AOE.
The long awaited leg back to Thailand was within our grasp as we finished loading the plane and saying goodbye to our new friends, the officials, at Patna Airport . They all came out to waive goodbye as we taxied out to the runway.
In spite of the official Met Briefing I knew this leg was going to involve some “weather”. The depression had weakened so leaving India was going to be OK in cloud and perhaps some rain as we climbed. The satellite picture over Myanmar however was not looking good but we had no weather reports and would have to work our way along.
Take off was into low cloud with an immediate right turn. We had to pay close attention to the instruments as it was a true IFR day. We stayed on the Patna tower frequency for the first 50 miles climbing above our original altitude to remain clear of numerous CB.s. Eventually we were in contact with Calcutta control and then Bangladesh . Everything was smooth flying airways over Calcutta and into Bangladesh airspace.
As we approached Myanmar ( Burma ) we were contacted by a private aircraft asking what we were doing and flying. Hearing a Mooney over Burma he had figured we were Earth rounder's and wished us a good trip but warned of very bad weather as we progressed south down the coast of Myanmar.
Communication was very difficult in this area. We lost contact with Dhaka radar and expected to be picked up by Yangon . Although we could hear the Yangon controller we were not able to contact her. There appeared to be no radar coverage as we constantly heard her requesting position reports and estimated times from higher aircraft. As we moved down the coast on airway G463 to BGO VOR we were heading directly into huge, towering, clouds with many “hits” showing on the storm scope. There was definitely dangerous weather ahead of us and we had no contact with ATC. As we reached a point where I had to make a decision to divert right of track we made our first contact with Yangon . We requested a diversion 10 miles right and it was approved. We skirted out to the right to avoid the huge cloud walls ahead and the yellow warning images on the scope. This pattern of flight continued for more than 300 miles – 2 hours. Dodging storms, the storm scope showing massive areas of lightning and continuing to divert to the right of course. We ended up 50 miles right of our airway but so were most of the commercial aircraft above us.
As we approached the intersection where we needed to turn west for Thailand the weather improved slightly and we were able to work our way through the clouds to the VOR intersection heading to Thailand . Only 100 miles from the familiar border to home………
The Yangon controllers approved a “short cut” allowing me to fly an airway (A581) almost directly to Chiang Mai. This was a surprise as A581 required a flight level well above our capability. But we had good radio coverage and there were no obstacles so I'm not sure why they established such a high MEA on this airway. Anyway it did not matter as the controller was probably happy to get us out of his hair and into Thailand by the quickest possible route.
Welcome home to Bangphra……..
The weather improved all the way up to Chiang Mai and, although we landed after dark, the approach was nice and easy using the autopilot to fly the ILS approach. Clearing Customs and Immigration was quick with the help of Thai International staff. Lec was home and in her element joking and exchanging stories with officials who seemed glad to have us back too. They liked the idea of this Thai crew being the first to fly around the world.
We had a real celebration that night (just the two of us) enjoying a fine Thai restaurant and nice Central Hotel in town.
The next morning we left Chiang Mai for our Thailand base airport of Bangphra .
Mechanic “Num” tries our survival suite….
Back at BangPhra we introduced Ovation 3 to little brother M20J…….
Our Mooney’s at Bangphra Airfield……
After the last two days, covering more than 2,000nm in 13 hours in difficult flight, we were happy to have our feet on the ground and on our way back to our home in Bangkok . Two weeks “rest” and preparation for the last part of our adventure.
Karachi to Patna, India and Chiang Mai, Thailand
Welcome home to Bangphra…….. 
