Preparing to depart Myanmar for
Trivhuvan International airport in Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal. While I was on the ground in Myanmar, looking around the map for interesting places to go, that were close enough to be within
the range of my little SF50 jet ;-), I became fascinated by the idea of
popping into
Kathmandu - another place that I've heard about many times, but never visited. I saw the trip distance was 705 nautical
miles, which was stretching it a bit, but I resolved to throttle back
at altitude, which would give me enough range with reserve, to make
this trip achievable. This image shows the Garmin G1000 instrument panel, programmed for the flight to Kathmandu, and a close-up of the approach to the destination.
I was very intrigued by the instrument approach to Kathmandu, which involves a continually curving and descending flight path through a pass in the mountains to the airport, and an equally curvy and climbing missed-approach path back out of the mountains to the missed approach holding fix. This curving-approach capability is what makes Area Navigation (RNAV and now GPS) approaches so much more powerful, than the usual straight-in ILS approaches we've seen at the majority of major airports for the past 60+ years. I had to try it!
The thick layer of clouds below me was generating thunder and lightning, which was not unexpected, considering the green blotches on the weather radar (NEXRAD) display on the moving map to the right. What I did find a little unnerving, was the sound the thunder was making in the cockpit. I've rarely heard thunder in the cockpit, when out there really flying IFR, and it's just a little more powerful statement, that there's a storm out there to be respected.
As I was descending, I was continuing to monitor the predicted fuel quantity at landing, and happy to see I would have about 100 gallons left at the airport. In the meantime, the display was showing me the first turn of the curvy instrument approach I was about to follow.
The moving-map display is tracking my progress along the curvy path through the mountains, and showing in red the terrain that's higher than the aircraft. In the old days, without a moving-map display, I think most pilots would consider this approach a no-go, when the visibility is less than excellent. Today, with the help of a very capable autopilot with vertical navigation, I'm threading this needle with just 4 miles visibility, and a very high level of certainty that the aircraft is where it's supposed to be, at every moment in time.
Just finishing up the curvy part of the approach, about 8 miles from the airport. More of the terrain all around is above me, which is expected for this airport surrounded by mountains. The visibility is starting to get better, as I'm descending out of the thicker clouds.
On short final, about 2 miles out, with decent visibility. I'm descending into a little basin, with higher terrain all around now.
On the ground at Kathmandu! I found a cool little hangar, where I could taxi in, and spin around, and protect the plane from the rain.
I was very intrigued by the instrument approach to Kathmandu, which involves a continually curving and descending flight path through a pass in the mountains to the airport, and an equally curvy and climbing missed-approach path back out of the mountains to the missed approach holding fix. This curving-approach capability is what makes Area Navigation (RNAV and now GPS) approaches so much more powerful, than the usual straight-in ILS approaches we've seen at the majority of major airports for the past 60+ years. I had to try it!
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