Kathmandu to New Delhi

Heading Westward again. Here's the planned flight from Kathmandu, Nepal direct to Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India. I had our family's relocation trip in mind, recalling the time we were ordered off the plane one dark stormy night at New Delhi airport. Foreflight's aeronautical map overlay includes a color-coded depiction of terrain height, with the high terrain in the darkest brown, so the very high mountainous area of Tibet is very recognizable.

Lined up for takeoff on runway 20 at Kathmandu, on this hazy overcast morning. I find it interesting to see all the high terrain surrounding me, depicted on the topographical display. The dialog box to the right of the screen, is the simulator's air traffic control (ATC) communication interface, which I'm attempting to use, for the first time on this adventure. I tried using it several months ago, and X-Plane's ATC was not helpful at all, leaving me without any instructions at key moments, such as when waiting for takeoff clearance. So far, so good, as I got the correct clearance to taxi for takeoff, and am waiting for the takeoff clearance.

Takeoff clearance received and executed. Now I'm climbing out of the Kathmandu area. There are rocks in those clouds! Today's departure from Kathmandu involves climbing straight out for a short while, then a climbing right turn to intersect my planned en-route course.

Turning on course for New Delhi, as the right turn intersects my planned route of flight, continuing the climb to my planned cruising altitude of 26,000 feet.

Climbing above the clouds, the magnificent Himalaya mountains of the Annapurna Conservation Area in Nepal are peeking out above the clouds, off to the North of my route.

Level at 26,000 feet, on course for New Delhi. The topographical depiction on the multi-function display very clearly shows the strikingly high terrain of the Himalayas off to my right.

On the ground at Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi. The yellow path is X-Plane telling me how to taxi to my assigned parking on the airport. I am pleased with the ATC services provided by X-Plane 11 on this trip. The software has received several updates, since the last time I tried to work with their ATC, and this time, there were no significant glitches. One surprise was that I was expecting to fly the entire ILS approach to runway 10, but ATC gave me the visual approach to runway 09 instead. I guess the real-world weather was good enough, that the ILS approach wasn't necessary.