RTW 08 - Muscat -- Mohenjo-daro - The AVSIM Screen Shots Forum

April 30Apr 30

هلا بالجميع!
Hello everyone!

Our journey east continues. Today, we’re leaving Arabia and heading further into Asia. Today’s destination is a general aviation airfield — Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan. Due to the ongoing conflict with Iran, we cannot fly directly into Pakistan, so we have to route over the Gulf of Oman until we reach the eastern Iran–Pakistan border, before turning northeast. That means we’ll be putting on our survival suits again — mandatory when flying a single-engine aircraft over open water.

As always: never fly hungry! To get into the right mood, I did the flight planning while cooking a delicious chicken korma — a rather mild curry with cream, almonds, raisins, ginger, and of course, spices.

Our flight plan: departure from Seeb International Airport in Muscat, heading east on a course of 080°, slightly north of the Tropic of Cancer, avoiding military airspace near the Pakistani coast before turning inland. From there, we’ll follow the coastal mountain ranges — which run parallel to the shoreline, by the way — through the desert, tracing the path of Alexander the Great, until we reach the Indus, the great river that flows from the Himalayas into the Indian Ocean. Somewhere along there lies today’s destination: Mohenjo-daro.

Doing the outside checks etc. It's just 07:00 a.m., but it is already very hot - 30° C on the tarmac! And you might wonder why we’re departing from an international airport — that’s due to customs and the required checks when flying a small aircraft from Oman to Pakistan.

Vroooooommmmm!

Climbing into the morning sky, with Muscat and the airport to the left…

…and the mountains to the right.

Leaving the Arabian Peninsula.

Somewhere over the Gulf of Oman: off to the side, you can already see the coast of Persia — Iran. We’re cruising at 9,000 ft with a ground speed of around 150 knots today. I wish we had a bit more tailwind.

Reaching Pakistan near the city of Ormara, Jinnah.

Navigation on this leg is straightforward: just follow the coastal mountains!

Beautiful topography below. The landscape has been shaped by a combination of tectonic forces and erosion. The Indian plate is moving northward, compressing and folding the rock layers. Rain is rare here — but when it comes, it comes in intense bursts. Combined with heat and wind, this leads to significant erosion — and this is the result.