DAY 20, LEG 81 - Easter Island to Totegegie
After spending another night in Easter Island, we wake up to find the winds have improved greatly for our flight to Totegegie. This is the last of the very long legs planned on the tour so it will be a relief to have it done. Totegegie airport is an interesting destination. In the French AIP the airport is listed as having FOD on runway, taxiway, and apron as well as holes in the tarmac! There is also a warning of the presence of birds. It is a little-used destination so a fly-by of the runway before landing will scare any wildlife away and will present a good opportunity to examine the condition of the surface before landing.
It becomes clear that the flight is planned to last 6 hours at FL270. At a fuel burn of just under 400kg/hr that should leave 230kg remaining on landing. It doesn't leave a lot of fuel extra but the planning has been fairly accurate for flight times up to now. If it turns out to be too little, we can always return to Easter Island again with a good tailwind.
A rainy morning on Easter Island.
Departure early in the morning. It is decided to climb to FL290 initially where the winds will be similar to the burn at FL270 but fuel burn slightly less.
1000nm to go to Totegegie. Our groundspeed is 240kts which leaves just over 4 hours flight time remaining. We are burning 380kg / hr and have 1844kgs left in the fuel tanks so can assume we have about 4:45 endurance. We should make it ok.
Henderson Island in the Pitcairns. The island is uninhabited by humans but home to several thousand sea birds.
Descent to 1000ft in poor weather to look for the airport.
A fly-by of the runway shows it to be in good condition.
Taxi in at Totegegie.
SCIP - NTGJ stats
Takeoff time: 0630
Landing time: 1147 (-1 hour time difference)
Flight time: 6:17
Fuel used: 2410kgs / 5302lbs
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