Muscat in Oman diagonally over the Arabian Gulf, over an Iranian
peninsula and air space into Pakistani air space along their coast,
landing briefly at Gwadar, an isolated extremity of Pakistan for fuel,
then on to Karachi- total flight approaching 500 miles, and our longest
time in the air to date.

It was so good having Jon Cook, my great friend an companion of many an
adventure with us for the last short yet full 24 hours, functioning as
our Project Manager, helping to sort out 101 things, smoothing out the
way ahead for us!

After breakfasting with Jon, Richard and I began the lengthy process at
the airport of finalising flight clearances, completing General
Declarations, and being issued with handfuls of papers to sign and
clearance bills to pay.

It was 1100 hours before we were cleared and pushed our feisty little
aircraft out of the huge hangar, nestling like a little butterfly
amongst her giant heaven-soaring companions.

I guess I am getting to love her a bit more each day- so faithful and
reliable, having already reliably carried us all across the skies of
Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Today, with the crossing of the Arabian Gulf, she would be starting our
long journey across the skies of \Asia towards the Far East and our
final destination of Australia.

I had to smile to myself, standing in the blazing sun, putting on
several layers of fleeces before clambering into my thermal black flying
suit, then pulling on my balaclava over my face, dripping with sweat,
watched by a group of obviously bemused and somewhat puzzled workers
from the hangar!

Only mad dogs and Englishmen I thought to myself, putting on my life
jacket and tightening the velcrose fastenings on my wrists and ankles
around my flying boots!

I also carefully checked the quick-release rope handle for our
newly-installed life raft that sits behind my head, just in case we went
for an unscheduled swim whilst crossing the Arabian Gulf.

Finally, after finishing zipping up my flying suit I straddled myself
across the body of our little machine and settled in.  No room for
movement once we are both in for the duration of the flight!

Next, fastened my harness, then connecting and putting on my dual
headset, fastened my helmet, secured my visor, then booted up my flight
equipment to set my altimeter to the local pressure and installed my way
points into my
computer- ready for just another great flight!

Once up and over the Gulf we had a great flight over the open sea,
angling down so we missed all but the tip of Iran on the other side.

I spent the next three hours or so listening glued to my headset, mostly
relying on my compass and angle of bank to keep on track.

I found that, if my mind wandered even for a few seconds, so did our
aircraft!

A sighted pilot, able to see the horizon and the level of the wing, can
make quite bold movements to get  back on track.  For myself, I find it
best to make gentle corrections when I stray off course, listening
carefully to my angle of bank, speaking in degrees bank either left or
right.

The magic moment for me is when I accurately gauge when to "meet" or put
opposite bank on the wing before my compass tells me I am back on track,
preventing me from swinging past that heading.

My angle of bank is saying "zero, zero", and my compass is quietly
repeating the same heading or degree repeatedly- IE "273 degrees, 273
degrees" etc. It needs to be extremely stable air for this to happen.
Most of the time, we just content ourselves staying about five degrees
either side in turbulent weather!

We landed at Gwadar in Pakistan mid-afternoon tired but contented, after
flying over the early development of Pakistan's huge development plans
for a deep water harbour there, strategically placed outside the Arabian
Gulf.
Wonderful hospitality from the airport manager and staff and
journalists, lots of interviews, then meeting the captain of a PIA
turbo-prop aircraft just landed.

After quickly filing our flight plan for Karachi, we were airbourne
again, praying for a good tail wind to help us beat sunset on our
arrival.  Another beautiful and peaceful flight, cruising at around
4,000 feet in no turbulence, and I thought what a special place to be on
a Saturday afternoon, smoothly rushing across the darkening sky in a
totally exposed seat with the warm wind buffeting your face, with the
beautiful coastline far below- I felt very happy and blessed right then,
smiling inside my helmet visor to myself, and wishing I could share the
precious experience with others as well…

We certainly missed sunset before arriving at Karachi by a bit due to
changing winds, but Air Traffic Control were very happy with us
squawking with our identifying transponder on, and both Richard and I
able to back up our separate instruments and guidance as the stars
started to come out through the twilight, matched by twinkling lights on
the fishing boats far below in the bay.

I suddenly realised that the strength of daylight made absolutely no
difference to me anyway, and just enjoyed the description Richard
painted in my mind of our beautiful surroundings.

Karachi came to us like a galaxy of precious gems scattered on a
darkening velvet cloth far below, and I was intoxicated by the beauty of
the moment and the aromatic fragrances wafting up to us in the heavens
far above as we made our final approach into Karachi International
Airport, with the landing lights now clearly visible like twin lines of
iridescent pearls welcoming us back from our heavenly travels

My friend, it is so hard for me to describe how different it is to be up
there far above the earth, not enclosed in an aluminium tube with
sterile, filtered air surrounding you as you watch your movie and drink
your Coke.

No, this is like sitting on your dining room chair, rushing through the
air 5,000 feet above the ground at 75 mph,  with only a lap strap
securing you, and being totally exposed and at one with your
surroundings- maybe a bit like riding a motorbike through the sky… so
free, so exhilarating…
sharing the natural temperatures, fragrances, turbulence, with nothing
between you and creation all around you.

I can put my arms out into the full slipstream an slow us down a few
miles an hour, and change the sound of our propeller by channelling the
air with my hands- this always alarms Richard a bit, so I enjoy doing it
when things are a bit quiet, just to check his reactions!

For a blind man, this is a kind of a heaven from heaven- or maybe they
are not so far apart anyway- I feel at one with the heavens and the
elements, with my lack of sight not really limiting the experience,
especially with Richard's vivid descriptions…

It took us a while to get the aircraft securely hangared and sorted out
for the night, so it was gone midnight before we headed off to our
beautiful Pearl International Hotel in the heart of Karachi, courtesy of
the Standard Chartered Bank here in Pakistan,  for a late supper and bed
around 0200 hours- exhausted but very happy!

Sunday 25: Karachi

I managed to sleep in a bit this morning, and at midday we were met by
Dr. Amer Baudbota, of the Community Partnership, Corporate Affairs
within the Standard Chartered Bank'.

He was a wonderful host, taking us around Karachi's vibrant bazaars
where Richard and I had pilot's shirts with epaulettes made for us, so
we can display our pilot's globally recognised gold stripes on our
shoulders when progressing through every airports endless corridors of
red tape, form-filling and aviation beurocracy- looking forward to see
how well it works!

On returning to our car, Richard and I were extremely impressed to find
a person had already unlocked the car ahead of us, and had it running
with the cooling air conditioning already blowing!

It turned out that the bank had blessed us with four security men to be
with us, ensuring our comfort and safety every step of the way What it
is to feel like VIP's for a day- thank you so much, Standard Chartered
Bank!

We were then treated to a surprise visit to Amer's very high ranking and
highly-decorated father, currently President of the \Royal Aeronautical
Society of Pakistan, and former governor of this province, Air Martial
Azim Daudbota, Hero of the Pakistani Air Force, Commander of the
Zimbabwe Air Force from 1982-1985, and with countless hours in earlier
years flying such classic jet fighters as the F16 and Mirages.

We had a fascinating 15 minutes talking with him, and I was by all his
memorabilia around his lounge from his time in Zimbabwe.  A rare and
great honour to meet him and have our photograph taken with him.

We next travelled down to the beach, where I enjoyed a ride on a
fabulously decorated camel, and then crouched on the beach within a few
feet of two beautiful hooded cobras, rising high out of their baskets to
the haunting fluting melody of the snake charmer.  I would have loved to
touch the powerful creatures, but felt that a braille inspection may not
be appropriate on this occasion!

Lunch followed at the nearby Zouke Cafe, famous in Karachi, where I
enjoyed a great steak and salad, with our table lamp suspended on a
cable from the roof some 30 feet above us- fascinating, curvy
architecture everywhere Richard told me.

We returned to our hotel for a long interview with a business television
channel, arranged by the bank, that we understand will be a 20-minute or
so segment in a human interest programme to be broadcast some five times
over the next few days.

The TV crew took over an hour in Richard's room, arranging furniture and
lighting and backdrops to perfection before filming us. I am not sure if
Richard will find the toilet tonight, but the room looked great!

Richard and I finished our evening having another great steak and salad
high up in our hotels glass-enclosed restaurant, reflecting on our full
day and talking about the world's sixth most populated country in the
world.
Pakistan has the highest concentration of mountain peaks in the world
over 7,000 feet, and some of the most ancient civilizations populated
the great Indus River Valley.

I was surprised and intrigued to learn that Pakistan has the highest
proportion of women within their parliament (33%) of any country in the
world, the governor of their Central Bank is a woman, and Pakistan is
the only Muslim country in the world to have women fighter pilots…

My eyes have been opened so much already on this flight, and, once
outside Europe, I have continually had my perception of every country we
have flown into radically changed.

We have received nothing short of wonderful care and unconditional
kindness and hospitality every step of the way, making me wonder how
much better this world would be if it was ruled by the common people who
inhabit each country we have passed through…

I love the fact that our goal for this flight is to help blind people
see again, no matter their religion, colour or nationality.

As I have said before, quoting from Helen Keller, "Sight without vision
is equal to blindness".
Maybe we can also help eradicate another kind of blindness along the
way…