Leg: 16

Take-off: Dubai International Airport (Dubai) – ICAO: OMBD

METAR OMDB 012200Z 09004KT CAVOK 24/17 Q1018 NOSIG (decode)

Landing: Dubai International Airport (Dubai) – ICAO: OMBD

METAR OMDB 012200Z 09004KT CAVOK 24/17 Q1018 NOSIG (decode)

Distance: +/- 75nm

Please follow the tour guide

We took a few days off to relax in Dubai, drove around in our rental Ferrari, visited the Burj Khalifa and did a camel riding tour. But today it was time to take our plane and get in the air for a tour around the beautiful Dubai scenery, created by Fly Tampa (Dubai Rebooted payware scenery).

CAVOK (ceiling/clouds and visibility ok) conditions according to our METAR weather report, so no worries in that area. We take off in the afternoon, with a nice temperature of 24°C (75°F) and a very light breeze of 4 knots. ATC assigns us runway 12L and after VFR clearance, we took off, stayed in a right hand pattern around the airport and set course southwest.

This is where the fun begins… in order to recognize and name the different buildings, I use Google Maps. With Google Maps and the detailed Dubai scenery, I can take you along our tour around Dubai (click screenshot for full-resolution image).

The first landmark we notice is the Dubai Creek & Yacht Club.

Beneath us, on the other side of the Dubai Creek, we see a whole bunch of landmarks: in the background we have D1 tower (next to the bridge) with Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel beside it. A little closer to us, we have three fancy hotels: Grand Hyatt Dubai, Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights and Wafi Dubai, with the mall underneath the pyramid.

We follow Dubai Creek to the cruise terminal at Port Rashid, where all big cruise ships arrive.

Next, we take a turn left and follow the coastline southwest for a minute to turn land-inwards to fly over Downtown Dubai around Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (when this post was written) with a height of 828 m (2,722 ft), with the Dubai fountains next to it.

After our circle around the Burj Khalifa, we fly back to the coastline to see the Burj Al Arab, “the world’s only 7 star hotel”, designed to mimic the sail of a ship. It has a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground. A nice challenge for the helicopter sim enthusiasts out there! 😉

Landing a plane on the helipad wouldn’t really work, so we continue our tour along the coastline. Then we fly over one of the three Palm Islands, Palm Jumeirah, with the Atlantis The Palm hotel, which has two underwater suites and a water park.

When we look to our left, we see The Marina with some beautiful skyscrapers, each one more unique than the other, but especially the twisted Infinity Tower catches the eye.

Finally we turn back northeast and race home at low altitude above Sheikh Zayed Road in true Dubai style. Why? Because… this is Dubai.

I hope you enjoyed the Dubai tour. Don’t forget the guide on your way out! 😛

We were lucky this time with a limited amount of traffic at approach and concluded our VFR trip with a smooth visual landing on runway 12R at Dubai International Airport.