Preparing the possible relocation of our operations, Cpt. Hak was visiting Sant Maria on the Azores. Here's a few shots from this flight in a leased PC-12:

Unfortunately, I had no time to enjoy the country view or the very nice beaches and cliffs... it was all about business and recon flights to get an idea about the island. More information about the reason for this flight will emerge over time...

You certainly agree with me: these are beaches that promise undisturbed bathing...:



Ok. So, soon after this intermezzo, Cpt. Hak was back to the Archipelago Esperides to perform the required SAR and RECON flights. The sunken landmasses have heavily reshaped some islands, and it is a challenge to find your way in VFR around islands you once knew so well - and that now look so differently. Here, I am flying close to the north cliffs of Sixtus B. controlling the potential for landslides and therefore local effective tsunamis. The Riviera I-DUCK is one heck of a nice bird to fly SAR and RECON missions: easy to handle, slow enough to inspect the outside closely, and a very nice uncluttered side view.

There's still much ship traffic moving tons and tons of cargo from the endangered spots to more safe places. I often perform low, slow close bypasses to see if everything is running fine on these big pots. After all, they can't fly... and this makes me nervous. For my dESPairado heart, only the air seems a safe place. :-)

The archipelago council has also organized a handfull of balloons, as more or less static observation platforms. A smart move, as they can monitor and inspect the coasts and the woods very thoroughly. Often we found people have evacuated to forests, where a faster flying SAR machine cannot easily spot them. So, the balloons certainly are a good compliment to our efforts..

At a certain point, operations HQ called and asked me to head for the aircraft carrier "Duckyprise" How appropriate for my little I-DUCK. Ok, the LFO was certainly as nervous to guide me as I was in my little bird. How long back lies my last carrier landing attempt??? "Call the ball"... My goodness. I am more used to "scratch your balls" messages from my fellow nomads... ;-)

But, in a rather slow plane, the landing on a carrier is in fact something really nice. The carrier was moving approx. 35 knots, my final speed was jsut slightly above 65 knots. So it was more kind of a hoovering down to the flight deck than a real carrier landing as I had it in mind.

How small you feel in a Riviera on the flight deck... but the welcome was really warm for the circumstances
(being on a military boat...). The commander had vital information from various surveillance planes, and we discussed the relevance for the ongoing rescue operations. I don't like military heads, but if it comes to such operations, these guys sure know how to handle the quick and thorough analysis of such data.

A good hour in the "war room" of the swimming pot, and Hak was already back in the Riviera, preparing for take off. Unfortunately, these sissies refused to hook me into the carrier shot thing... so it was a normal take off. :-/ Soon after, I was already back, scanning coastlines.

Flying low and slow... first it looks easy, ut if you do it for a few hours, you start to realize it takes much more attention than zooming around at FL 300...

M;ore low bypasses on ships. This one here had a good load of empty cargo containers, heading towards Hemp Heights, where the packaging of all the lab equipment and gardening tools, the guano storage facility and the salt minig eqipment is under way.

Here, at the North side of Hemp heights, you see a ship from the "GreenLine" (how appropriate!) docking in the temporary harbor. Just a bit right of the harbor, you see the ingenious hangar, setup by AeroPedro personel, for the exclusive use of Cpt. Hak and his friends!

A very nice approach, a carefull steering towards the ramp - and with a little "thump" the Riviera was safely rolling on the dry platform. From there, I have direct access to the the previously secret passage to the vast caverns deep inside Hemp Heights.

A last look towards the ship. When no one is looking, I swiftly entered the hidden door next to the hangar and went up to the greenhouse operations center... a long day behind me, many miles flown, yet the work is not yet done. The evacuation of hemp heights needs coordination too...