We were up at 0530 hours for a quick breakfast, then off to the airport- still no airfield near Athens we can land at with fuel etc; Brian been trying overnight to send faxes to Athens international without success.
Brian headed up to the control tower on arrival, and after half and hour came back with the great news that Olympic Airlines and Athens International had cleared us to land there, with Olympic hosting us and offering hangar
space- just wonderful people, as microlights certainly do not get clearance at international airports!
We felt like royalty when we were cleared to go to the aircraft, as the airport provided us with one of those huge buses that take passengers to big aircraft, and it was just Brian and I looking around the huge cavernous interior and realising it was just for us.
Our pride was somewhat dented a few minutes later as the driver, separated from us by glass, took us to the aircraft he presumed we would be flying- an ancient, broken down aircraft with broken undercarriage and not even an engine in it- just a big hole there!
Brian was banging madly on the glass, trying to get the drivers attention not to stop there, and we had a good humbling laugh together afterwards as he reluctantly drove on, with us realising he obviously had not held us in high esteem at all, especially as one of the somewhat bedraggled pilots" had a white stick with him!
We headed to the Corfu firemen's hangar, where they had so kindly stored our aircraft overnight.
We had a great time talking to Kostas and his fellow firemen as we prepared the microlight for flight, and took a photo of us all together- great guys, all of them!
It actually takes ages to actually get going, ensuring the aircraft is properly prepared and checked, and then getting into all the warm clothing we possess under our flying suits.
I have been wearing a T-shirt under a polo shirt, then two fleeces under my warm suit, as well as three pairs of warm socks inside my flying boots and thin gloves under my heated mitts that have to be plugged into the aircraft.
Careful attention is needed for cuffs and around our ankles, as, once up in the cold air roaring along it is not possible to adjust much, and that icy air has the next 3-5 hours to remind you to dress more carefully next time!
We are often boiling hot on the ground and even sweating, waiting for take off, so the contrast is quite severe!
One thing that fascinated me was how the firemen had initially been appalled somewhat that we were planning to fly 256 miles over the open Aegean Sea to Athens- a huge undertaking in their estimation, but to us it was simply another leg of our flight to Australia, and hopefully just one of two flights for the day, as we wanted to get on to Rhodes if possible.I was reminded again that the higher you dream, the smaller your current challenges appear- everything is relative!
Once cleared for take off we climbed up into a beautiful blue sky and set course initially for Oraxos, our initial waypoint 127 miles away; quite a strong growing head wind, often only making 56 mph ground speed with 78 mph air speed. Beautiful Greek islands occasionally below, but with growing turbulence that became quite severe at times at 2,500 feet.
A Cessna near the mainland picked us up on their radio, and we chatted to them for about 30 minutes, with them trying to locate us 1,000 feet above us to take a few pictures of us from above for the website; finally located each other, with both machines rocking around quite violently much of the time in the turbulence over the Corinthian Canal, a huge expanse of sea between the mainland and some of the islands.
Our final leg towards Athens international became increasingly turbulent, due to mountains and hills near the sea, with the wind, acting exactly as water rushing over a shallow river bed, tumbling and roiling around due to the obstructions below. The last hour or so was just hard work, trying to keep the microlight roughly on track, and having continually be changing radio frequencies and transponder signals for an enthusiastic lady air traffic controller, who continually advised us to change to frequencies of military airfields below, who had no interest in us at all as long as we stayed out of their airspace, continually telling us to go back to Athens Information.
Our long final approach was right over ancient Athens, being thrown around the sky whilst placating the ATC lady, when, due to a high ridge of ground hiding the new airport some 8 miles away, both GPS systems went down together due to poor signals, with us just keeping on our heading and looking for the invisible airport ahead!
Our landing was in winds between 30/40 mph- very high for a microlight, and Brian exhibited his vast experience after flying around the world in a microlight by getting us down safely onto the runway. Soon after clearing the runway we were buffeted by a high wind that blew the wing onto the ground- no damage, but requiring help from a person in the "follow me" flashing vehicle to get us going again, with both Brian and I hanging on to the bars to fly the wing into the wind all the time.Huge relief to be ushered directly into an Olympic Airways hangar, with several of us holding the wing wires under our arms to keep her down.
A great flight!
No chance of flying on to Rhodes, so booked into a hotel; I showered quickly, changed, then caught flights to Amman Jordan via Cyprus to speak at two Standard Chartered events there tomorrow- got to bed 0200 hours the next
morning- very tired but fulfilled!