After a few months in Africa I am back in Europe. Today's flight over the Mediterranean Sea was a long and mostly boring one. The only excitement really, was trying to find the best altitude (read the altitude at which the wind sucked the least). For about half of the trip I was fighting strong headwind, which made the flight even longer. It was not too bad though, but I was concerned if I would have enough gas to make it to Athens. About half way across the Mediterranean, the wind direction had changed and my ground speed went up to 134 kn. It all worked out OK at the end. Since the flight was long and mostly on autopilot, I was able to do some more reading which is always a good thing. Sometimes I just feel that I am so behind on the scientific literature, but I guess these long flights do help with that. I started this flight very early (2 am local time) since I did not want to stay up whole night (Mountain Time) flying. There was one interesting thing to see on my way to Athens, and that was the island of Santorini. There is not much left of it now (see below) but it was much bigger long time ago. In 1,650 B.C. the Santorini volcano erupted so violently that the whole island collapsed on itself. It is widely accepted that the Santorini eruption was the largest volcano eruption on Earth in last 10,000 years. Such an eruption would have had huge consequences on the climate of the entire planet for many years (not entirely unlike the often talked about nuclear winter). The approach and landing at the busy Athens airport went without any problems. The weather during those final stages was on my side even though during the flight itself it was bumpy at times. It will be a while before I can fly again, as I will be in Moab this weekend. Spring is here and I can hear the call of mountain biking.

Pre flight check at Cairo airport Next in line for takeoff Leaving Cairo The island of Santorini Final approach to Athens airport Done

List of countries: Egypt Greece

Flight log: