January 2014 - PNW Amphibians

In November I was bored in Nakchivan so reported to Addis. Unable to find Daniel I flew the required FOTM and then proceded immediately to Greece. I spent all of December flying Embraers around the Greek isles. I will spare you more photos of my E-jets. In mid-December Peter called me and asked for a swap so I traded his flight with this feature from Dante'.

Departing Athens at dawn in a DC-10 I headed home to the Pacific Northwest. (pict1) My route took me northwest over Germany and Denmark and Norway. (pict2) (pict3) At that point, basically the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, I caught up to night-time. (pict4) My route, in the darkenss, continued north of Iceland, over Greenland and pretty much all of Canada! I then dropped down over a recent FOTM and landed into Seattle-Tacoma. (pict5) (pict6) (pict7) (pict8)

At this point, I needed a good amphibian for the month - something sturdy as during this time of year these little lakes might have "icebergs"! I fired up a Flight Club version of something I should be flying more; the Stratojet Albatross Amphibian. (pict9) Departing from Emerald Harbor Air in North Seattle I flew to and landed on the following lakes:
Alder (pict10)(pict11)
Rimrock (pict12) (pict13)
Riffe (pict14) (pict15)
Spirit (pict16)
Swift (pict17) (pict18)
Yale (pict19) (pict20)
Merwin (pict21) (pict22)

I then continued south (pict23) and landed on the Willamette River in Lake Oswego. (pict24) (pict25)

Home for the Holidays.

Finally, I departed from Portland and flew down to San Diego where I will launch into February. (pict26) (pict27) (pict28) (pict29)