Flight 53 : Al Hoceima to Kalamata

Date: 26-Mar-2009

Departure: 06:00 AM local Moroccan time

Routing: North African coast, Italy's boot and into Greece.

Aircraft: Flight Club Mediterranean Q-400

Altitude: 5,000 feet for 95% of the flight

Miles: Total Mileage was 1,282 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived to lingering AM fog about 11:35AM. That's 1,282 miles in 4.5 hours is about 285 mph average.

Notes: I left Morocco just before sunrise and followed the North African coast over Algiers and Tunis before heading northeast over Sicily and the "boot" of Italy, then over into Greece. I had some fog below enroute to Algiers - obscuring the coastline. Then I had some lightning enroute to Tunis. Then there were some big bumps coming over Reggio in southern Italy but all-in-all, this was a GREAT flight - albeit a little long .....

Flight 52 : Lanzarote, Canary to Al Hoceima, Morocco

Date: Sunday March 1, 2009

Departure: 10 AM local Canary Island time

Routing: Moroccan Coastline

Aircraft: Flight Club Mediterranean Q-400

Altitude: 3,000 feet over water, 6,000 feet over land

Miles: Total Mile were 716

Arrival Stats: Notably warmer and still windy. Just before 2 PM local time.

Notes: Finally time to move on I guess ... having spent several weeks in and around the Canary Islands I needed to continue my trek around the world (I still have Europe and South America to cover!) I set out on a crystal clear, windy day and headed across the water to Agadir Morocco.Then I turned northward over the mountains and climbed to 6,000 feet crossing Essaouira.

165 miles to Casablanca (Just had the Jan 2009 FOTM there)

157 miles to Tanger

107 miles to Al Hoceima