13th March 2018
My Flying Birthday In Israel is one of the most memorable and beautiful days of my life !
Biblical flights and many changes of scenery !
The sceneries are completely different from one flight to the next one, I have the feeling of being in a different space time, incredible change of kind of people and way of life ! Israel is so small country with so many differences.
What a nice gift my friends ! Thank you !
Take off from Haifa where I find my plane with great pleasure, somewhat silted but it is in his country of origin, he knows the climate…
We turn east to cross a chain of hills, small mountains that lead us to the lake of Tiberias! Biblical moment in itself, here we are in the footsteps of history !
We fly Aharon and myself the shores of the lake to the south, on our right: the mountain of Gilboa where King Saul, first king of Israel led battle against the Philistines. The battle ended with the fall of Saul on his own sword and his sons: Jonathan, Abinadab and Melchishua dead in battle. It was David who succeeded him.
To our left in the direction of the south: the Jordan Valley marking the border between Israel and Jordan, on our right: mountains and hills.
Suddenly, at the top of these sandy reliefs, varying between light ocher and darker ocher, one has the impression of illusion of a mirage in this slightly foggy atmosphere but no ! It is indeed Jerusalem ! Imposing in this virgin nature.
We are fast approaching the dead sea with much more tropical colors, the salty shores are drawn like pristine white lace between the beaches of golden sand and the turquoise water… Splendid !
I am impatient to discover Masada and yes, she is there this fortress dominating the whole valley on its rocky summit overlooking the Dead Sea and its valley.
We go there to make the tour and go down to the track at the edge of the Dead Sea: Masada Airfield !
And there, finally, what excites me and I’ve been waiting for so long: the flight at altitude negative ! My altimeter goes down to zero and while I’m flying in this beautiful landscape, great and biblical, here I am under zero and the altimeter continues to descend… I landed and my altimeter read -1266 ft ! Absolutely ALL is out of the ordinary in this valley !
I am welcomed as an important personality by a young ultra cool, we take advantage Aharon and me some time of this peaceful place, silent, out of time, out of the surface of the earth layer…
The air is dry, warm, a slight warm breeze makes us leave our dreams and we take off to ARAD Airfield that we reach after just 15 minutes of flight and the landscape is totally different !
We are now in positive altitude, in an arid and sandy landscape, the runway looks lost and dotted with cars !
We have to make some noticeable and remarkable low passes before we can land.
Emmanuel and his wife join us and we take a steep and bumpy track to join a Bedouin camp where we enjoy a delicious meal.
The scenery is amazing, life here is quite different, the life of the Bedouin is the opposite of mine, I ask myself: who is right? Why not just smoke cigarettes while drinking tea in the desert? Instead of running and getting upset in the rain and Brussels greyness ?
We return to Arad and take off for Ramon Crater in the Negev desert.
On the way, we are near the military base of Beer Sheva, where my plane worked for 36 years !
My plane is back home ! I’m happy for him !
I can not take more shots of this hot desert, welcoming and surprising.
The Ramon Crater opens in front of us, under us and we enjoy it before the controller asks us to join the road to Teyman, our final destination of the day.
We go up North, fly over Beer Sheva and land at Teyman.
I am a more than happy woman !
