First Flight In Africa

A strange coincidence, but my first flight on deployments seem to fall on major holidays...Iraq was Christmas Day...Africa is Thanksgiving Day...as the saying goes, it all pays the same.

This time, my first flight was with the Commander of the New Jersey unit, which is the C-12 Detachment we are replacing.  Due to time constraints, it was a multi-purpose flight...the first portion was an aircraft qualification and Local Area Orientation for me, followed by a Standardization Evaluation for him.  If somebody ever wants to know how it is possible to give yourself a self-induced, total electrical failure on the takeoff roll, I may have some insight on how that could happen (aviation has a way of keeping you humble).  Here is my other office;

The scenery around Djibouti was much different than anticipated...a flat, barren, Sahara Desert landscape similar to central/southern Iraq was expected...the country of Djibouti actually has many elevation changes once you depart the coastal area surrounding the city of Djibouti.  Here is a picture of an island in the Gulf of Tadjoura;

Flying west up the Gulf Of Tadjoura leads into Lake Asal, which is a crater lake in central Djibouti.   It lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level and its shores comprise the lowest point on land in Africa, and the second lowest land depression on Earth, after the Dead Sea.  Lake Assal is considered the most saline body of water on earth outside Antarctica, with 34.8 percent salt concentration.  Notice the white salt deposits along the shoreline.

As previously mentioned, Lake Asal is below sea level...the colored display in the the next picture is the Attitude Indicator...the instrument to the right is the altimeter...a flight below sea level (Negative Altimeter)...there is a first time for everything.