Journey Impressions: Gran Canaria

Las Palmas: Population approx. 0.38 million (2014)
Spain: Population approx. 46.4 million
Population growth (2010-2016): -0.2%
People per km²: 92
Gross national income per person in 2013: 29,940 USD


10 January 2018, Gran Canaria:

Breakfast in the Radisson Blu hotel was excellent. That helped us relax and we two pilots were in an optimistic mood. But Kurt wasn’t bold enough after all to take a step back and plunge into the pool’s 20-degree water. A missed opportunity! Instead we enjoyed looking at the area and taking in several hotels, rocks, palm trees, a marina and found a place for a cappuccino.

In the afternoon, bad news reached us. Mr Graumann told us that the newly opened GOBD airfield in Sudan we were heading for didn’t have a pump that was working at the moment to fill up Marie with. Which is why the local handling agent suggested that we land on the GODY airfield we’d originally planned to aim for although this was actually only reserved for the military. Apparently, this airfield didn’t just have aviation fuel but a pump that worked properly too. We were rather miffed that we had to change airfield just because of a pump that needed repairing. Ultimately however, the local handling agent has to decide what the right solution is. We presumed that a small fee was charged there to get all the formalities over with. As we saw, Africa’s productive chaos was casting its shadow all the way to the Canary Islands.

Half an hour and several telephone calls later, Mr Graumann told us that the flight plan had been approved, but to GOOY, in other words the military airfield. We nod, although Mr Graumann did say that we’d be landing on the GOBD airfield, the civilian one, so that we could organise aviation fuel to be pumped into our plane with the handling agent. We had to rely on our local handling agent because nothing happened without him.

After several phone calls and the assurance that yes, the flight plan had been approved for GOOY near Dakar, the two pilots felt more relaxed. They enjoyed their superb fried fish and took some exercise on Puerto Rico beach. Kurt took this opportunity to put himself in the way of danger by talking loudly and taking photos although a huge piece of rock threatened to fall off the rock face. Luckily it didn’t.

We spent the evening writing a few e-mails to ensure that the DEMCA also got its 50-hour maintenance in Brazil. All in all, it wasn’t a typical travel journal experience because managing the rest of the flight clearly enjoyed high priority. Let’s face it, we’re not here just to have fun. Time to turn in.