Eddie and Ahmed were up at the crack of dawn to prepare for the 9am departure of Matt Guthmiller from Cairo to Aswan and then on to Abu Dhabi. It was quite a surprise to get a message from Matt asking if he could delay his flight as he was very tired and could do with some more sleep (maybe a bit of exhaustion brought about following the previous days exhertions, the heat and the piston version of jetlag). We were happy to oblige as we knew it would be unwise to fly if the pilot had the slightest feeling of exhaustion. So Matt went back to sleep and Eddie and Ahmed re-arranged the handling at Aswan, sorted out the permit for Abu Dhabi as Matt would not fly there today, and all at the same time as arranging handlers and hotels in Iceland for Babar Suleman, the next circumnavigator being supported by G.A.S.E., and the un-arranging of them as the weather closed in on St Johns, Canada and delayed Babars flight! Matt called Eddie in the afternoon to say he was awake and just about to check out, so Eddie made his way to the hotel to stay with Matt until departure time. They had lunch in the Italian restaurant, sat by the pool for a bit and chatted about this and that and then Ahmed called to say he would pick them up to go to the airport to start the departure procedure. (airport fees to be paid, airside passes to be arranged and getting across the airport to the ALKAN AIR hangar). After the preflight checks and stowing the luggage it was time to say our goodbyes. We were happy that Matt had come to Cairo but sad to see him go. We will be supporting him fully until at least India but we will always be there to offer advice and any other service we can, all the way to California and the end of his record breaking flight :-)
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 21:45:54 +0000
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