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We were notified in late August 2003 about this upcoming Fly In bound to take place in early October. There were to be aircraft flying in from three different countries; Greece, Israel and Turkey, all in a joint event. Right from the beginning it was obvious that the event schedule as presented to us had a great potential for success.

Greece's representative for coordinating participants was Mrs Yiouli Kalafati who right from the beginning provided us all the information needed. Representing AOPA Turkey, Mr. Erdogan Menekse from Menekse Aviation in Ankara, provided all the information and help to Mrs. Yiouli and Mr. Yigal Merav who was also coordinating the Israeli pilots. Mr. Menekse's help was a key to the success of this fly in. For example he arranged for AVGAS fuel to be transported to Nevshehir-Kapadokya LTAZ for all of us to refuel for later flights as well as a free complimentary ground handling service provided by Gozen Air Airport Handling Agents (Izmir, Ankara, Antalya).

So ... the days of the Fly In came closer and we started our initial planning.

• Aircraft & equipment

• Charts

• Flight Planning

• NOTAMs

• Weather forecasts

• Clearances & paperwork

We made sure we had VFR & IFR charts for the area we were going to fly. The weather few days before was looking OK for the first three days of the trip.  The aircraft we flew was a privately owned Socata TB09 Tampico, Reg. SX-AEK, single engine 160Hp, Fixed pitch propeller, Fixed Gear model.

Also, because we were foreign aircraft flying into Turkey planning to fly outside IFR airways, we had to get prior permission for the VFR flights. If we were to fly VFR via (underneath) the IFR airways perhaps no permission would be needed but we got it anyway from Turkish CAA just to be on the safe side and we had to include the permission number in the Flight Plan supplementary information when we submitted for each of the flight legs.

Initially we used Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 with its add-on FSNavigator software to get an outlook of expected routes, times, fuel burn etc. No we do not have yet Jeppessen's Flite Map and use alternatives !

This is an image of the eight flights SX-AEK did during the Fly In. Each red arrow indicates one of the flight legs of the Fly In that was flown by SX-AEK

This is the flight log for the TB9 Flight Simulator aircraft. The totals you see are estimated numbers without the maneuvers around the airports (point to point flights)

Event's Outlook :

On Friday Oct. 3rd we joined the rest of the Greek aircraft in Izmir-Menderez LTBJ. From there we all joined the rest of the participating aircraft in Selcuk-Efes LTFB and stayed for the weekend where we had the precision landing contest on Saturday. On Sunday few aircraft left back for home (Makedonia & Kos in Greece & Istanbul in Turkey) and the rest left for Ankara-Esenboga LTAC.

On Tuesday the group left for Nevshehir-Kapadokya LTAZ. Thursday morning most of the aircraft left for Adana LTAF while two Greek aircraft (incl. SX-AEK) stayed on at Kapadokya. On Friday the Fly In officially ended at Adana and remaining aircraft flew back to Israel and Ankara, Turkey, while the two Greek aircraft from Kapadokya flew to Istanbul-Gokcen LTFJ.

Sunday the last day of this tour, the two Greek aircraft left Istanbul for Athens-Tanagra LGTG and Makedonia LGTS in Greece.

SX-AEK flights during the event :

1. LGTG -> LGMT

2. LGMT-> LTBJ

3. LTBJ -> LTFB

4. LTFB -> LTAC

5. LTAC -> LTAZ

6. LTAZ -> LTFJ

7. LTFJ -> LGMT

8. LGMT -> LGTG

 

 

This is the route our friends from Israel flew.

Source : Yigal Merav

While preparing for the Fly In we also flew in some of the airports on the Simulator to familiarize a bit with the area. The accuracy of the surrounding scenery was very good.

Screenshots are from Microsoft FS2004 in Selcuk-Efes LTFB approaching  runway 27

Friday October 3rd

The morning of departure comes. The schedule was for all aircraft from Greece to meet in Izmir Menderez LTBJ airport around 12~13:00, clear passport control as a group and then leave for Selcuk-Efes LTFB where we would meet the rest of the aircraft & pilots from Turkey and Israel around 14:00L.

We started with SX-AEK early in the morning from Athens-Tanagra AB LGTG and landed in Mitilini LGMT 1:50 later. We had to fly to Turkey via Mitilini since Tanagra is not an "airport of entry" for passport & customs control and Mitilini would be our point of exit.

Route of this flight: LGTG OLIDA G8 LSV LGMT

Chios LGHI was a better choise, for distance of flight, but the hours of operation did not help us. On our way there on the ATC frequency we were listening to Cessnas SX-APG ,SX-ABI,  SX- APZ and SX-APV who were on their way to Izmir from Makedonia LGTS and flew abeam of Mitilini LGMT.

Mitilini LGMT runway 33 in the sunset (from another flight, with lights on, especially requested for this picture !)

 

We arrived at Mitilini and our friend Manolis Argiropoulos from Mitilini Air Club came to greet us. After an hour at Mitilini we departed for less than an hour's flight to Izmir-Menderez LTBJ. We filed LGMT AMANI LTBJ. After departure we flew North towards exit point AMANI, switched VFR transponder code from 7000, used in Greece, to 1200 used in Turkey and turned right towards South while admiring "Aivali" resort on Turkey's western coast.

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After turning South and climbing to 5,500 ft, we contacted Izmir approach on 120.10 who established radio & radar contact with us few minutes later. On the other radio on 122.10 (common military tower  frequency) we kept communication with Cigli AB LTBL in order to make sure we were cleared to cross their MATZ which lay along our route to Izmir. Approach handed us off to tower 118.10 who cleared us to left downwind runway 34. At the same time SX-APZ from Makedonia was (who entered Turkey via VEXOL abeam Chios LGHI) was entering left base 34.

SX-AEK on finals rwy 34. SX-APZ is taxiing on runway after landing. Izmir International airport ahead of us.

On short finals 34 SX-APZ about to vacate runway. Runway CATIII lights were on for maintenance that day.

As we arrived in Menderez airport (Cargo apron for GA) pilots and passengers from all over Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Iraklion, Kos) met at the apron, some of them for the first time. Gozen Air (frequency 131.45) agent had everything sorted for us.

Immediatly after Hellenic aircraft arrived to Izmir, refueling service gets on its way.

As Gozen Air bus takes us to the International terminal for passport control, the Hellenic fleet lies ready for the next flight leg to Selcuk-Efes.

After we completed all the procedures in Menderez airport (about one hour) the ~20 pilots & passengers boarded their aircraft.

On our start up at Izmir suddenly seven VFR aircraft called Menderez Tower for departure instructions for flight to Selcuk-Efes LTFB. It took few minutes for ATC to sort out the group and who was calling when. After a while, all, one after the other aircraft took off from rwy 34 folowed by a left turn Southeastwards and Izmir approach made a good job to keep us away from Inbound IFR air traffic.

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One by one all seven aircraft departed for the half hour flight to Selcuk-Efes LTFB GA airport due Southeast. The flight plan was LTBJ - LTFB direct. It was going to be a half hour flight southeastwards. The East-West runway Selcuk airfield, which also has an NDB, was easily recognized in the flat valley - which used to be sea ages ago - as we approached the airfield from the North. The runway had an unusual long / narrow dimensions (5710x80 ft) for General Aviation (GA) airfield and certainly looked as a diversion runway for other type of aviation as well since it had the signs of "distance to end" along the sides of the runway used in the military.

The view on finals 27 LTFB was rewarding. The ancient part of the Selcuk city was just below us at 3 o' clock

On short finals we could see the other aircraft from Turkey & Israel who were already there.

Circuit traffic had to remain North of the field due to ancient city of Ephessos (not in view here) just Southeast of the airfield.

SX-AEK just parked at Selcuk apron while others are coming in.

 

No, the oil spilage is not ours ! It was from another aircraft parked there recently.

The seven Hellenic aircraft in foreground and six Turkish aircraft in the background. The ones from Israel are on the left not seen in this picture.

Selcuk-Efes airport (Havaalani) terminal. While aircraft keep coming in, we "socialize" at the apron !

"Getting to know each other !" Ankara Flying Club and Thessaloniki Flying Club teams get together for a picture.

From left to right : Mustafa Ozbek, John Haskakis, Katerina Gika, Volkan Tasan, Erdogan Menekse, Mufit Zehir, Xenofon Dimopoulos, George Alexandrides, Yiouli Kalafati, Selim Dentes, Nikos Letsos, Panagiotis Mavidis, Lefteris Karavasilis

As the last aircraft came in, the airfield friendly staff offered us some relaxing Turkish tea and later on we took the bus to our near by "Pine Bay" hotel, a holiday resort which was quite busy.

Picture: Yigal Merav

Later on we moved to our "Pine Bay" hotel. A view across the small gulf. This is the restaurant we would have the banquet the next evening.

Picture: Udi Harsonsky

This is the view from a point very close to our hotel. It is due North and the valley in view (behind the other hotels) is the one where Selcuk-Efes airfield is situated.

Picture by : Dov Levanon

Dinner during first night at hotel's restaurant. Representatives from three AOPA's discuss next mornings precision landing competition rules & regulations. It seems there is a disagreement !

Precision Landing Competition

On Saturday we woke up early in the morning. It was the day of the precision landing competition. After we were driven by our bus to the aifield, the competition coordinators took registrations and briefed carefully the participants. A lot of caution was given to safety issues since there were going to be groups of five aircraft flying all the time in the airfield circuit one after the other.

The landing competition started and one group after the other started their competing atempts.

Picture by : Dov Levanon

Competing crews are getting their briefing.

Picture by : Dov Levanon

... more briefing.

As each group of five aircraft completed the three circuits, they held off at the far end of the runway and after the last one touched down, altogether would backtrack back to the apron while the next group would line up for take off.

After the one SX-AEK pilot tried his luck & skills the second pilot took over and joined the next group of aircraft about to go.

DOWNLOAD - 15 seconds video - 5.3Mb

A video clip of one of SX-BSA 's spot landing atempts which did not go so well. Nice close fly by for the the cameraman though !

DOWNLOAD - 15 seconds video - 5.3Mb

A video clip of an effort for spot landing during the competition. On the left are the judges & spectators and ahead of us the touchdown point.

On final with SX-AEK for one more spot landing attempt. This is what it looked like from pilot's point of view at 1 nm final. You can just about see the touch down point line between the second set of lines (the ones after the threshold lines) and the people next to it.

Click here to open the MS Excel spreadsheet prepared by Yigal Merav displaying all the competition results.

The winner !! Nikos Letsos piloting SX-APZ just after having touched down to point 0 and accelerating for one more takeoff and attempt.

 

Picture by : Dov Levanon

Picture by : Dov Levanon

One more pass by SX-AEK

Picture by : Dov Levanon

One more successfull spot landing by SX-APZ. Note the high pitch descent which guaranteed best spot landing performance in conjunction with low speed & not full flaps setting

Mrs. Yiouli Kalafati piloting the rented TC-IHM just after touch down and going for the next attempt. The mark under her wheels is the touchdown point everyone was aiming for. This is perhaps the last picture ever of this aircraft taken while in flyable condition. Few days later it was capsized from 50+kts gusting winds resulting in a "total loss" aircraft status. More on that in the Kapadokya page.

The right stuff ! - Socata Trinidad TB20GT

Ferhat Tigrel and friends on their way to Bodrum LTFE for some good fish lunch.

And finally everybody gathers for a group picture after the competition.

Ancient Ephessos

After the precision landing competition was over we were all transferred by bus to nearby ancient Ephessos site.  A very helpful guide took over the tour and explained us all about the amazing history of this area.

The group as they stand against one of the city's theatres and one arcade.

Ruins near the main entrance of the ancient city. Much more is buried underground.

Walking down the downhill central road of the city. In the background looking North you can see Selcuk-Efes runway. This is when we found out why traffic circuits to the South were not allowed ; the ancient city was just South of the airfield.

Picture by : Alon Koval

The same central road just further down in the city.

Towards the city's exit the visitor meets the refurbished facade of the library building. Detailed craftsmanship dating centuries back.

Picture by : Alon Koval

The main theater and the arcade leading to the exit of the city.

Picture by : Yigal Merav

The main road after the theater and the library which used to lead to the city's port (near Selcuk-Efes airfield).

Later on we all returned to the hotel with some time to relax.

As the sun was setting we had some nice cold beer in the hotel's terrace where we also did some initial briefing about next day's flight to Ankara.

Banquet & Awards

At same evening we had the award nominations and the banquet for all the participants.

Each winner had a lot of stuff to take including some nice souvenirs handed out to all participants regardless of the competition position.

Yiouli from AOPA Hellas expresses her gratitude to all other organizers & participants of this event. CDs of Greek instrumental music were given from AOPA Hellas as present to all participants.

Yiouli Kalafati of AOPA Hellas thanking Yaron Efrat of AOPA Israel for all they've done and wishes come through for the next group flight event.

Group departure to Ankara

On Sunday morning it was time for the group to move on to Ankara as planned. Originally, the crew of SX-AEK were planning to return to Athens on Sunday afternoon. Little did we know back in the days of initial planning of how fun this trip was going to be and we had not planned for the rest. Fierce insistence from our other friends to continue with them eventually convinced us to follow the group in Ankara and Kapadokya later on.

Few pilots/aircraft had to leave back home because they could not be away from work on Monday. The departures were for Thessaloniki & Kos in Greece and Istanbul in Turkey. We saluted them and the remaining team boarded planes for the sequenced departure as we had planned it. Izmir Approach (via Selcuk tower) assigned us custom squawk codes even though we were VFR, because within minutes they were going to have a dozen of VFR aircraft in the Southern tip of their control zone.

DOWNLOAD - 15 seconds video - 5.3Mb

A surround view video clip of the aircraft lining up for departure at Selcuk-Efes runway 27 as they leave for Ankara.

As we boarded the aircraft to depart the very helpful and friendly Selcuk-Efes airfield staff saluted us. "Goodbye our friends, we will be back soon ... you made us feel like home". Just minutes ago this building was full of ~30 people preparing for their next flight.

One by one all aircraft departed and Selcuk-Efes was left back to its peace after a very busy weekend.

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The 320 nm flight plan for this flight was LTFB - KULAR - TUMER - KINIK - KFK - HAY - ANK - LTAC

We departed Northeast towards KULAR intersection passing over Boz Daglar mountain. Then continuing East we overflew Usak LTBO airport where there was no activity and no one responded for to our advisory calls. We all flew at 7500 ft or some even at 9500 ft. Terrain below us for the whole flight was at or above 3000ft with mountain tops reaching up to ~8000 ft in some places. The weather was pure CAVOK all the way. It took about 3.5 hours for each one to reach Ankara-Esenboga airport. In Turkey there is no en route Flight Information Service for VFR flights (FIC). We only called each approach ATC as we affected their zone.  Further East, Afyon AB LTAH in our route was active but cleared us to fly through their zone with no restrictions. From Afyon we routed NorthEast towards Ankara (HAY Haymana NDB). After HAY we contacted Ankara Approach and they confirmed radar contact with each of the inbound VFR aircraft. As we approached Ankara city we descended to 5000ft to remain separated from IFR traffic. We routed East of the city outskirts flying North for the airport and few miles before Ankara Enseboga LTAC we were handed off to Enseboga Tower for visual pattern entry instructions. Runway in use was 21L and we all entered via left downwind join for 21L.

Picture by : Alon Koval

The whole flight route consisted of elevated rural terrain with mountain tops from time to time. We flew at 7500 ft but ground was only 3000 ft below us at times.

"On the fly" sun protective measures were necessary during this eastbound 3.5 hours trip for the passenger sitting on the South side ! A VFR chart has many useful functions while airborne.

Picture by: Don Levanon

Just after three hours since airborne and the South Eastern outskirts of Ankara are reached as we head North for Enseboga airport.

Ankara approach asks us to descend to 5000 ft to keep separated from other military & civil air traffic. Mind you the elevation of the whole area there is about 3000ft and at 2000 ft AGL we could feel the wind gusts produced by the uneven land formations

Picture by: Doron Shapira

On left base runway 21L Ankara-Enseboga LTAC

Picture by: Doron Shapira

... and final 21L. Apron 5 where all GA parks is on the right. We vacated left on taxiway A , taxied back North, crossed 21L & 21R thresholds and continued on the the GA apron.

Upon arrival at Enseboga LTAC we refueled the aircraft. Its a good idea to do it just after the flight. a) you avoid unnecessary delays on the morning of departure and b) you avoid moisture condensation inside the (empty) tanks.

Friends from Greece, Turkey  and Israel gather up for a picture in Ankara airport while the aircraft are being refueled. Ankara Flying Club also offered us some nice Turkish tea and we relaxed in their pilots lounge overlooking the apron.

From left to right : Yiouli Kalafati, Nikos Letsos, George Alexandrides, Mustafa Ozbek, Yaron Efrat, Yigal Merav, Avner Halevy, Xenofon Dimopoulos, Arick Sinai, Alon Koval, Mr. Refueler, Airport staff, Dov Levanon, Dror Artzu, Moshe Akler.

SX-AEK just parked at Ankara-Esenboga LTAC apron 5 (for General Aviation) and some good ol' friends from our other virtual aviation hobby - VATSIM and more specifically the Turkish_vACC team - came to Enseboga to welcome us. That was a great pleasure because we did not expect it since no one knew SX-AEK would continue further from Selcuk-Efes onto the next week of the Fly In but still our friends in Ankara heard about it and came over to meet us. A wonderful surprise that proved how small the world becomes with aviation !

Left to right: Murat Ulus, Kemal Baki, Kyprianos Biris, Sabih Gultekin.

So, after spending about two hours refueling and enjoying some nice Turkish tea at Ankara flight club we took our bus which drove us to a very nice traditional Kebab house LOCANDA close to the airport. The restaurant was an old fashioned wooden building consisting of nice outdoor seating covered by tents and and a nice garden. Above you see the little house where staff  members relaxed during their free time.

The team enjoys some tasty traditional Turkish cuisine in a long table outdoors set up just for us. It was the best choice after 4 hours in the plane and two at the airport.

As we left more souvenir pictures are taken. Here, Xenofon here poses for  one more picture on the wooden hut terrace.

After we arrived at our 5 star  hotel downtown (DEDEMAN) we took the streets for some sightseeing. During the evening we had arranged for some nice dinner at Ankara Tennis Club restaurant.

The next morning (Monday) we toured Ankara downtown again. The city was very interesting to walk and drive by. Among the things we saw were the Natural History museum, Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum, the city's old market place and the best , overlooking everything, the restored ruins of the old castle.

Picture by: Alon Koval

As we were leaving the hotel we had an interesting encounter. Turkey's prime minister, Mr Erdogan himself was in our hotel for a conference. We had observed the activity since previous night but we never expected to bump onto the man himself.

Picture by: Alon Koval

As journalists and conference people started dispersing we managed to get the coach which would take us downtown.

Picture by: Alon Koval

The garden of the Natural History Museum ...

Picture by: Yigal Merav

... where the group went for the day's first visit.

Later on, Kyprianos & Yiouli with the old city of the hilltop in background.

Nikos, Yiouli and George on top of Ankara

Ankara is a city full of hills. This is a view from the old castle towards East. Houses near the city's old part are all covered by ceramic tiles. The modern building blocks are further out of the city center.

One more view that indicates the restoration work that has been done to the castle walls.

Right inside the old castle we found an excellent cafe, a restored old house to all its glory.

DOWNLOAD - 15 seconds video - 5.3Mb

From the cafe's terrace we had an excellent top view of the city. This video clip was shot during the noon prayer. All minarets of the city where "transmiting" the prayer via loudspeakers and the effect was very strong.

Picture by : Alon Koval

The old part of the city ...

Picture by : Alon Koval

... on top of the hill

Picture by: Doron Shapira

Later on most people from the group went to Kemal Ataturk's burial place, a dominating mausoleum overlooking Ankara.

Picture by: Alon Koval

The change of guard.

Picture by: Doron Shapira

The view towards Ankara from the mausoleum

Picture by: Alon Koval

Later on we visited the old city market where all traditional Turkish craftsmanship objects, spices &  herbs and lots more could be found on reasonable prices.

Picture by: Yigal Merav

Later on on in the evening we went to a nice restaurant were once again we were served nice Turkish traditional food. Here a picture in that restaurant of the three precision landing contest winners.

From left to right : Dror Artzi 2nd, Nikos Letsos 1st and Kyprianos Biris 3rd

On Tuesday morning, two days after our arrival, we woke up at 05:30 according to plan and  we all went to the airport and prepared the aircraft for the departure to Kapadokya.

As we board our luggage each group chats around each aircraft.

The sun had just risen from the east. The charts are on SX-AEK's starboard wing and we all agree on last minute's flight details over the flight route.

After all the preparations airraft started engines one by one and called Enseboga Tower for taxi instructions. We took off from runway 21R due South East for the 1.5 hour flight to Nevshehir-Kapadokya LTAZ airport. Each of us was given a separate squawk code.

The 135nm flight  route we followed from LTAC was from Ankara Enseboga direct to TZK Tuzkoy VOR in Kapadokya Nevshehir LTAZ airport. For about 1.5 hour we flew at 7500 ft. The route was with perfect weather. Only problem was the morning sun which was right in front of us and the hazy atmosphere due to calm winds in all central Turkey that forthnight did not help much. After departure we climbed and overflew Kirikkale and later on Kirsehir towns. Except of the TZK VOR on field, the river Kizilirmak, flowing near by, enabled easy recognition of the airport

As we arrived in Nevshehir airport few of aircraft had come closer to each other en route due to speed differences. Even though we departed with 2~3  minutes separation each, we arrived almost altogether creating a small chaos in the quiet and peaceful airport of Nevshehir.!

The poor lady in the tower constantly issued landing clearances but still there was another pattern of communications inside the frequency that pilots by quickly self announcing position reports managed to separate them selves and turn up on finals runway 11 properly sequenced. There were so many callsigns that turned up that if it had been left up to the controller to organize separation by position reports we would have been up in the air for much longer. Luckily the controller understood that these VFR pilots managed to separate themselves efficiently and only provided the landing clearances, some times even to the wrong aircraft  in midst of the callsign reports chaos !

Kapadokya is an area of volcanic soil. This was evident right from the beginning as soon as we took a look arround the airport after we parked the aircraft. It was evident that we had already changed environment since the first day of Selcuk-Efes.

Picture by: Dov Levanon

Mr. Erdogan Menekse from Menekse Aviation in Ankara, pilot of C172, reg. TC-VOR, who once again had organized everything for us in Kapadokya. For example, there was no AVGAS in Kapadokya-Nevshehir and we had to bring some fuel in for the flights which would not go to Adana LTAF after two days. Adana (1 hour to the South) had fuel but the aircraft which would fly North West to Istanbul needed to full up tanks again for another 3.5 hours flight.

Picture by: Alon Koval

Picture by: Alon Koval

Volcanic land formed centuries ago ...

... enabled local inhabitants to dig in the formations and form their dwellings.

Rain pouring for hundreds of years has "sculptured" these formations ...

... producing an unprecedented wealth of rock shapes across the valley of Kapadokya.

People who lived inside the dug in dwelling also sculptured their interior spaces. This is a dining room of one of the monasteries where monks used to sit and dine. The table is the middle part and the seating benches are the parts seen left and right.

We were provided an excellent tour by an experienced tour guide on the outdoor museum of Kapadokya where lots of old churches & monasteries were in public display. It included lots of dug in dwellings and churches.

The carpet factory

On Wednesday we visited a traditional Turkish carpet factory in Avanos, Kapadokya. The boss provided us a full tour of the facility and explained us all the fine details involved in traditional Turkish carpet making. We enjoyed a full presentation of the factory's products in a special demonstration room on top and we also had very nice traditional beverages offered to us by the establishment after the presentation.

Visit their website and see for yourself the wonders we came across :

 http://www.sentez.com.tr/

The boss explains us all the details ...

... while we enjoy their hospitality

The underground cities

Later on during the day we toured further Kapadokya, visiting the underground cities of Derinkuyu dug underground centuries ago by villagers and monks in seek of protection by intruders.

This is a typical example of an underground room in one of the many houses which communicated with a network of corridors dug in. Here we see how the round rolling stone doors used to protect the inhabitants from intruders. Once closed they could not be opened from outside.

After years of rain pouring some terrain here has collapsed and has revealed the cross section of the "underground cities".

No, Camels are not normally seen in that area of the unless its a tourist attraction where they have them for souvenir pictures by visitors. The land formations behind are characteristic images of Kapadokya. Some hard rocks on top have not deformed after centuries of rain pour as much as the soft volcanic ash below them. This phenomenon has facilitated the creation of these characteristic shapes.

More of  Kapadokya

On Wednesday morning our friends from Israel left for Adana LTAZ - the Fly In's official last leg - but pilots & passengers of SX-ABI and SX-AEK had decided not to follow that last part. Pictures from their visit to Adana can be seen at AOPA Israel's presentation mentioned in the beginning of this presentation.

We rented a private car and toured Kapadokya further visiting little villages and the towns of Uchisar, Avanos, Urgup,  Derinkuyu, Yesilhisar, Guzeliurt, and Soganli and Ihlara valleys. We wanted to visit Kayseri (the capital) as well, but did not have the time to do so eventually.

Above we see one of our Israeli friends' aircraft touring over Kapadokya for a last overflight before they head towards Adana while we drive underneath for our next touring destination.

Kyprianos against the background of Uchisar's stunning rock full of deserted dug in dwellings.

Picture by: Yiouli Kalafati

While visiting the villages we got closer to suburban life !

One of the villages we visited had many remaining buildings from the Greek inhabitants who used to live there until the 1920s.  This is the  old Greek school.

... an old Greek orthodox church of St. Nicolas.

An aerial view of Sinassos village from the rock which overlooks the whole area.

The wind storm

Thursday (9th) proved to be a very windy day.  As you will see from Ankara METARs further down a cold front was moving over Turkey NorthEastwards and it contained strong gusty winds. Similar winds created the damage seen below to SX-AEK when the door (even though held by hand) was blown away above the aircraft and stretched over the roof. At same time three GA aircraft were heavily damaged in Ankara & Istanbul the same morning. In Ankara LTAC GA apron two aircraft were destroyed and in Istanbul apron Cessna 152 reg. TC-IHM capsized by the high winds and got "total loss" level of damage. This is the aircraft which was flown in Selcuk-Efes for the competition and the picture in that page must be the last time photographed in flying status.

Nikos Letsos used his ingenuity with a thick nylon piece and duct tape from both sides of the window in order to, temporarily, seal the side door window damage and keep the aircraft flyable. Xenofon, on the left, gives necessary advise for the finishing touches !

All this happens while wild wind is blowing from the direction of the building (west / behind us). We intentionally taxied the aircraft very close to the terminal building (after the damage) so that we could somehow cut down the wind effect and make it possible to work on the aircraft.

SX-AEK door which was damaged from 45kts gusting winds at the airport. The airplane was not to have flown that morning. We only rushed to the airport just to turn the parked aircraft "into wind" so that we minimize risk of damage. SX-ABI is seen just 100m behind. Just where ABI is, it  was impossible to stand still. The picture is taken from the position closer to the terminal building where AEK was later taxied. As you can see from ABI, Nevshehir airport does not have tie down restrain points for GA aircraft.

October 9th 2003 Ankara weather reports

LTAC 090820Z 18031G48KT 5000 BLDU FEW030CB BKN035 24/07 Q1005 TEMPO -TSRA RMK RWY21L 20037G52KT RWY21R 20036G51KT RWY03L 21032G44KT =

LTAC 090850Z 20034G45KT 4000 BLDU FEW030CB BKN035 23/08 Q1006 TEMPO - TSRA RMK RWY21L 20037G52KT RWY21R 20036G51KT RWY03L 21032G44KT =

Cessna 152 TC-IHM in Istanbul Gokcen LTFJ apron after the windstorm damage. It was the same morning that other aircraft were damaged in Ankara LTAC and Kapadokya LTAZ.

Last day in Kapadokya

With the wind blowing beyond flyable conditions we chose to drive around Kapadokya region to see more interesting places. Fondas chose to relax during some of the long drives through towns !

We also walked through the canyon in Ihlara valley where nature displayed all of its beauty.

The interior of an old orthodox monastery, St. Andreas in Sinassos village. Note the circular (used to be rolling) door which used to block intruders ages ago when monks had to fight for their survival.

One more deserted monastery in the Soganli canyon, the one of Saint Barbara with a woden pedestrian bridge over the river which was built at a much later date.

Troglodyte Churches in Soganli valley

Dwellings of local residents from centuries ago included pigeon holes (marked with white) so that the birds could (and still can) find some protection.

After years of desertion part of the building has collapsed and the cross section is revealed. We were stunned by the "sculpture" in front of us.

Stunning view of the monasteries as they stand up in the canyon.

Picture by: Yiouli Kalafati

George Alexandrides takes a closer picture.

Picture by: Yiouli Kalafati

Fontas and Kyprianos at the yard of one more deserted 18th century monastery.

Adter a day full of driving we ended up in the hotel with a good meal and some nice rest for next days' trip to Istanbul.