Sea plane - part I

In life jackets above the desert

Tied-up to its pontoon on the Nile the Cessna 206 rocks leisurely in the swell produced by the passing fashionable cruises. As soon as a passenger enters the plane it bends considerably on its swimming skids. Passengers in unusual clothing. With their red life jackets that are emplazoned across their shorts and t-shirts, the guests look a little bit like teddy bears. The scenario looks completely strange, because the target of the small plane is the desert.

Take-off with chief pilot Per Erik Pfingst. The water of the river Nile is spraying on the hull of the plane. The Cessna takes off, turns in a soft swing west and takes the direction to the West Bank. The river changes to a blue ribbon, the crossing public ferry looks like a toy. Sure, that the passengers again excited crane their necks to the sky to see that small plane. They even interrupt their usual never ending chats. The show up of the small plane still is one of the excitements in Luxor.

In front there is the green farm land, not far away you see the majestic mountains of the desert. The otherwise so impressive walls of the Medinet Habu temple from the plane suddenly look very graceful. Under us the Rameseum passes by - sorry, we pass over it - clearly recognizing the structure of the temple.

We cross the rock desert, the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Who discovered all this by feet before now gets a completely different impression. Breathtaking views from around 330 meters altitude to the desert, the green agricultural land extending to the bank of the Nile. One's can't get the eyes off it, endlessly the camera shutters go on. But why this procedure with the life jackets?

We have to return, again we are crossing the Nile. From south Per Pfingst approaches Luxor City. After passing the greenery of Banana and Crocodile Island we get a view at the grey-brown city area on the East Bank, at Luxor temple, do some shots of the Karnak temple complex, which now seems small but also huge comparing to the other buildings. The plane lowers its altitude down. A soft jolt, and the Cessna is landing on the Nile, is swimming back to its "parking place" in front of "Nile Restaurant" in Karnak. The end of an exciting adventure, a sightseeing flight above the West Bank and the city.

But what is about the life jackets? "As our take-off and landing is on water life jackets are part of the regulations", explains Pfingst smiling. In the small Cessna it's nearly impossible to get out of them. Anyhow, with this short half hour and its lots of impressions there will be no time for this. Half an hour which is worthwhile. This sightseeing with its bird's-eye view, its out-sights offer you different in-sights.

Aerial photographs above (Per Erik Pfingst):
The Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Rameses II., and the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, constructed with three terraces it nearly nestles into the the mountain range (large photograph on top); the desert mountains with the "Valley of the Kings" on the West Bank (small picture above right) and the Karnak temple complex on the East Bank (small picture down right).

Getting ready on the Nile

The only private plane in Luxor is this Cessna 206 from "Ln Aviation", it is something like a symbol, like a sense for a new era about to dawn, to get ready for new ideas. This small plane with its - depending of the weight of the passengers - five seats, with its take-off and landing in front of the "Nile Restaurant" (about one kilometer north of Karnak temple) gets ready on the Nile. Comparing with the modern jets a flight in the Cessna with its altitude up to 330 meters and a speed of about 170 km/h seems almost like a quiet and peaceful "fly for a stroll". That's the whole fun of it.

The man who stands for this getting ready is Fayez Mohamed Ahmed (picture left), chief of the touristic company "Legend of the Nile". Together with two partners - one of them is Spanish - he established the subsidiary "Ln Aviation" for touristic flights with a joint stock of ten million LE. But the first step of the young company finished with a belly flop. During a training flight with a Cessna 185 the pilot did a crash-land. "In Egypt we don't have pilots trained on seaplanes", explains Fayez that get off lightly accident. Nevertheless, at that moment he had to stop his plans.

In January 2002, Fayez got back his licence to operate flights. And he changed his concept. Instead of an amphibian plane that is able to take-off and land on water and land, he counts now on a Cessna 206, a real sea-plane which he bought in Sweden. And he hired Per Erik Pfingst, 33 (picture right), as a very experienced chief pilot.

Since long time Fayez and the German Pfingst (born in the city Kronberg/Taunus) are a team. "Since 1997 I was involved in the plannings of passenger flights, now I got in full time", says the chief pilot, who is living permanently in Egypt since more than two years. His passion of flying started 1990 after finishing high school and 15 months army. He got his pilot licence in South Carolina/USA, was working there and in Texas as a flying instructor, then as a so called "Ferry Pilot", who transferred aircrafts in Texas, later in Germany. After this time he worked as a tour leader in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Kenya, Namibia. But at least globetrotter Pfingst is a pilot, to fly is in his blood.

No wonder that he feels comfortable in Luxor. "Flying with such an aircraft is like fifty or sixty years ago.The pilot has to search for his route by himself, has to be right about the conditions for take-off and landing." Be at the control of everything by his own hand, handle it without autopilot. Per: "If you ever fly a small aircraft, a seaplane, you can't stop doing it."

Click here to read the second part.