Island Hopping in the Azores

In this series we follow along on a short inter island flight by a Portuguese Air Force DC-6B in the beautiful Azores Islands located off Europe in the Eastern Atlantic.

Our route of flight takes us from Santa Maria (LPAZ) over Ponta Delgada (LPPD) on Sao Miguel and on into Lajes Air Base (LPLA) on Terceira. Our flight plan shows a distance of 143 NM at a cruise altitude of 8000 feet and en route time of 45 minutes

FS2004; CalClassics freeware DC6B; Azores terrain mesh, landclass, and Lajes AB scenery from the library

Cleaned up and climbing out after takeoff from Santa Maria, the southern most of the Azores islands

Our climb takes us past the rugged cliffs on the North Shore of the island. The Azores are known for their mountainous terrain, mild climate, and lush green vegetation

The map shows the 9 main islands in the Azores and our route today

Passing over Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel. This is the largest city in the Azores and is home to the main airport (LPPD). The airport runway is just visible under our airplanes left horizontal stabilizer

The island of Terceira comes into view thru the haze ahead as we begin our descent. Our destination, Lajes Air Base (LPLA), is on the east coast of the island on the right of this picture. Lajes is a joint Portuguese-U.S.-NATO Air base which serves as a stopover and refueling point for flights to and from Europe and the Middle East as well as a base for maritime patrol airplanes like the P3 to cover the mid Atlantic area

Cleared to land on Runway 33. Lajes is famous for frequent swirling crosswinds and turbulence which rolls down from mountains to the west of the field (just off this screenshot to the left). For our flight today things are calm

Shut down on the ramp. After we complete the "Secure Checklist" it will be time to head to the club for some warm fresh baked Portuguese hard rolls slathered in creamy butter and washed down by several ice cold bottles of Mateus Rose

Fantastic shots and flight Bill, you don't see the Azores very often!! :)

Thanks Adam - they're pretty much off the beaten path unless you're a savvy vacation traveler or military aviator :)

I saw the Azores once when I was in the Navy on our way to the Med. :)

Thanks John, KC, and Adam

Adam: I spent a fair amount of time flying in and out of Lajes in the Navy so got to see the islands up close and personal (with the very important side benefit of being able to import numerous cases of dirt cheap Mateus back to the USA from the Lajes package store) :)