The dairies
 
October 10th, 2006
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- Arrival on Tromelin Island -

Team embarking on the Reunion island
Credit : Jean-Marie de Bernardy de Sigoyer
The 61-ZP Transall landed on Tromelin Island at 3.40 pm.

Sitting on Spartan seats aligned in the cabin, the whole team of the « Forgotten Slaves » mission and the Meteo relief team were trying to see the island through the few windows.

Some time before the plane landed, the crew and the wing commanders Ulmann and Gueritte asked me to come in the cockpit and see our arrival. They also wanted me to tell the Utile’s story in details. Then we started to go down, the plane crossed a layer of cloud and the waves breaking around the isle allowed us to see it in the distance.

Departure of the 61-ZP Transall.
Credit : Jean-Marie de Bernardy de Sigoyer

On that day the wind was blowing 22 knots south-east and the island was surrounded by a thick white foam. The plane went over the island, checking that the runway was free from obstacles and started to land smoothly, facing the wind, under the unruffled eye of the gannets which were nesting on the edge of the runway.

The car park began to liven up, the whole station staff had come to welcome the relief and help to unload the equipment and supplies. A young journalist from « Antenne Réunion » was just going there and back to cover the event for the evening TV news.

Everybody was bustling about, trying to reconnoitre the area and storing the equipment where they could. Then we had lunch in the station dining room with the meteorologists and the airmen.

Pitching the tent
Credit : Cyril d'Andrea

Later in the afternoon, the Transall ran its engines again and took off, leaving a cloud of dust behind. It flew over the island for a while, then moved away towards the south, and we could assess the island area.

Then we had to pitch the tent that the Army lent us. But Jean-François had forgotten the  instructions paper at home so in a happy hubbub, we tried to establish a pitching method. The tent was finally erected towards the end of the afternoon, not far from the weather station.

Rédacteur : M. Guérout

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