Hi y’all. My name is Camilla Labonte, I’m 17 years of age and I’m currently a student at the School of Advance Levels Studies (SALS). This is DAY THREE of our exciting first week of session 2 in this second edition of the #BEinternship. I’m here as an intern at the Seychelles Air Force (SAF) which is located at Point Larue. My colleagues Annia Marengo, Jonise Philoe and I were simply thrilled over the fact that this morning we got the chance to see our breathtaking EEZ through a bird’s eye view on a journey into one of SAF’s aircraft named the Dornier 228-202K (SY-010). Note-worthy Fact: The Seychelles’ Exclusive Economic Zone is 1.33 million km2.Gigantic right? It’s approximately the size of France! So you can only imagine some constraints that the SAF (composed of a total of 57 personnel and 3 aircrafts _one is currently under maintenance) faces when executing its various special tasks such as Fisheries Protection patrol, Anti-Piracy Operation, Anti-Narcotic Operation to safeguard the EEZ’s natural resources and protecting the livelihood of the two main pillars of our economy i.e. tourism and the fisheries industry. Throughout the entire bus ride from the bus terminal in Town to Point Larue I was overwhelmed by excitement as the day prior they had informed us that today we would get the chance to experienced firsthand what happens during one of their patrols onboard one of the aircrafts. Our flight’s time of departure had been scheduled to be at 1000hrs so we spent our morning with our Mentor Lt/Cpl A. Stravens in the Image Intelligence Office learning more about what goes on behind the scene in the IMINT Office before a flight. We observed and enquired as he worked on a ‘Flight Authorization’ report on the desktop. This is a document that needs to be signed by the Commanding Officer Lt Col M.Pouponneau to approve a flight before departure. Next was an MDO (Mission Data Overlay) Report. This is another pre-flight report that our mentor was working on that involved quite a number of information about the flight such as the AOI (Area of Interest) ,‘Flight Line’, the Wind Direction, Cloud Cover, Marine and Local Area Forecast that had been obtained from the Met Office via email in the AM and so on and so forth that the flight crew would need. Time flew by fast and before we knew it we were tightening up the thick green strap of our lifejackets. The way that the burning sun roasted us like nuts in an oven as we made our way towards the aircraft that was already out of the hangar and onto the tarmac outside somewhat indicated of pleasant flight to come. With our seatbelts fastened , our phones being on “flight mode” and after getting certain information about what to do in case of an emergency from Cpl Hertel M. the Surveillance Officer on board we were good to go. The engines roared for takeoff as the propellers started. The next thing I knew, I was flying amidst the clouds……… I hope that you’ll stick around for Part 2 of OUR EEZ THROUGH A BIRD’S EYE VIEW to know more about today’s flight aboard the Dornier 228-202K (SY-010). #Day3 #BEinternship #PreFlight #SAF #Part1
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AuthorThe interns of the Prosperity & Environment: Promoting sustainable development opportunities for youth in the Blue Economy sector. Archives
January 2018
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