Souda Bay, Greece (Crete)

Of all the flying work trips I've taken over the years in the F-16, Souda Bay, Greece is near if not at the top of the list when it comes to location and great food (especially the Greek salads)!  The 480 Fight Squadron spend two weeks in August flying from the island of Crete, training with the Hellenic Air Force in multiple Close Air Support (CAS) and Large Formation Exercises (LFEs) sorties.  It was sunny and around 90 F every day, which made for great flying and enjoyable weekends at various beaches on Crete.

I was originally scheduled to fly to Souda Bay one of the KC-135 tanker aircraft "dragging" our F-16s but ended up flying a jet down last minute.  It was a picturesque flight south over the European Alps and Sicily before turning east towards Crete.  Mt. Etna on northeast part of Sicily, an volcanic mountain, was smoking looking like it was about to erupt any minute.

The middle weekend of trip, a few of us wanted to explore a couple of the great beaches on Crete.  The first one we visited was Elafonisi and the second Balos Lagoon.  Both were a little difficult to get to, but it was worth the trip; which sand beaches and turquoise water all over!  It would have been great to have Lana and the kids there since both would have been perfect for kids too.

This was the last flying trip on the schedule until next year.  Next spring we may be going to the island of Sardinia to train with the Italian Air Force, so we'll see what happens!