 |
|
Flight
Lieutenant Jamie Riddell in the skies above the Solomon
Islands.
|
 |
|
Part
of the damage caused by Cyclone Zoe. Photos by
SGT
Andy Hall
|
WHILE
many people spent New Year’s Day nursing sore heads after
a night of ushering in 2003, Flight Lieutenant Jamie Riddell spent
January 1 in the skies above the Solomon Islands surveying the
damage caused by Cyclone Zoe.
After seeing in the New Year at a friend’s party in North
Sydney, FLTLT Riddell, a C-130 Hercules pilot from RAAF Base Richmond’s
No. 36 Squadron, didn’t get much of a sleep-in and was woken
at 6am and called to the base for a 10am take-off.
“We were told the trip would involve a photo recce of the
islands,” FLTLT Riddell said.
“The major factor against us was daylight, and we were looking
to get airborne as soon as possible to maximise our time in the
search area.”
He was joined by Flight Lieutenant John Spark (co-pilot), Flight
Sergeant Ralph Clifton (flight engineer), Flight Lieutenant Nick
Hogan (navigator), Sergeant Brent Cooper (loadmaster) and Sergeant
Andy Hall (photographer) for
the 10-hour flight.
An ABC cameraman, two press photographers and a representative
from AusAID were also on board.
Their task was to fly over the five affected islands, take photographs
of the damage and relay the images to the capital Honiara.
“The first two islands, Anutu and Tikopia, were damaged the
most. Most of the palm trees were bent and missing their leaves.
“Both islands had damage to their coastline, however most
structures were still intact, some with a lot of sand around or
on top of them from the high seas,” he said.
“There were signs of human activity on both islands. The
three other islands had no signs of damage.”
FLTLT Riddell and his crew later landed at Honiara and attended
a debriefing session with High Commission staff, local aid workers,
medical personnel and the media. The photos were examined and
passed on for further analysis.
They returned to RAAF Base Richmond about 5pm the following day.
Despite the experience, FLTLT Riddell, a C-130 pilot for the past
four years, said it had not been his most unusual New Year’s
Day.
“I’ve been deployed overseas during New Year’s
during the Timor efforts, and have had a couple of other deployments
on January 2,” he said.
“If you’re on standby over the New Year period it is
usually a good sign that you’ll be doing some flying of some
kind.”
