With their metallic ‘shoes’, the hydros splashed down again this Friday on the beach of Los Alcázares, which saw them take off for the first time in Spain in 1915. They had not returned since 2015, when the centenary of that ‘gallinaceous’ takeoff was celebrated ‘ Carried out by cavalry lieutenant Roberto White Santiago with similar expectation to which the hydros still arouse.
The promenade was filled with the public on Friday afternoon to welcome these multi-space machines. They fly very lightly, navigate like a catamaran and roll on land like a sports car. Despite the adverse winds of the day, the three landed easily on the Mar Menor, and another three will arrive this Saturday, plus the military Canadair ‘Apagafuegos’ from Ala 43.
“It is that the Mar Menor is a much easier track for hydro, because it is sheltered,” explains the president of the Majorcan Aeronautical Foundation, Miguel Buades, who has collaborated in the organization of the Splash IN festival, which runs until Sunday in Los Alcazares.
Due to its favorable conditions and its historical ties, the City Council has requested the declaration of ‘hydrosurface’ in the Mar Menor, which will allow civilian seaplanes to land, as they do in the port of Pollença, in Mallorca. The lagoon would become the third civil hydrosurface in Spain, along with the Mallorcan coast and the Alange lake in Extremadura.
“It would open the connection of the Mar Menor with the Balearic Islands and the rest of the Mediterranean coast,” explains the Councilor for Commerce and festival coordinator, Pedro Sánchez. They could make a stopover on the Alcazar shore, hydros like the ones received by the public to applause. One of Austrian origin and two ultralight Italians. “They are the latest technology in aviation,” explains Buades.
The invited hydros will participate this Saturday at 12 noon in the Snader Cup. “It will be the first time that it is carried out in the whole world,” says Buades. The pilots will have to follow an air route and complete a navigation and time circuit. The public that tests the flight simulators, installed in the Plaza de las Pescaderías, will be able to carry out the same test as the hydros in the air. They will also be able to approach the hydros parked on the beach.
At 1:00 p.m., the ‘Apagafuegos’ will make an exhibition of how it is capable of collecting water from the lagoon. In the afternoon there will be a tourist and cultural route from the Town Hall door at 7:00 p.m. and a night safari on a tourist train at 8:00 p.m. At sundown on Sunday, there will be a special occasion to ride in hot air balloons. Also interesting is the Playmobil exhibition on seaplanes at the Atrio del Mar hotel.
#Mar #Menor #aspires #hydrosurface #Spain