One of the airfields I fly from is about to begin a nature improvement program (for want of a better term) in cooperation with a national conservation charity. I can imagine they would also be interested in your program once it gets back up and running! PM me your contact details and I will happily forward them on to the appropriate people. Hopefully 575m grass is enough for your Aztec! If not, I’m sure we can find an alternative.
@NinerEchoPapa that would be terrific! Oh yes 575m grass is more than enough. The project is getting great support with local people jumping in and there is now a mobile app to manage the deployments. PM on the way :-)
I’m pleased this seems to be going well. It seems fantastically suited to airfields.
wleferrand wrote:
@NinerEchoPapa that would be terrific! Oh yes 575m grass is more than enough. The project is getting great support with local people jumping in and there is now a mobile app to manage the deployments. PM on the way :-)
PM received, thank you! I’ll pass on your message soon. I hope we can make this happen and I’m looking forward to being a part of it!
One additional deployment this morning, at LFCL. Please watch for bees crossing on short final :-)
We are a bit behind on the schedule because of the shutdown but we’re almost done with the first wave. The second wave will start when we can get the swarms from Slovenia and if more airfields are interested – June hopefully.
Well, I’m happy to report that it is possible to move ~300,000 bees in a ’73 Aztec :-)
Yesterday my friend André and myself departed Muret (LFBR) to Ljubljana (LJLJ) at 6:30 am. We landed 5 hours later and we were greeted by the airport staff and Mitja, the Slovenian beekeeper who raised the colonies we had purchased.
Mitja and the airport staff did a fantastic job of preparing the colonies and loading them on the luggage trolleys beforehand so loading the bees took maybe 10 minutes. We had removed the seats so we had plenty of cargo space (actually the challenge was to provide the proper ventilation – the airplane smells like a hive now).
We departed in light rain in a very legal but somewhat aft centered plane. 4:20 hours later we landed in Graulhet (LFCQ) where we moved the colonies to the “main” apiary of the project.
We were IFR the whole time so the navigation was a no brainer. Special mention to the Italian controller who got enthusiast about the bees.
The weather was a bit nasty over Italy yesterday but with the stormscope we were able to avoid the worst cells.
Most of these colonies will go to nearby airfields joining the project but we would love to talk to more distant airfields – does anyone would like to host bees :-) ?
@wleferrand it is not known as the Aztruck for nothing:)
Great job! Congratulations!
BTW today the weather is perfect 
@RobertL18C yes it’s a truck – the loading capabilities and the acceptable range of CG are really interesting. We moved more equipment yesterday and we fit more hives in the plane than we do in a small van (13 hives, empty of course).
@Emir ha then we would have been able to see some scenery! Unfortunately we had to plan the trip a week in advance because the bees had to be inspected by a vet before being exported, and once they get the inspection they can’t exit the box so the timer runs ..
What a wonderful rewarding job!
does anyone would like to host bees :-) ?
Presumably you are looking for somewhere warm?
