From the logbook...The Last One (Part Two)

I thought I was done flying, but I had been asked a few times to be willing to fly with the volcanologists again. I had been saying "yes" since it would be early in the morning and pretty easy. This morning when I woke up, I received the call asking me to take them up so they could take their "special" pictures and get a birds eye view of what the volcanoes are doing. We flew for almost 2.5 hours, up to 20,000 feet taking pics of Tungurahua and Sangay...both of which were erupting on a small scale.

This is Tungurahua as we were climbing to 19,000 feet. Below is the tourist town of Baños. You can easily see that if Tungurahua were to erupt on this northern flank, the residents of Baños would be in trouble. At the moment all ash and lahars are going to the southwest. Mostly water vapor is being emitted at the moment. A small ash cloud can be seen blowing away from the volcano.

While circling Tungurahua, El Altar was trying to peek out of the clouds. This is the only shot I got of it, although it still looks pretty fearsome.

This is most surely my last flight here in Ecuador, as I have to pack up my flight gear now. It was sure a good one to go out with. We only have two more weeks here in Shell.