Hello! Happy New Year to all! I registered because of this interesting contest. Anyway, this is my entry. I hope that you'll enjoy it!

Courier

Diary entry #1
April 12th 2010

I have never thought I will ever write a diary in my life. But obviously when serving the armed forces you are forced to learn and get used to all sort of new things. Diary is one of them. My name is Aleksey Kirilenko. I am a pilot of single seat attack helicopter Ka-50 in Russian Army. Our current base of operations is Gelendzhik on the shores of Black Sea. Unfortunately we are not here in peace time. The war has started between Abkhazia and Georgia and some Russian units, our squadron included, were sent to the area for peace keeping operations. My ass! If nothing else, we are at least far enough from the fighting… For now… More about the situation in next entries. It's gonna be enough for today.

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Diary entry #19
March 4th, 2010

23 days at Gelendzhik. Top brass decided that until the need for us to intervene exists, we will keep on battle trainings on orders from the Moscow itself. This week, Navy had bad luck and had to begin the exercise at once including the Neustrashimy flag ship otherwise based at Novorossiysk. Our squadron got two days off so some of our pilots and mechanics went to town to get some »supplies« for the planned party.

Diary entry #20
March 5th 2010

I have the worst hangover. Lots of things happened today and as I have finally some time now, I can describe what was happening in more detail. At 4am this morning a loud “Aleksey!!!” woke me up. Still totally busted, C/O woke me up, describing some problems to me, and in my state of mind at that moment, first thing I thought was - We are being sent to war! Luckily for me this wasn't the case.

I was ordered to put on my flight suite and report immediately on the apron.

Getting there I noticed in the dim light two Ka-50s along with some fuel trucks and some guards.



I see one of the helicopters is being prepped for flight, equipped with external fuel tanks and I head towards it. As I buckle in and start pre-flight checks courier delivers me the mission briefing. “One of our officers has some important documents containing the course of exercises but was not able to reach the port in Novorossiysk before the flagship sailed out. Your mission is to find the officer and deliver the documents to the Neustrashimy.” That's right; I'll have to find the guy and land on the ship in this crappy weather. Due to the lack of time, my fuel tanks were not filled full but at least I had two external fuel tanks which should provide enough juice for the mission.

And the headache was getting worse.



“Aleksey, close your eyes, take a deep breath and exhale.” I say to myself, hoping this will help with headache.



Unfortunately it didn't. However I still have to fly a mission. Electronics first and light next, so I can see at least something. Fuel, APU. Request for engine start up is granted immediately. Both engines. With usual procedure I can rapidly prepare the helicopter for takeoff.



All the navigational data has been loaded on ABRIS and quick check shows, the officer's terrain vehicle is located in this quadrant.



Exact location of the fleet is a secret. However they're located somewhere in this quadrant southwest of Novorossiysk.



I am in for a complicated mission. I don’t have enough time for setting up the route for the autopilot, so I’ll be flying her manually. Weather and hangover don't help much. ATC grants me taxi clearance and I slowly prepare for take-off. I keep the spot light on; it might come in handy later.



Takeoff!



Despite the heavy winds and rain, I catch a glimpse of a beautiful sunrise over horizon. Flying conditions are even better than I thought when I sat into cockpit.



I slowly reach the first quadrant and start my descent. Quadrant pinpoints the curvy road which crosses the river with a bridge – should be easy enough to find.



Searching for UAZ. Where are you…?





I briefly spot a reflection from my spotlight.



Bingo! In adrenaline rush, I begin to reduce power and speed and lower the undercarriage.



I land softly, lock the wheel brakes and open the door.



I relax for a moment and notice a frozen guy in officers' clothes inside the UAZ, taking a folder from the gloves compartment and walks towards my helicopter. He gives me the documents, thanks me for saving the day and explains, his car broke and he'll write a report on bad state of staff vehicles in Russian Army.

I contact the base and I report I got the documents, and then take off immediately.



Documents are finally safe with me. UAZ was thanks to spotlight pretty easy to find. I hope I will have same luck with searching for ships. And off I go towards the Black Sea.



I fly over Novorossiysk. I think of all the people down there and envy them, sleeping in their warm homes not caring for anything at the moment while I wonder if I'm not too late.



Soon I notice grey shapes in the sea. This is it!



There are 4 ships in the fleet – Albatros class corvette, 2 Molniya class missile ships and Neustrashimy. She is the biggest ship in this fleet and easily recognizable. When I get nearer, I get the confirmation Neustrashimy sees me and I should maintain 150meters of altitude.

Because I was running low on time I was so nervous I miscalculated my approach parameters and approached the ship with too much speed. I had to make a turn and reduce the speed and calm my Akula.





Slowly I get back in control and approach the ship. Luckily I had some experience landing on ships, so there should be no problems. Sea is a little wavy so Neustrashimy is bouncing a bit left to right. Until the waves reach 10 metres, there should be no panicking.

I slowly approach ...



... slightly adjust ...



... and certain that it's safe, I land!



Everything went smooth without many problems. I open the doors and of the ship crew run towards me and takes over the deuced documents. I made it! I get a mission successful acknowledgment over the radio.



I'm ordered to land at Myskhako airbase at Novorossiysk. I acknowledge the order and fly away from the ship, which is now heading towards the exercise area. I wish them good luck.





Relaxingly I fly towards the assigned base. Peaceful skies grace my view.



Novorossiysk is just behind this hill. A little more and it'll all be over. I hope.



Just before the final approach.



Soft landing! As I am vacating the runway I get instruction to taxi at command post at the far end of the runway.





As I arrive there, a young recruit approaches me and asks if the documents were delivered. I confirm and the guy turns around and shouts something in the radio and turns back to me “Mission accomplished! Well done! Shut down the bird and come join us – all the guys are already waiting. And trust me, they treat guests well!”



And I'll be damned, they did treat me well. I'll leave the details to your imagination though. However you look at it, it was a really interesting day today, and I got a rare opportunity to land on the ship as well as using spotlight for something else than lightning the runway. It's gonna be a long remembered day. Exclude both hangovers, of course.

Thanks for taking your time for reading this.