Float Flying

Greetings, wow so much for getting another post up on the blog before the end of February well maybe it will still be February in parts of the world if I get this done in time ;-). February was a fairly busy month of flying for me as I transition into the world of float flying. Some of the major differences I'm learning about between operating on wheels versus floats; On the ground with wheels, besides the weather, the surrounding environment is pretty constant. On the water however, it is a very dynamic place. For example the river currents here are greatly effected by the ocean tide and rains up river. It's not unheard of to have the water levels change while waiting on the water or current direction to change. Wind also can play a stress adding role to a pilot as you plan; how and where to dock and then how to depart the docking area safely. The current can bring debris from up river that can create hazards for the aircraft and personal. Boat traffic that we share the same space for taxi, takeoff and landing. Their concept of safety is quite different than ours. Some of the things that are constant with landing on water versus runways or grass strips; the braking action, slipperiness and firmness of landing water is the same every time rain or shine. Most times but not always runway length is not an issue using rivers.

For us the busy time requiring our full attention is from the time we circle overhead to evaluate the landing area until we have taken off again with climb checks complete, than we can relax a little bit during cruise. Previously it was after I had shut-down at the top of an airstrip, I could relax and decompress a bit. Now that happens in cruise flight if the weather in nice. Lack of attentiveness while on the water even with the engine off can end up with bent metal or someone hurt. We have a couple locations where there is no place to safely dock, but because of the size of the river we can float down the river and have speed boats come along side and transfer passengers on and off the aircraft. Even though these rivers are big there are a lot of thinks to keep a very good lookout for particularly if the current is strong. If the winds are light and the current is neutral it's not to bad. Mix in some current and or winds and then things can become very exciting quickly. Hopefully Bade will have a dock again soon  as their previous dock which is in the following picture was run over by a large ship and is no more. This being one of the places we are drifting in the river with speed boats to do the passenger exchange now.

Bade from overhead.

Bade's former dock

Bade's former dock

Agats

Here in Agats is the other place that if we can't find a place to tie to we will drift.  We prefer tying to a mooring point here if we can find it.  Speed boats are used here as well for passenger transfer.

Agats

Speed boat approaching in Agats

Local Tink Tink boat.

Many places were we can, we just pull along shore.

Esrotnamba

The following video is a good representation of why we are here and more specifically why we have a Caravan C208 Amphibious Plane in our fleet here in Papua. This is one of those unique places that our unique PK-MAO can go and serve. Which is also a place that I will be privileged to serve in the not to distance future.

Settling into Merauke

    As I sit down at our computer to write this post I hear the sounds of cow bells shortly followed with seeing a couple cows, well actually bulls, walk past my office window.  My office happens to be situated at the back side of our house.  Yes, the livestock feel very comfortable in our yard.  I like the idea of our grass being kept.  However, not so sure I want the extra fertilizer that will likely be left in our yard, also they are not eating the weeds, fussy eaters they are.  Last night we go a good hard rain that should help the farmers here.  Merauke has been experiencing a very long dry season  this year, many wells are dry and the grass is sparse.  Because of that I don't mind so much sharing the little bit of grass we have with the local livestock.  We are very thankful for the rain water collection and storage system that was install with the house.  When the tank is full we have somewhere around 6,000 US gallons (23,000 L) of water.  The last couple larger rain falls our tank was overflowing which was a beautiful site.  We also have a well for the dry season when the rains don't come, right now it is very low due to the longer than normal dry season.  Because many wells are dry in town and people are having water trucked in from a lakes in the surrounding regions.  We thank the Lord for this rain last night and continue to pray for the rainy season to get into full swing to fill those wells up and allow the grass to grow again.

    Yesterday I officially started my transition training in PK-MAO.  Happy to report the flight went well and I think I'm going to enjoy this type of flying right up until I slip and fall off a float into a river.  Lord willing that will be a long time down the road and a very rare event ;-).

   Julie and the kids continue this week with finishing up unpacking and organizing the house and next week they will start back into school.  Last week we bought the kids their own desks for each of their rooms which they were pretty excited to be able to pick out themselves.

   The following pictures of our new home are taken at different points of our unpacking, which is still ongoing but nearing the end I think.  Will try and post a few pictures when all unpacking is completed, might be a while, it's amazing how quickly the novelty of unpacking wears off :-\.  Lots of pictures, but hey it's basically free to post and view them.

Empty Hall

Christopher showing us around our new house.

Office

Dinning Room

Welcome sign

Kitchen

Living Room

Bikeport

Hall Bathroom

Jaclynn's Room

Isaac's Room

Master bedroom/Office 

Office with stuff

Gudang area/Laundry room

Hall with stuff.

Living room/dinning room

Living room

Franklin stashing stuff in the attic

Front yard

Lawn mower "temporary I hope ;-)"

Jaclynn's room with stuff

Franklin's room with stuff

Hall with organized stuff.

Living room/dinning room almost complete

Kitchen almost complete as well.

Viewed from our front yard.

Backyard

PK-MAO Moving Day

The day has come when we briefly say goodbye to our stuff (mainly motorcycles) again. Uncle Tom and PK-MAO are heading to Merauke (our future home) today with the rest of our stuff except a few sets of clothes and carry on items that we will bring with us on Friday.  It seems kind of funny how being without our bikes for just a couple days can seem like such an inconvenience when we have access to other modes of transportation at our finger tips.  I'm still learning how easy expectations and conveniences (standard of living) can cloud our focus, especially when the statues quo changes.  My Jesus however is good and faithful regardless.

Misc Pictures

Greetings,

It's been awhile since we've posted some current pictures.  So below are a mix of miscellaneous pictures from the past couple months here in Sentani.  Also want to briefly mention that we have a move date to Merauke of January 22.  We are holding this date loosely for the simple fact it's Indonesia and things can change here quickly.  We are excited about getting settle hopefully for many year to come.  

Mt. Cyclops

Franklin monkeying around

Jaclynn cooking up some mud pies

Lounging in the patio

Jaclynn and our illustriousness Christmas Tree

Breaktime

New's Year Flight Ops Base Party

Play some fun group games

 

Enjoying the beach