I had a great time in the cockpit today. I had my longest flight, and my most stops up to this point flying solo. My first stop was to the village of Makuma. I was carring HCJB World Radio folks to another village, but first we had to pick up one of their co-workers that lives in the jungle. When I landed in Makuma, our HCJB passenger was waiting as were numerous others wanting to get a flight with us. I was able to put 2 little kids on board with us plus the HCJB'er and we were off to our next stop of Taisha.
Taisha is another military base out in the jungle. The HCJB crew that I was hauling had to do some business related to a water project with some folks in Taisha. I knew before I left Shell that I would be waiting a bit in Taisha while the HCJB'ers did what they had to do, but 4 hours later when I was firing up to leave was a little longer than I anticipated. When I did call Shell via radio before departing, I learned of another emergency patient that I could get in the nearby village of Cangaime. I was already planning on going back to Makuma to drop off the one HCJB'er, and also put on a waiting patient there as well. I determined that the patient in Cangaime was in worse shape than the one in Makuma if I didn't have room for all of them so I set off for the 5 minute flight to Cangaime.
Taisha and Cangaime were both new strips for me today. Taisha was very long and didn't pose any problem for landing or taking off. Cangaime was a bit different. I still got in and out of there very safely, but if is more the type of strip that we fly into, 200 ft. cliff dropping down into the river at one end, the other end rising sharply into terrain; it was a fun time. The patient that I picked up in Cangaime was an 11 month old girl that had had diarea for the past 10 days. This can pose a serious health threat to any age group, so that is the reason I went there to bring that little girl out for sure today so she wouldn't have to wait another day or two.
Finally, I was back in route to Makuma. Again the flight was only about 5 minutes, and upon landing I unloaded the HCJB guy and ran some calculations. I had to determine that with the two remaining HCJB'ers, my patient and mom from Cangaime, the necessary fuel to get to Shell, and the cargo I was bringing back, if I still had enough room to put on the waiting patient in Makuma. Sure enough I did, and I loaded them up as well. This time it was a young girl who had broken her collarbone, along with her dad going along with her. So, all seven of us filled my 6 seats and 25 minutes later we were back in Shell.
Today was a sneak peak at what my everyday life will be like flying as I get checked out into more of the jungle. I had been flying a lot of out and backs, but as I gain experience they are turning me loose to do more flights where there may be 5 of more stops before I return to Shell, not incluiding the stops that come up from emergencies.
On a family note, we are all doing well, especially Becca and baby. I think Brooklyn is getting more and more used to the idea of being knocked off her throne as the only child as well. Thanks for all of your prayers in all that we do. They truely do sustain us and help us to keep on keepin' on. (Did I mention it was stinkin' hot today!?)
No comments:
Post a Comment