Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we were still "open for business" at the hangar. Our flight schedule was very light, although two flights did come along, one of which I did.
(It wasn't until early afternoon that I left on a flight with only 3 stops. Although I didn't have many stops, my first landing was an hour away from Shell. The weather was threatening the whole time of my flight, yet very operable. As I made my first landing at Shiona I realized that they must have had a LOT of rain prior to my arrival. When I touched down and applied brakes, it was so slippery that is was almost as if we sped up. After splashing though a few big mud puddles we finally came to a stop. After unloading my passengers and their cargo (he was a teacher) we were off to our second stop some 20 minutes away to the village of Alto Corrientes (ACR).
ACR isn't my favorite airstrip. The approach is usually plagued with wind from all directions, and the strip is one of the shortest ones we use and VERY slippery when wet. Pleasantly, to my surprise, the approach yesterday was very stable and the airstrip was very dry and braking was good.
After taking care of business in ACR (dropping off a snake bite patient) we made our way to Mauramu (MSR) to pick up a patient. Upon landing the patient slowly made his way to the airplane. He didn't look very good, and according to the nurse's sheet that I was handed, he was vomiting blood and urinating black. I'm not a doctor, but it didn't sound good.
Once I was airborn from MSR, I set a course for Shell and contacted the approach controller. She told me that they had had heavy rain while I was gone in the jungle, and it looked like they were going to be in for more. I also called our flight follower in the hangar on our HF radio and he confirmed the same thing. At this point I was still 30 minutes out from Shell and was evaluating all the options I had before me. I had put on extra gas before leaving Shell anticipating bad weather, the jungle was very operable still, and even if Shell did shut down, I could probably wait it out flying in circles somewhere while the rain passed.
At my check point of 20 miles out from Shell the approach controller confirmed that the rain had indeed arrived over Shell and it was "muy fuerte" or very heavy. At that point, I was already on the instrument approach mostly in the clouds. I elected to continue with the approach since I had so many options, although it was likely that Shell would be "below minimums" when I would be arriving in just 10 more minutes.
Ten miles out from Shell the approach really starts and you can start making your descents as you approach the airport. Visibility was very poor and I was flying through heavy rain, just like they said. At the missed approach point (the point on the approach when you have to decide by what you can or cannot see out the window that you can continue and safely land, or you must go around and execute the missed approach) things were still very minimal but all of a sudden there were the numbers "30" on the end of the runway. I quickly dumped in all remaining flaps and made a landing in Shell.
Needless to say, I was glad to be on the ground, and Rebecca was really relieved to get a phone call from me. With the heavy rain, she was sure that I would still be in the jungle, and may even have to spend the night away from home. Most days aren't as trying as yesterday. A typical day doesn't usually involve slip-sliding your way around the jungle on the nasty airstrips, and then an instrument approach down to minimums to get back to home base, but, occasionally you do have a day where you "earn your pay." For that reason, we do a LOT of training and practice for the days when we have to pull out all the stops.
Shortly after coming home, we were all gathered in the home of some friends, enjoying an awesome Christmas Eve turkey dinner. It was even better because I didn't have any lunch and I was starving!
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