From the Logbook...Workin' Hard

MAF is known for it's high standards and great safety record, especially considering where we take airplanes on a daily basis, landing every 8 minutes around the clock.  But we do have a lot of fun too.  The guys I will be working alongside are a lot of fun to be around, and everyone is usually up for a good laugh or two; VERY important to maintain your sanity in this lifestyle.

I will be "off" from flight training for the next week because my instructor pilot is going to Jakarta to attend some meetings.  When he gets back, we will hit the training schedule hard again.  Now we hope to get our future home up and running, and we're praying our container from Java will arrive at the end of the week.  

From the Logbook...Preacher Flight Con't...

In my last post I talked about some of the different animals I saw while in the village of Marokoi.  The two German nurses there have many birds they keep as pets, including the horn bill in the photo above.

In addition to the horn bill and this red parrot, there were a few other birds that I couldn't get a decent picture of.  All were very exotic and extremely colorful.  As we taxied the airplane out preparing for departure, I saw what looked like a python, around 8-10 feet long, swimming across the river as well.  The jungle is definitely very alive and active.

From the Logbook...Preacher Flight

Today, Good Friday, I rode along as a passenger instead of as a POI (pilot under instruction).  Technically, MAF was closed today due to the holiday but we still had one flight to fulfill.  We flew into a village about 100 miles from PLR where two German nurses live and have ministered for over 30 years.  We dropped off 3 board members of their organization so they could preach and participate in Easter festivities in the middle of Borneo.  Despite the picturesque scene above, the approach and takeoff are very challenging.  I look forward to the day when I have the experience to safely operate in and out of the village of Marikoi.

The village we visited was full of all kinds of Flora and Fauna that only a jungle can support.  This big butterfly wouldn't stay still, thus the picture is a little fuzzy.  In the next few days I'll post some more pictures of some of the other animals I saw during my short time in Marikoi.

From the Logbook...Training Continued...

On Tuesday we got off to a slow start due to mechanical reasons and then a gusher of a thunderstorm.  You would never know from looking at the clear skies above that just a few hours before the heavens opened up and let forth their power.  We were able to accomplish some flying in the late afternoon however, which was a lot of fun.

Yesterday our objective was lots of takeoff and landing practice as well as emergency procedures.  We were practicing an a VERY large river near PLR so when lunch time came around we just taxied to the middle of the river, shut off the engine, and floated lazily downstream for about 25 minutes while my instructor and I enjoyed our PB&J's while sitting on the float.  Fun times!

From the Logbook...Training has Begun

We arrived in PalangkaRaya over the weekend and today I dove right into training to fly the Cessna 185 float-plane.  While I was being shown the specifics on how to preflight the aircraft, we found a severely worn water rudder cable.  That was a "no go" item, so we postponed our planned flight and got out the toolboxes instead.  The aircraft was already up on the hangar floor, out of the water, so it was ready to be fixed right away.  I did learn one of the benefits of being such a big guy today.  The cable we replaced passes from the rudder of the airplane, under the tail, then into the float which then turns the water rudders.  Being that the cable and it's pulley are located in a teeny little spot inside the float, one of our national employees squeezed inside to help remove the cable and pulley.

Thankfully, we were able to install a new cable and after lunch we went flying.  Today's lesson was just to get me warmed up in the airplane and work out some of the rust that has worked in over the last several months of not flying.  Despite the evident rustiness, it was still a blast!  Hopefully, I'll be up in the air again tomorrow morning.   

An Update

There is a reason that I haven't been able to keep friends and family updated here for the last month...life.  I will try to sum up some of the main things that have happened in the last month(s).

• After a lot of discussion, we were asked to leave language school early because my future flight instructor and his family in PalangkaRaya, Kalimantan will be moving to a different MAF base.  Before he leaves, he has to check me out because he is the only float plane instructor on the island of Borneo.
• We were still going to language school up until yesterday.  I just finished unit 7 of 9.  We still have two more units to finish the whole language school curriculum.  We will return to Java later this year to wrap things up in language school.  
• We decided to buy a lot of our household furnishings here on the island of Java due to availability, quality, and price.  After purchasing many things, going through the hoops of shipping them to Kalimantan has been a large task.  I'm happy to report that it all left in a 20' shipping container this morning.
• Tomorrow we leave for PLR and I should be back in the cockpit next week.  As I'm able, I will be posting stories and pictures from our life and ministry in PLR.  My camera misses me!