A Few Sights from the River

Occasionally when flying high over a river, you see this LONG "train" of sorts pulling hundreds of logs.  As one of these "trains" came through PalangkaRaya the other day I stopped to get a picture while crossing the large bridge in town on my way home.  In the top of the picture you see the engine of the train pulling the load down the river.  The smaller boats are used to steer the logs and keep them in the middle of the river.  There was one more large boat tied to the end of the train actually driving backwards from the rest of the train in order to keep the line of log taut.

Another thing we often see coming out of the heart of Borneo are these smaller boats pushing loads of pure rubber.  They harvest it from rubber trees, make it into "bales" and them float it down river to be sold.  

From the logbook...

After flying over 4 hours in the middle of Borneo yesterday navigating low rivers, reverse currents, boaters, swimmers, logs, docks, and shooting 8 landings this is why we do it...for that one flight that makes all the others seem unimportant.  The above patient was an 18 year old girl whom I was told had heart problems.  Since we couldn't get an ambulance to come pick her up, she was driven to the hospital in the back or our MAF car accompanied by her mom and a nurse.

Since dry season seems to have taken up residence in Central Borneo at the moment, there are lots of big fires burning as farmers and loggers clear the land.  Each evening the smoke settles back to earth like fog and makes for some interesting sunsets.  This was the scene as I got on the Piglet ready to ride home after a long, satisfying day committing aviation.

From the Logbook...

Flying float planes in fun!!!  That's all I have to say.  

From the Logbook...Treasure Chest

For one of my flights today I was asked to take some money to an interior community so that the government workers could be paid. (see above picture with large, padlocked, metal box) I didn't think much of it.  My passengers carried two large trunks with them and when I looked at the trunk weights I realized it was over 300 pounds of cold, hard cash.  I speculated that it was a lot of money, thinking maybe around $150,000-200,000 US dollars.  I was blown out of the water to later learn that I was carrying the equivalent of $1.8 million dollars!  That's right...MILLION...$1.8 million.  I am still blown away.  WOW!

From the Logbook...A New Kind of Stuck

Shortly after I awoke today (Saturday, my time) I was informed there was a patient that needed picked up about 20 minutes north of PalangkaRaya.  Being that I am on call this weekend, I liked the idea of having a quick "out and back" flight while still helping someone that truly needed it.  

I had never been to this village before and  I was told to go two villages upstream from Goha, a village I do know the location of. That sounds easier than it was because I landed in the wrong village first.  I knew it was the wrong village but I decided to stop for directions.  As I slowly taxied in the middle of the river looking for a place to dock, my airplane slowly came to a stop.  I had run aground on a sandbar left by gold miners. (see this post and this post for some other times when I got an airplane stuck)   I thought I was in a deep part of the river because some people were swimming in front of me...and then they stood up...and then I stopped.  So, I shut the engine off and had a nice chat with the community in the middle of the river.  They told me the community I was looking for was one village downstream and then helped me push the airplane back into the deep part of the river.  Shortly after taking off, I found the correct village and landed uneventfully.  I'm glad I wore my shorts today!

I was happily received in the village and ended up waiting about 30 minutes while they prepped the patient to be brought to the airplane.  These kids had just finished school for the day.  School is Monday thru Saturday in Indonesia.  Poor kids.

This is one of the women that was gathered around watching all the activity this morning.    She couldn't speak Indonesian...only a local language called Dayak. 

Another village woman seen just watching the sights.  Having an airplane land in your village can be exciting.

I left "Charlie Brown" for a little bit while I went to see if I could help out at the patient's house.  There wasn't much I could do but just chat with the villagers and wait for the patient to be brought to the airplane.

About 30 minutes after I arrived she was finally carried to the airplane.  Supposedly she hadn't been able to eat in days and was complaining of her head really hurting.  It really appeared she was in agony and I was grateful to be able to help her.  Twenty minutes after taking off we landed in PalangkaRaya and she was driven straight to the hospital.

From the Logbook...A Time to Die

People always ask me what we fly in our airplanes.  Yesterday, I found myself flying two different men and their families back to their home villages so that the men could be home to die.  Both were old and modern medicine had done all that is could on their limited incomes.  It was time to accept the inevitable.    

On any given day as a missionary pilot, you can see lots of grief, tears, heartache and sadness.  These two flights were full of those.  But, despite the sadness in the cockpit yesterday, I am grateful to be able to help these families face a tough situation from the comfort of their homes.

From the Logbook...Baptism

Yesterday, I had the privilege of taking some pastors and their families back home to one of the most remote and isolated places we fly to, Naan.  (see videos from this post)  They were in PalangkaRaya last week for a church conference.  Talking a little bit with the guys reveals how even they have culture shock when they come to the big city.  Their community is literally on the equator and in the middle of nowhere.  Some day I want to fly into their community and spend some time as a family with these dedicated men who are truly sacrificing for the Gospel.

Aviation is stooped in tradition and we do our best to keep that alive in MAF.  Usually, after a pilot solos an airplane for the first time, he is surprised to find that upon returning from his first solo flight, a group of people is waiting to soak him with water.  Usually this entails using buckets, hoses, water guns, etc.  However, here in PalangkaRaya we have a whole river to use.  So, yesterday after returning from my flight I was pushed into the river at an opportune time and baptized into the elite club of float plane pilots.  

Since it didn't work out to baptize me on my actual day of solo flight, I thought I had dodged a bullet and wasn't going to be riding my scooter home wet.  I later learned this was part of the plan so I would let my guard down and not take my attackers into the river with me.  This was good planning on their part, because I would have taken them down with me had they attempted it only one day before.  Good times, fun memories!  (Becca has some more pictures on her blog)  

From the Logbook...First Solo Ops Flight!

After freshly receiving my permission to legally fly in Indonesia earlier this week, I have been busy doing just that.  Yesterday, it happened that myself and our other PLR pilot actually ended up in the same community at the same time.  I circled overhead while he floated his airplane downstream by hand so I could use the dock he is parked at in the picture above. 

After a long day of flying interior, the storm clouds were trying to generate something other than bumpy air.  Due to all the moisture in the air, I was greeted by a rainbow for almost 40 continuous miles while flying home.  It is always cool to see rainbows from the air because they make a complete circle, not just an arc.  However, I would need a different camera lens to capture the whole thing.

From the Logbook...Finally!

(Children at the community of Miri waiting on the dock in front of 300 lbs of freshly delivered medicine.)

I am VERY happy to report that yesterday I finally "passed" a "test" and was issued an Indonesian float plane license.  What that means is I can now fly the airplane legally by myself and start carrying passengers.  I'm pumped!!!