From the Logbook...Jujang Parit (GoPro Pictures)

 Last week I had the opportunity to go into a village called Jujang Parit.  It's a tiny little place about an hour and a half from PalangkaRaya.  All of these photos were taken from my GoPro camera mounted on the wing.  The above photo shows me circling the village a few times.  It's important to gather enough data to make a safe landing, docking, un-docking, and takeoff while circling the village.  If I can't gather enough data while I'm overhead to ensure a safe outcome of all of those categories, I simply won't land.  It's not worth it.

 After I determined that it would be safe to operate in Jujang Parit that day, I decided to make the landing.  The river can just be seen on the left side of the photo above.

This is the abort point at Jujang Parit.  If something is wrong with my flying technique, something comes onto the river, etc. this is the last point at which I can safely go-around and out-climb the terrain in front of me.  After the abort point, regardless of what happens, I am committed to land.

 Everything looked good at my abort point, so I elected to "commit" to the landing.  In the above photo you can see the airplane shadow becoming closer and closer until the shadow actually touches the airplane; a landing has just occurred.

After touchdown I retracted flaps and reduced power to idle.  The river current was very strong that particular day due to recent rains.

As I transitioned off of the "step" and into "boat-mode" I approached the right side of the river in order to turn around 180 degrees to the left and drive to our dock.

Just as I cut the power to the engine I jumped out of the airplane in order to make sure the airplane was going to get tied up correctly.  Our normal helper wasn't there and I wanted to quickly confirm that my airplane wasn't going to go anywhere.  Like I mentioned before...the current was ripping!  Notice the two guys on the right float pulling against the rope as they prepare to tie the airplane off.

After I confirmed the airplane was securely attached to the dock, my passengers could deplane and I began to prepare to gather more passengers and get ready to takeoff.  Flying float planes is fun!

From the Logbook...Landing in the Curve

One of the things we all enjoy as float plane pilots is when we get to land or takeoff around a curve in the river.  Isaac took this shot of me as I made a landing coming around a corner at an interior village.  Flying float planes is so fun, and there is always something to become better and more precise at...like landing around a corner on one float!

From the Logbook...Runway Obstacles

Flying float planes is such a unique and diverse type of aviation.  I had to laugh a few days ago though as I was rounding a corner for landing in the village of Tumbang Kunyi when there was a house floating right down the middle of the river.  I know past MAF pilots have experienced this, but this was a first for me.  In the wheel plane world of MAF, runway obstacles can mean pigs, horses, cows, dogs, chickens, people, motorcycles, rough terrain, and sometimes cars.  But with the float plane, we frequently deal with floating debris, large and small wood, boats of all shapes and sizes, cables and ropes crossing the rivers, and swimmers.  It's never a dull moment flying float planes!  The above photo is a still shot from my GoPro camera.  Thanks for your prayers for safety!

From the Logbook...Late Afternoon Arrival

We have been really busy lately, sometimes having both airplanes out flying all day long.  Last week, I found myself and one of our other pilots arriving home at the same time as me.  We joined up and flew a loose formation the rest of the way home.  The photo above looks like we are much closer than we really are.  That's the beauty of telephoto photography.

After over flying the hangar in formation, we broke off and I came around to land.  I always like how our landing lights can shine off of the water!

As I'm pulling into the hangar, you can see our other airplane getting ready to touch down about 500 meters behind me.  Thank you to my teammate Isaac Rogers for taking and sharing these unique pictures with me.  He took them all from the roof of our hangar.

After I pulled into our hangar slip, we quickly deplaned the passengers and hoisted the airplane onto the hangar floor, thus making room for PK-MCB to pull into the slip, and also be pulled out of the water and onto the hangar floor.  Flying float planes is awesome!

From the Logbook...Teamwork

Happy New Year to everyone!  2014 has a lot of unique potential for this ministry and we're excited to see how it all unfolds this year.  With the Holidays over, we have been really busy flying, sometimes using two airplanes to one destination simply because our little airplanes can't carry all of the passengers in one load. Above, Aaron is seen flying over the Kahayan river as we make our way an hour interior to the village of Puruk Cahu.

After Aaron and I arrived at Puruk Cahu, we had the priveledge of sharing the dock together; not something that happens all that frequently.  That same day, it seemed Aaron and I were chasing each other in and out of interior villages.  It was a fun orchestra  making sure we weren't flying on top of each other.  Often, as one of us was leaving the dock departing to our destination, the other was just arriving in order pick up passengers going to another destination.

We really had to squeeze the airplanes close at the dock in Tumbang Kunyi.  There really isn't room for two airplanes, but we made it work.  One of the things I enjoy about float plane flying is that EVERY day there is something or some situation that I have never experienced.  It takes dedication and a desire to continually be learning to be a good float plane pilot, and thankfully, I always have something to re-think or re-evaluate in order to do it better, more efficiently, and safer.