From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 4 of 5)

Because the pilots side rudder controls were rendered useless after the left rudder bar broke, I flew from the right seat and we continued home.  Isaac was able to get pictures of me on takeoff.  Jujang Parit is a "sporty" location for both takeoff and landing!

The river is very short which means we have to actually begin our takeoff roll around the corner.  We begin by applying full power, get the airplane on the step, then we retard the throttle a little bit so that we aren't too fast in the corner, and then when we have rounded the corner we "pour on the coals" and accelerate to flying speed.

As I passed right in front of Isaac's camera I was just about ready to fly...but if your aren't patient and you have bad technique in a place like JPR, you must abort the takeoff and return to your starting point to begin again.  A heavily loaded airplane like the one I was flying demands perfect technique to get out of JPR with margin.

After I passed my pre-determined abort point there was no going back now.  Whatever happens it will occur in front of me now.  Once you are airborne hold a perfect airspeed and initiate your climb above the trees and surrounding terrain.  Have I ever said flying float planes is fun?!  (it's a little challenging too!)

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 3 of 5) MCB to the Rescue!!!

The following morning after waking up in Tumbang Tohan, we ate a breakfast of rice, noodles, monkey and jungle pig.  Pretty good actually, don't judge it until you try it!  Soon afterwards we got back in the canoe, confirmed my recordings from the day before, and then pointed to canoe downstream for a few hours back to the airplane.  The trip back to the airplane was just as beautiful as the day before and went a little faster since we were heading downstream.  After arriving at the airplane, shortly thereafter we were airborne with a destination of Jujang Parit (JPR) about 20 minutes away but on a different river system.  This is the farthest location we serve and one of the most isolated.

(float plane river towing 602.  They don't teach this stuff in school!!!)

After a wonderful 20 minute flight through huge rock formations, over countless waterfalls, and amazing jungle, we made an uneventful landing at one of our most challenging float plane locations.  The river was very high and fast which brings a whole new set of challenges.  Just as we passed downstream of the dock we were going to use I applied left rudder to begin a 180 turn back to the dock and "SNAP!!!"  I knew immediately what had happened.  My left rudder pedal broke and rendered the airplane almost un-maneuverable on a very fast river.  I still had the ability to turn right, which I did and we made it to the ONLY place that would have received the airplane without causing structural damage to the wings, prop, and tail.

Ogasto jumped out of the airplane and onto the river bank and held the airplane in place with one of the wing ropes we have on each wing.  Thankfully, we were in a calmer part of the river as it would have been impossible to hold the airplane in place with one person with only one rope.  A crowd soon appeared and wondered why we didn't park at the dock.  After yelling our explanation to them (they were still 50 feet away) they soon brought one of the motorized canoes to help tow my cripled airplane back to the dock where I could asses the damage and make a plan of action.

The photo above shows us being towed upstream to the dock.  Thankfully that went okay because the small little motorized canoe could barely make any headway against the raging current.  All told, the whole experience from the time the rudder pedal broke to the time we were tied up to the dock took about 5-7 minutes.  But, this is one of those experiences where if just one thing was just slightly different it COULD HAVE TURNED OUT MUCH DIFFERENTLY.  Imagine driving down an icy road and then someone takes your ability to turn left and your brakes away from you...that's what it was like for us.  God was really looking after us.  

Thankfully, I had packed the satellite phone and we soon called home base in PalangkaRaya and informed Issac that we needed some parts.  About 2.5 hours later he arrived in JPR with Mike Charlie Brown (MCB) and the needed parts.  We had them installed shortly thereafter and we were soon on our way back to PalangkaRaya, 1.5 hours away.

Isaac takes some good pictures and while we were fixing the airplane, he took a lot of pictures of the people in the village of JPR.  It is a place far, far away from the complexities of modern life and being there is a bizarre thing, almost like traveling back in time.

All of our meals that we had while on this survey trip were cooked over an open fire like in the picture above.  While we were sorting through the details of our mishap, the pastors wife stopped everything she was doing and got about making us a huge meal before we left.  SO HUMBLING!!!

This time the meat wasn't as exotic as we had enjoyed for breakfast, this time is was just chicken, but it was still good and very appreciated.

There was just enough room to get two airplanes tied up to the dock; the only suitable dock in the whole village I might add.

As always, children turn out in droves to hang around the airplane.  It is always fun to interact with them and get them to laugh.  Thankfully, the weather stayed cooperative and not long after Charlie Delta brought us our parts, we were airborne for home; with a lot to ponder about how people live such different lives than we do, how we had narrowly missed being in an aircraft accident while on the river, and being humbled by the generosity of the people we interacted with.  Such a powerful trip!  Thank you to those of you who pray for us...don't stop!

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 2 of 5)

(read previous post for part 1 of this series if you haven't already)

We arrived into TOH about three hours after first leaving the airplane in the village of NAN.  (we would later determine that those three hours in the motorized canoe would translate to 4 minutes in the airplane!)

Because we were still fortunate to have good weather and a little bit of sunlight when we arrived into TOH we went right to work gathering data to determine if we could safely bring the airplane into and out of Tumbang Tohan.

Using a portable GPS and an app called Theodolite on the iPad, we were able to determine usable river length, width, climb out angles (VERY IMPORTANT) and make note of any above or underwater obstacles.  It really doesn't take that long to collect the data, especially with the modern day tools we have.  About 30 minutes after starting, we were done with the survey of the river.

We stayed the night in Pastor Roni's house (seen in the STIHL t-shirt).  In the photo above Roni is demonstrating his homemade black powder to us.  It seemed to work well.  Most everyone that lives in this remote part of Indonesia has a handmade powder rifle to use for hunting.  They make their own bullets from the lead in dead car batteries and then collect the ingredients for making black powder.  While traveling to TOH Roni actually tried to kill a few turkey sized birds on the river bank but he missed.  Life in interior Borneo is tough!!!

By the way, Rebecca does a wonderful job of writing about the experience from her perspective on her blog.  Be sure to read it.  Click here to do so.  She writes much better than I do anyway!

Because the river levels rise and fall so dramatically on the rivers where we serve, the locals have become creative to accommodate access to their docks with the variety of river levels that they experience literally in a matter of hours.  This "ladder" was one of the nicest and easiest ones we climbed in our 36 hours interior.  These are the kinds of things that remind you a few days later of muscles you didn't even know you had.

We had a great time in TOH and that evening we met with the village leaders where we discussed some of my findings and some of the things that needed to occur before I could bring an airplane into their village.  They were extremely excited that we would even consider doing this and vowed to set out the next morning in clearing trees and prepping the river for airplane operations.  This past month I have flown over TOH a few times since that meeting and they are indeed clearing the sides of the river bank in preparation for the airplane.  We may know more in 1-2 more months if we are able to actually bring the airplane in.  It will change the lives of the villagers in TOH to have air transportation to medical facilities, travel quicker, safer, and cheaper to other villages, etc.  The tool of the airplane has the potential to change their lives.

In a few days I'll have more to share about what else happened on our trip...

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 1 of 5)

Already a month ago, I had one of my most memorable flights.  Memorable for a lot of reasons, of which I hope to record a little bit of here over the next few days through a series of 5 blog posts.

(Ogasto decending the "ladder" back to the airplane.  SUPER STEEP, and SUPER SLIPPERY!)

The village of Tumbang Tohan (TOH) has been asking MAF for years if we would bring the airplane into their village.  This is the kind of request we love to have, but the answer isn't always a simple "yes."  TOH is the last upstream village on a particular river we serve which translates to small, narrow, and not always that deep.  I had performed two or three aerial surveys of the village location as well as collected data from Google Earth.  It looked possible.  But, we don't continue to operate airplanes in some of the places we do with continued safe operations and margin only running on possibilities.  We want certainties when we are putting thousands of pounds of man and machine onto the surface of the river.  So, this has only meant one thing; survey trip!

There is never a perfect time to make a survey trip.  You just have to put it on the calendar and do it.  So that is just what we did.  This time I was able to take Rebecca and one of our Indonesian employees named Ogasto with us.  We landed at a village we already visit weekly called Tumbang Naan (NAN) where we met Pastor Roni from the village of TOH.  From there we boarded a motorized canoe and set off upstream to the village of TOH where we would survey the river, spend the night, and then return to our awaiting airplane the following day.  After that, we would fly 20 minutes to Jujang Parit to visit the pastor and other friends there before flying home to PalangkaRaya. It was going to be a full two days!

The canoe ride was breathtaking!!!  In Rebecca's words it was almost like we were in "Paradise Lost."  About halfway there we stopped at a gravel bar to re-fuel the lawnmower sized engine and to stretch our legs.  It was great to stretch a bit as by bum and back are not accustomed to sitting on what is essentially a hard wood bench for hours at a time.  Did I mention it was beautiful!!!

Being in virgin rain forest in the middle of Borneo is something that I never would have dreamed I would experience if you would have asked me as a boy.  It's always amazing to look at your life in retrospect and realize all the things that God has brought you through and where He is taking you.  This trip accomplished so much more in Rebecca and I than simply performing a survey for potential landing of the MAF airplane.  The 48 hours that this trip took from the time we left our home in PalangkaRaya until we returned reminded Rebecca and I of many things in life...more about that to come in a few days.

More Sights from the Office

We've had a fun time lately enjoying lots of wildlife literally just feet from us while at the office lately.  The monkeys are becoming braver and braver with us around, which is fun for now.  But, should they begin to get too close and become too curious we have ways to discourage them and remind them to keep their distance.

It's fascinating to watch the monkeys in the trees.  The way they move effortlessly through such a tangle of branches and leaves is impressive.  I love when they jump from tree to tree.  Even the young babies seem to be born with a natural ability to know what branches can be jumped upon and how to do it.

It isn't just monkeys that we've seen at the dock lately.  Brooklyn came to help me at work one day and one of our Indonesian employees caught this "biawak" or small species of monitor lizard.  This is a small juvenile one as they will get around 4 feet long if they are lucky.  After we gave him a thorough inspection we took his rope off and released him back into the surrounding jungle.  Look at the claws on that thing...impressive!

From the Logbook...Aerial Sights

I LOVE the view form my office as a pilot.  God's creation is always making a new painting every single day of the year...they view is never the same.  It's awesome and I love it!!!  On the way home from Banjarmasin (see previous post) I took a few pictures of the newly planted rice paddies in full flood.  They were gorgeous.  Near the town we live in of PalangkaRaya, the soil is unsuitable to rice production.  So when we head to the coastal city of Banjarmasin, it is always a treat to see what stage the rice crops might be in.  They might be newly planted as seen above, ready for harvest, or somewhere in between.

As I approached about 15 miles from our home base of PalangkaRaya, the flight path leads us over the Sabangau National Park.  It is a haven for orangutans and other indigenous creatures to Borneo.  With the water high due to rainy season, the area was beautiful as well and the life giving water makes the area explode with life and color.

From the Logbook...Banjarmasin Patient Flight

A few weeks ago, we were called about a stroke victim from an interior village.  It was bad enough that the family knew that the best chance at good medical care for his condition was straight to the city of Banjarmasin...about 40 minutes further south from where we live in PalangkaRaya.

So, after a 45 minute flight to the interior village I helped put the man, his wife, and a nurse into my airplane.  I'm no doctor, but he wasn't doing very well.  It's startling actually the wide variety of patients we intimately come into contact with in our flying.  We see the same exact things that any EMT in an American ambulance would encounter without any of the resources to help the patient.  After loading him up, we flew almost one hour and 25 minutes to the dock near the city of Banjarmasin.  

After getting the patient loaded up into the awaiting ambulance, it was time for a little catching up with our dock agent and their family members.  We don't often fly to Banjarmasin, only with critical patients so it's fun to spend a few minutes talking with the folks down there.

From the Logbook...the Office View

It's no secret that I LOVE to fly.  I am beyond blessed to have an occupation to enjoy most every day.  Recently, due to the heavy rains of rainy season the numerous waterfalls we fly near have been awesome to watch.  In the picture above you can see a waterfall off in the distance.

That same waterfall zoomed in is pouring down pretty good.  I'm not sure, but I'd say it's a 100ft. high waterfall.  AWESOME!

About 10 more minutes into the same flight I came across another waterfall.  This one wasn't as high and unfortunately, it wasn't gushing as strong as it was just two days before.  But, it was still worth getting a close up picture and enjoying God's beauty in the middle of nowhere.  So beautiful!