From the Logbook...A Special Passenger

A few weeks ago, I had to fly on a Saturday.  Thankfully, there was enough room to bring along one of my favorite little people, my daughter Madison.  We ate PB&J's en-route to pick up our passengers and did countless "roller-coasters."  Madison couldn't get enough of the negative and positive-G maneuvers.  On the way home, I had to fly straight and level, and she quickly expressed her boredom with such flying.  I can't wait to take her to an amusement park someday.  She just needs to grow another foot or so before they will let her on the rides.  Until then, there is always roller coasters to be enjoyed in daddy's airplane.

From the Logbook...Solo Flight (pt.2 of 2)

...(continued from the previous post seen below)

As Isaac climbed out of the water, he was suspiciously congratulated by our Indonesian workers, who knew they might be thrown into the river for their part in a covert dunking conspiracy.  Fortunately, they stayed dry.

However, Isaac's family was at our dock to witness his first float plane solo flight.  His two boys came prepared to celebrate, complete with their swimming suits.  Nothing like a family plunge to celebrate a once in a lifetime memory!

Isaac and I shared many laughs in the cockpit, and not all of them were about his landings.  Isaac is a great addition to our team and his humor and attitude toward service are an encouragement to us all.

Isaac is the first MAF pilot that I have been privileged to train, and the first person I have ever taught to fly a float plane.  We both had a great time working together and there are sure to be many more laughs around the dock with him around.

From the Logbook...Solo Flight (pt.1 of 2)

Busy!  That's the one word description of my past month.  Most of my business has come from training a new pilot to help me out here at our small MAF base.  The Rogers family moved to PalangkaRaya from another MAF base in Borneo called Tarakan.  They came for the purpose of filling in until the end of the year, but they have since decided to make it a permanent move.  Praise God!  We are super thankful for their flexible spirits and Christ like attitudes.  Training with Isaac was a lot of fun as he was already a capable and experienced pilot.  The Rogers served almost 6 years at MAF bases in Papua, Indonesia before coming to Borneo this past February.  

After two hard weeks of training, Isaac was ready to be "pushed from the nest" and fly solo in the float plane for the first time.  Above, Isaac is milliseconds away from touching down back in the Kahayan River for his second solo landing as he returned to PalangkaRaya.

MAF has a tradition to get their pilots wet after their first solo flight.  Usually this involves buckets, squirt guns and/or water bottles.  In a float plane environment, we get to take that tradition to the next level!  Our Indonesian staff love being part of a covert plan mixed with MAF tradition.

Ogasto, one of our Indonesian workers, had told Isaac that there was something wrong with the right side water rudder.  Isaac quickly went to look at it and...

...he was quickly baptized into the elite MAF group of float plane pilots.  Congratulations and great job Isaac!!!  Welcome to the Club!

From the Logbook...Going Home

It's not often that I get the opportunity to take a past medical patient and his/her family back home after they have received care at the hospital.  This was the scene as I approached the dock and beach a few weeks back taking a past patent and her family home.

 The woman in the blue shirt was the patient; a complicated child birth.  She ended up have a C-section and was unable to return home due to the bad conditions of the roads.  Her new little baby is being held by the woman in the yellow shirt...only 18 days old.  I'm kinda hard to pick out, but I am in the picture.

After we took a group shot, I turned around to see the local boys making a jungle gym out of my airplane.  Look at the little guy in the pink shirt...busted!  If you look closely you can see a little boy in blue shorts under my airplane crossing over the spreader bar.  Little boys are little boys no matter where you live.

From the Logbook...Canoe Ride

I'm usually too busy in the course of a flight day to take a boat ride down the river.  I was thankful a few weeks back to have the time to ride downstream from our airplane to a nearby village where I was able to sit and chat with the local pastors over tea and cookies.  They are a great group of men that live under very challenging conditions.

Upon arriving in the village, I caught these guys getting ready to go fishing together.  It's always fun to see little boys being little boys, regardless of where they are from.

From the Logbook...Heart Attack

Not only was it difficult docking the airplane at the interior village above, but getting the patient from the river bank to the airplane was a challenge as well.  I'm continually amazed at what a typical patient goes through just to get to our airplane in order to be medivac'ed.  But, the alternative is even more grave as there usually isn't one.

From the Logbook...Forest Bounty

Travel to anywhere outside of your hometown quickly shows you that people around your own country and the world eat lots of different things.  Indonesia is no exception here.  The man above was ecstatic one morning when I tied up the airplane at his dock.  It seems this jungle pig was swimming from the other side of the river and landed near the dock...a prime example of wrong place at the wrong time.  A few spears and the help of his dogs made light work of the hog.  He immediately started gutting the pig right in the river; preparing it for later consumption.

I always like asking different cultures about their hunting methods and I asked the guy a lot about his recent prey.  He was gracious enough to give me a whole hind leg as a gift, which I in turn gave to one of the guys I work with.  His wife prepared it at home and then all of us guys at the dock shared it for lunch the following day.

The dock owners luck didn't stop with the pig.  A few days later I was in his village again and he showed me his recently killed lizard.  I'm not sure of the proper name of this lizard, although it is similar to a monitor lizard.  Regardless of it's name, I'm sure it made for a few good meals at his dinner table.

From the Logbook...Hot Summer Days

While approaching an interior dock a few weeks ago, I saw a group of young boys having a good time cooling off...something which happens a lot here in Kalimantan since we have perpetual summer.

After a little coaxing from me, the little guys really put on a good show and showed me all the flips and cannon-balls they could.  It was a good time.

One of these days, I just might have to join them.  Flying an airplane in the same hot weather over the course of a long day makes a jump into the refreshing river temping.  Someday...

From the Logbook...Stroke Patient

I'm back!!!  Lack of blogging usually means lots of activity and that pretty much sums up our life this past month.  We have lived a lot of life over the past few months and July was no exception.  I have now stepped into the Base Manager role at our MAF-PalangkaRaya base and the future still looks very busy.  But, I/We LOVE what we do!!!  Thanks for being a part of it!

A few weeks ago I was called out to pick up a patient that had suffered a stroke and was having complications as the interior clinic tried to stabilize her.

Thankfully, I was able to pick her up and bring her to better medical facilities where she hopefully made a full recovery.

From the Logbook...Kampuri

I always like going to new destinations and Kampuri was one of them.  I was taking an old woman and her family back home because the trip overland would be too long and strenuous for her.  Due to the low water levels, the river bank was very steep and slippery to make it up to village level.

Once up at village level however, everything was all green and lush again.  Since the airplane isn't a regular visitor to this location, much of the village turned out as well to see the new visitor.

River levels are currently low which leads to a whole new set of challenges for a river float plane pilot.  Thankfully, Kampuri had a really nice stretch of river to operate from.

I was invited to the old woman's home for a few minutes while I waited for some spontaneous passengers to get ready to return with me to PalangkaRaya.  It's always fun to be invited into someone else's home and hear their life stories which are RADICALLY different from mine.

Upon returning to the airplane, the steep bank had to be negotiated again.  Thankfully I didn't fall on my behind.  Because, after a few other people did, the watching villagers really break out in laughter.  I can't blame them.

From the Logbook...Reptile Cargo

Occasionally we have a flight request a little outside of the box from "normal."  Recently we flew a small crocodile for the Kalaweit Foundation to an isolated location near the ocean. What made me laugh is I recently saw a show on TV following the lives of everyday employees at an American airline.  One of the scenes was documenting the drama and tough decision making involved in allowing 2 fist sized turtles to be carried onto the Boeing 737.  After a long time of calling airline HQ, getting the captains permission, etc, etc, the man was finally given permission to carry his 2 small turtles on board the airplane and asked to never do it again.  I wonder what would have happened if someone showed up at the airline gate with a croc!

From the Logbook...Tubang Lapingan

A few weeks back while making a scheduled run to a destination about an hour from PalangkaRaya, I was asked by a local pastor if he could come along and be dropped off a little farther upstream.  Of course I made room for him and we found his destination about 5 miles upstream from my original destination.  After determining a safe way to land and takeoff from this little village, I had him at the dock shortly thereafter.  Although we were only 3 minutes flight time upstream from my original destination, to travel there by small boat would have taken almost 2 hours!  After a short, but heavy, rain shower passed overhead, I took off and flew 3 minutes back to my original destination and got "back on schedule."

From the Logbook...

Flying float planes is FUN!!!

From the Logbook...New Opportunities

We recently opened a "new" route of service to an area of western Central Borneo that hasn't been consistently served by us in years but we receive a lot of flight requests to go there.  Above is the village of Hiran.  You can tell by the long ladder in the photo above that the water levels vary greatly over the course of a year.  Obviously, it is in a low water condition right now.  

 Not long after we opened this new route did we receive a call to pick up a man that had an accident while searching for gold.  His head and face were severely injured and supposedly he had a cracked skull with his scalp removed all the way to the bone.

 Due to the low water, the airplane couldn't quite reach the dock.  It ran aground about 3 feet away from the dock so they "inserted" the small boat above in between the dock and airplane to act as a bridge between the two.  I personally was also in the water just like the boy above so I could help get my airplane situated properly in order to climb aboard and start the engine.  You never know when you'll get wet when flying float planes, but you must be ready at any time.

From the Logbook...Three Patients in One

A common patient flight request is one from a woman having difficulties with either pregnancy and/or child delivery.  The woman pictured above was in the middle of labor, pregnant with twins, and in need of an emergency C-section right now!  Thankfully we were able to pick her up and fly her 40 minutes to PalangkaRaya where she received the care she needed.

From the Logbook...Patient Pick Up

 A few weeks ago instead of watching my plane be loaded with a patient, I gave my camera to a woman standing next to me and said "let em rip."  Not really...but if I could say that in Indonesian that would be cool.  Regardless she still got some cool pics.

Loading a Cessna 185 with a person that has to be laying down is tricky and difficult.  It takes a lot of people and is one of the reasons why many MAF 185 pilots now have bad backs.  I usually try to be mindful of that but sometimes you just have to get in there and get er' done!

 The patient in these photos had suffered from a stroke 3 days prior and traveled to this location to be picked up by us and flown to PalangkaRaya where he went to the hospital.  (BTW - the stretcher is made from small logs and chicken feed sacks)

After getting the patient and his family on board, all that's left is to put their belongings into the float lockers, put the door back on the airplane, and blast off!  I love flying float planes!!!

From the Logbook...Coastal Flying

It's not often that we actually see the ocean in our flying, but a few weeks ago I took a group of three pastors from Java to a remote coastal village to perform some baptisms.  The village was extremely friendly and they all jumped at the chance to be in a photo.

As I was leaving the village of Pagatan in my six, I snapped a quick picture of the little coastal village.  It was neat to see the vast Java Sea as I flew my landing pattern.  Later that same day I returned to pick the same group of pastors up so they could return to Java the following day via the airlines.  Without our service these men would have spent DAYS traveling one way just to reach this little village.  I love my job!

From the Logbook...Fun and Games

A few weeks ago we hosted a group of 9 aviation students (7 from Canada and 2 from America) that are interested in pursuing a career in mission aviation.  They had already spent a week at our other MAF location in Eastern Borneo, then it was my turn to show them what real MAF pilots do! ("real MAF pilots" = float plane pilots.)

Being that we have a small boat at our location complete with water skis and a wake board, what's not to like.  Above one of our local staff, Abet Nego, is shredding the river showing these college kids how it's done...all while still wearing his jeans!  Yee Haw!

We played on the river in front of our dock for a while; basically until the boat was almost out of gas and the sun was setting.  I think most of the students at that point wanted to be missionary FLOAT PLANE pilots and they hadn't even flown with me yet!  They all jumped off of the hangar roof into the river numerous times also.  What most impressed our local staff was that of this group of 9 students, 2 were girls, and they too jumped off of the hangar roof.  It makes for some good ribbing now with our local staff, all of whom are guys, who are too scared to jump off.  

So, a few days later I flew three flights with all of them taking them to an interior village where they stayed the night.  Instead of coming home on the airplane, they chose to come back to PalangkaRaya via roads and rivers.  Needless to say, after cheating death countless times on the interior roads, they all knew without a doubt the power and convenience of flying to the many destinations we can serve with a float plane.

From the Logbook...Patient Flight

It seems like a lot of my flying this past month has been picking up patients with all forms of ailments.  I can't remember what happened to the man above, but I do remember he was barley alive.  As I monitored him while we flew to PalangkaRaya with two family members and a nurse on board, I saw his wife several times hold her hand over his mouth to confirm he was still breathing.  He was hanging on the edge of life and it was a pleasure to be able to serve him that day.

From the Logbook...Air to Air

Shortly before my teammate Jason unexpectedly went back to America, we found ourselves flying to the same destination.  So, why not fly in formation all of the way there?!  Formation flying is always fun and it's always amazing to see how little our airplanes really are compared to the HUGE jungles of Borneo below.  Plus, float planes look awesome in the air!!!

From the Logbook..."Billy Graham of the East"

(For those of you who read my blog...I'm still here.  Usually a lack of blogging means I am too busy to find the free time to dedicate to posting pictures of our ministry here.  That has been the case for the past few weeks as my teammate and his family suddenly went home to America due to a family emergency.  I've been "holding down the fort" by myself for the past few weeks which means lots of flying, and not much free time for blogging.  So, over the next few weeks, I have posted the last months worth of pictures.  Enjoy!)

One of my most recent flights had me transporting Stephen Tong and his entourage to a few large villages in Central Borneo.  According to Wikipedia, Stephen Tong is the "Billy Graham of the East" and it was a pleasure to fly him and his team over the course of 3 days to their evangelistic events.  His crew was top notch and very professional.  It was a joy to help in serving them as they shared the hope we have in Jesus with those I rub shoulders with every day.  His nightly events drew thousands of people culminating with his last event here in PalangkaRaya where we live.

Above I merged some pictures together of one of the places I took Reverend Tong and his team.  While to the untrained float pilot eye it may not look like much, let me just say that the docking and un-docking process of my airplane at this location was the hardest, most challenging docking I've had to this date.  As I retold the story to Becca around the dinner table that evening I was surprised to feel my heart begin to race again as I recounted the near misses of my wings almost hitting buildings, my floats being caught in reverse currents, and the people on the dock offering too much "help" and in the process almost leaving me in a pickle.  Thankfully, it all ended well, and the airplane is still unscathed although it's pilot grew a few more grew hairs!