From the Logbook...Red Tape

The photo above is a diction of what we have been up to the last several days...not much.  Our only other flying pilot has been laid out flat with some type of bacterial infection and hasn't been able to leave his house.  I am still waiting for a checkride from a government examiner in order to get an Indonesian pilot's license and fly solo.  So, our airplanes have been resting on the hangar floor until somebody is either healthy enough, or certified enough, to fly them.

I have been very busy with little projects and things around the hangar.  There is always something to do.  Please join us in prayer that some of the red tape that seems to be slowing down my licensing process can be removed soon and I can start flying as well as for the health of our other pilot here.

Hangar Happenings

Life continues to be really busy due to the inspection of MCB (see post below).  We have removed the floats and their attaching components, cleaned up lots of corrosion, replaced both landing gear brackets, etched and alodined all aluminum parts and applied lots of fresh paint.  This type of major inspection happens every 1000 hours and poor ol' MCB has over 22,000 hours on her.  She needed this inspection bad.  This coming week we should be able to complete the inspection barring we don't find anything else that slows us down.  This inspection has turned out to be heavier than we thought and we have called "all hands on deck" to assist.  Thankfully we have great national employees.  Due to the fact that our hands are so full with this inspection, we have cancelled all flights except emergencies in order to get it done.  

I am still not flying due to some "new" laws here in Indonesia.  It seems like my licensing reputation has followed me to Borneo.  Long story short, within the next week or so I will travel to the other MAF base in Borneo so I can get certified first in a land plane, a Cessna 206; then I will return and take another test to fly the Cessna 185 floatplane.  It looks like it will be the end of June now before all of this happens and I will be legal to fly solo in Indonesia.  

We were visited by another MAF airplane last week; a Cessna 208 Caravan.  Our 208 is based at the other location I will be visiting soon.  One of our pilots from that base flew 400 nautical miles to pick up my instructor pilot and his family since they are moving there to take up a leadership role.

From the Logbook...Inspection Time

After a short training flight yesterday, MCB (aka, Charlie Brown) was hoisted onto the hangar floor in order to begin a big landing gear inspection.  In short order, we had the floats removed to give all landing gear components a very thorough looking over.  If all goes well, we hope to be done with this big inspection in about a week and a half.

One of the fun things about working on a floating hangar is all the interesting things to see literally happening in front of us.  This man was fishing the area around our hangar for a while and is seen here starting his little engine to work his way back upstream to try again some more.

From the Logbook...Doing Your Doodie

(Disclamer: this post if a real world, life as a missionary bush pilot documentary about naturally occurring events.  They don't teach you about this stuff in flight school.)  

Because of the tropical heat I encounter here in Borneo, on an average flight day I will easily drink between 2 to 4 liters of water by the time the day is up, sometimes more.  So, what goes in must come out.  But, the WC's (bathrooms) we find on our docks leave a little to be desired by a 6 foot 3 inch tall Westerner.  Above is a common WC, complete with removable door.  At least it didn't smell bad!

If you find yourself having to do your doodie, this is the view out of the WC.  And yes, everyone knows what you are "dooing."  Thankfully, I haven't had to do this part yet.

But, after a nice visit to the WC, you will feel refreshed and ready to continue flying after you finish chatting with the guys on the dock that just saw/heard everything while you were doing your doodie.  Ah, the joys of being a missionary bush pilot.

My Favorite Author on the MAF Blog

Click here to see Rebecca's most recent post on the MAF Blog.

From the Logbook...Working on the Beach

Yesterday, I was able to fly to Naan (see the videos in the previous post) and we were able to get in a lot of training.  After numerous takeoffs and landings, I was able to spend about an hour and a half sitting and chatting with some folks that lived on the river bank.  We were operating almost literally on the Equator and I found myself once again amazed trying to imagine the life that the people of Naan live compared to mine.

Thankfully I wasn't offered any dog while in Naan, but I was given a lesson on pig farming in the jungle.  Like most piglets I've seen, these were very cute.

Today the training continued and we found a community that had an appropriate beach in order to practice "beaching," or running the airplane aground.  Once again it offered a lot of new challenges and brought a lot of new considerations to my mind.  Usually we use docks to load and offload people and their belongings.  But on the rare occasion we will beach the aircraft if the location is suitable.  Pretty Sweet!!!

From the Logbook...A Few Videos

A few weeks ago I rode along with a fellow PalangkaRaya pilot and we landed at the community of Naan.  This past Friday it was planned for me to fly in there with my instructor to get "checked out" into that "airstrip."  But, due to poor weather we never made it.  So tomorrow, Monday, we are planning to head to Naan to begin the checkout process there.  Below are the takeoff and landing videos I made from a few weeks back to give you an idea of what some of the smaller rivers we fly to look like.

From the Logbook...Dog...It's What's for Lunch

That's right.  I succumbed to the peer pressure.  I. Ate. Dog. Meat.  No, it didn't taste like chicken.  In fact, if I didn't know it was Man's Best Friend I probably would have eaten more.  It was actually pretty good; or at least all the spices were tasty.  But take heart, I don't plan on eating Fido anymore.  In certain parts of Indonesia, dog meat is a common source of protein, and it is regularly eaten.

On a much lighter note, flight training seems to be progressing well.  I continue to have a blast learning the new challenges associated with float flying on top of knocking off rust that has crept in from several months of not committing aviation.  At the community pictured above a group of kids gathered to see all the action and as always they were entertaining and amused. 

From the Logbook...

It looks like at the end of this week I will resume my flight training in earnest.  Since I haven't been busy in the cockpit, I have sure been busy doing other things while my instructor pilot attended some meetings.  Early this morning, our shipping container arrived from language school.  It was almost three weeks of living out of suitcases again for the umpteenth time. (Thanks to the Persenaire family for putting up with our large and loud family!)   So, we are spending the night for the first time in our "new to us" house.  We are stoked!  I think I have one more day to get some water heaters installed (3), fix various things around the house, and anything else that will inevitably come up before I'm back in the cockpit enjoying the best that boating and aviation can dish out all in one package.

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!

My Backyardigans part 2

While the butterfly we found couldn't fly very well, it could still flutter a little bit.  When it flew from Paige's arm to her hair, she decided quickly she wasn't so fond of the pretty butterfly.  

The butterfly also made a little jaunt from Brooklyn's arm to her face.  She was really brave with this and didn't freak out at all.  I did have to remind to to breath though.  She was a great sport.  

My Backyardigans

A few days ago while the girls were playing outside they found a butterfly that had just emerged from it's cocoon.  Since it's wings we still drying it was having a hard time flying away, so we had fun with it and let it walk on the girls arms.  

Brooklyn is always the most interested at this point with all things nature.  She loves to understand the in's and out's of why things work and how they live.  It is always a joy to explain to her what I know.  Stay tuned for more pictures from our butterfly encounter...they are pretty funny.  

Borobudur Part 2

Here are a few of the thousands of chiseled stories carved onto the walls at Borodudur.  Certainly they all tell a story or history that I don't know.  I suppose we could have hired a tour guide, but that would have went over like a box of rocks with our 3 busy girls running all over the place.

It always makes me wonder what scenes like this would really look like if brought back to life today.  I am ignorant to most of the ceremonies and rituals that occurred there hundreds of years ago.  Maybe it is better that I don't know.

Supposedly the above carving is a princess on her way to give birth to the future prince of the area.  Some of the pictures ironically showed things that we still see in one way or another on a daily basis; horse drawn carts, large gatherings paying homage to someone, or just monkeys, elephants, and other wild animals.

While we were at Borodudur there was a large group of Spaniards all gathered around this man.  It was a bizarre thing to watch them all chanting something while bowing, dancing, and kneeling around him.  I couldn't tell if this man was happy to be there or just annoyed.  Borobudur holds a "Mecca like" importance to Buddhists and Hindus alike.  Yearly they gather by the thousands, usually in May, to pray and celebrate together.  

Borobudur Part 1

Yesterday, Becca and I took the family to nearby Borobudur because Brooklyn had the day off from school.  It was a great trip and it was a fascinating place.  Trying to contemplate it's almost 1300 years of history was hard.  

At the very top are numerous stupas, each with it's own Buddha idol in the middle.  Knowing this complex was all made by hand over 1200 years ago without modern machinery and tooling was hard to fathom.  Due to this fact it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Later this week I will post some more pictures from a closer scale showing some of the innate carvings that line most of the walls at the temple site.  

An Arachnid Viewing...

Last week I headed out with the girls to see what there was to see...and mostly just get them out of the house before mommy blew a fuse. (4-6pm seems to bring the worst out in our girls) The above spider looks and moves a lot like a crab.  It is about the size of small paper clip.

This isn't the best picture because my shooting light was fading.  But, it still shows a very bizarre specimen of spider; about the size of a half dollar coin.

I wonder if the spider above and the spider below are a similar species, or perhaps male and female of the same species.  The had very similar shapes, yet very different colorations.  They are about as big as a man's hand.

You might think that I like spiders since I posted a few pictures.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  They give me the willies, and I don't particularly like them.  However, I am always astonished at how our Maker put so much detail and purpose into something so small.