Time is passing very quickly. We'd like to get to Goroka at some point within the next four weeks before we depart to say farewell to two families who are leaving while we're away. Holger Lasi and Jason Marsh and their families have been here for over 10 and 8 years respectively and have made a huge contribution to the PNG programme. Holger has been senior DHC6 pilot for several years, and Jason has been Safety Manager. We'll just have to see if a brief visit can be fitted into a busy schedule.
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I was asked to give the sermon tomorrow at the Lutheran church one of the MAF bus drivers leads a couple of weeks back. Then two days ago Kambowa, one of the leaders of Mount Hagen Baptist Church, the church we go to, asked if I'd speak there next Sunday.
With two entirely different congregations it's straightforward to make one talk fit both situations, so although I've spent several hours preparing today, I won't have to repeat the process next week.
*************
On Friday afternoon arrangements were made to meet with some CASA PNG officials from their Airworthiness and Flying Operations departments. In the end it was only the Flying Operations person we needed to spend time with, but the meeting was very productive and so much better face-to-face rather than trying to work via email or telephone.
For a long while we've known that the C208 Caravan can do more than it has been allowed to using the existing performance charts. These charts calculate how much weight can be carried out of each airstrip, taking length, elevation, slope etc. into consideration. For example, a short, high altitude, flat airstrip will require a reduction in payload that isn't necessary when the airstrip is longer, lower or has a slope.
The aeronautical engineers we have calculated that it was possible to amend the existing charts, but still meet the legal and safety requirements. When the aircraft type was first introduced we naturally did everything cautiously and conservatively. With a lot of operating experience we now know it can do more, so calculations can be less cautious and allow us to carry more. Excellent news.
There are still some airstrips where the payload will be very low, and we've been given permission to calculate payload on demonstrated performance. This will take a considerable amount of planning, but basically means we can use accurate GPS data along with airstrip performance markers (e.g. whether the aircraft can land or take-off within a given required distance) to treat these airstrips individually. It's probably the biggest step forward for the C208s since we first started using them.
As part of the same visit the Flying Operations Inspector also had a look at our upgraded synthetic flight trainer and gave it his approval. He'll send a new certificate through in due course, but it is now up and running.
*************
Having had quiet nights all week it looks like tonight is going to be noisy. At only 3:25 p.m. there is loud music from the drinking club, and quite likely that will mean it'll run all night. Ear plugs to the fore! Unfortunately they now have their own generator because there is currently a power cut and in the past this used to mean all went quiet, one of the few benefits of loss of power.
*************
Sally Lloyd, daughter of Tom & Salome Hoey, whom our crew all know, is staying with us over tonight and tomorrow night. Tom & Salome were in PNG a couple of months ago getting the hydro-electric power generator at Mougolu, their home village, running again. They'd only been back in Australia a short while before a landslip destroyed the whole unit.
Together with another friend and helper they returned to PNG to survey the damage and salvage what they could. We haven't spoken with them directly, but their friend, John Baskerville, came through Hagen on his way back to Australia this week and it sounds as though setting everything up again will be a huge task. Quite a lot has been salvaged as they've hosed the mud and debris away, but not everything. For people now in their 80s and in a very hot, humid environment they demonstrate a perseverance and tenacity rarely seen.
Sally is due in shortly, depending on whether Air Niugini actually run the flight. In theory she should be halfway here as I write this, but we've not had a text to say she's boarded yet. Wait and see! Sally and her husband Ian were hostel parents at Ukarumpa while our boys were there. Sally and Ian ran Rhema hostel, next door to the ECPNG one where our boys lived.
*************
I got up early on Thursday so that a flight could depart for Ambuluwa before 7:30, an airstrip where wind is a problem from mid-morning onwards. Unfortunately the agent at the strip reported heavy rain overnight, continuing light rain and cloud on the airstrip. By 8:00 the conditions hadn't improved so that round was postponed, and we continued the rest of the programme which was three rounds taking teachers and teaching supplies back to a community after the Christmas/New Year break.
Since there is the outstanding flight to Ambuluwa, plus another scheduled for Tuesday, I'm going to try for a first light departure at 6:00 a.m. in the hope that we can get two flights done before the wind picks up. Whether we'll get a weather report remains to be seen as mobile signal coverage is poor and the agent has to walk about 4km up a mountain to talk to us.
*************
Sally has just sent a text that the aircraft door has just closed, so she should be here in about an hour and we'll leave in about 30 minutes.
When we had the dry, windy weather for a couple of weeks the highway was graded and it remained in reasonable, though very dusty condition. The word 'reasonable' wouldn't mean the same for describing a road's condition in the UK as it does here. Anyway, it meant that it was possible to get to the airport down the highway without getting lost in a pothole or tearing the axles off the car. Heavy rain over a couple of days has washed a lot of the fill out of the potholes once again, so it's a question of deciding whether to go the longer and smoother back road, or the still slightly quicker but much rougher highway.
Highway = two lane road, often unsealed where it hasn't been maintained, or where it has been washed out or ripped apart by a landslip. Potholes are common, often in extended patches that cars and trucks lurch through. Edges of some potholes are sharp due to the tar seal persisting for a while until it breaks off and the lip becomes smoother.
Reasonable = potholes have been filled with gravel (rather than mud) and the surface graded and rolled. The surface generally lasts until the first heavy rain after which the surface becomes wash-boarded before potholes develop again.
A 4-lane highway between town and airport is under construction, no doubt to impress visitors during APEC meetings scheduled for PNG in November (APEC = Asia Pacific Economic Community).
The moral (as the Queen of Hearts says in Alice in Wonderland) of the road conditions is that you must never let yourself get stuck in a rut.
... it's now Sunday afternoon. We very much enjoyed our visit to a rural community church this morning where I was speaking. The mix of village language (Melpa), Tok Pisin and a low level of English gave us a smile. The two collection pots were labelled "Offerings" and "Tights"!
*************
I was asked to give the sermon tomorrow at the Lutheran church one of the MAF bus drivers leads a couple of weeks back. Then two days ago Kambowa, one of the leaders of Mount Hagen Baptist Church, the church we go to, asked if I'd speak there next Sunday.
With two entirely different congregations it's straightforward to make one talk fit both situations, so although I've spent several hours preparing today, I won't have to repeat the process next week.
*************
On Friday afternoon arrangements were made to meet with some CASA PNG officials from their Airworthiness and Flying Operations departments. In the end it was only the Flying Operations person we needed to spend time with, but the meeting was very productive and so much better face-to-face rather than trying to work via email or telephone.
For a long while we've known that the C208 Caravan can do more than it has been allowed to using the existing performance charts. These charts calculate how much weight can be carried out of each airstrip, taking length, elevation, slope etc. into consideration. For example, a short, high altitude, flat airstrip will require a reduction in payload that isn't necessary when the airstrip is longer, lower or has a slope.
The aeronautical engineers we have calculated that it was possible to amend the existing charts, but still meet the legal and safety requirements. When the aircraft type was first introduced we naturally did everything cautiously and conservatively. With a lot of operating experience we now know it can do more, so calculations can be less cautious and allow us to carry more. Excellent news.
There are still some airstrips where the payload will be very low, and we've been given permission to calculate payload on demonstrated performance. This will take a considerable amount of planning, but basically means we can use accurate GPS data along with airstrip performance markers (e.g. whether the aircraft can land or take-off within a given required distance) to treat these airstrips individually. It's probably the biggest step forward for the C208s since we first started using them.
As part of the same visit the Flying Operations Inspector also had a look at our upgraded synthetic flight trainer and gave it his approval. He'll send a new certificate through in due course, but it is now up and running.
*************
Having had quiet nights all week it looks like tonight is going to be noisy. At only 3:25 p.m. there is loud music from the drinking club, and quite likely that will mean it'll run all night. Ear plugs to the fore! Unfortunately they now have their own generator because there is currently a power cut and in the past this used to mean all went quiet, one of the few benefits of loss of power.
*************
Sally Lloyd, daughter of Tom & Salome Hoey, whom our crew all know, is staying with us over tonight and tomorrow night. Tom & Salome were in PNG a couple of months ago getting the hydro-electric power generator at Mougolu, their home village, running again. They'd only been back in Australia a short while before a landslip destroyed the whole unit.
Together with another friend and helper they returned to PNG to survey the damage and salvage what they could. We haven't spoken with them directly, but their friend, John Baskerville, came through Hagen on his way back to Australia this week and it sounds as though setting everything up again will be a huge task. Quite a lot has been salvaged as they've hosed the mud and debris away, but not everything. For people now in their 80s and in a very hot, humid environment they demonstrate a perseverance and tenacity rarely seen.
Sally is due in shortly, depending on whether Air Niugini actually run the flight. In theory she should be halfway here as I write this, but we've not had a text to say she's boarded yet. Wait and see! Sally and her husband Ian were hostel parents at Ukarumpa while our boys were there. Sally and Ian ran Rhema hostel, next door to the ECPNG one where our boys lived.
*************
I got up early on Thursday so that a flight could depart for Ambuluwa before 7:30, an airstrip where wind is a problem from mid-morning onwards. Unfortunately the agent at the strip reported heavy rain overnight, continuing light rain and cloud on the airstrip. By 8:00 the conditions hadn't improved so that round was postponed, and we continued the rest of the programme which was three rounds taking teachers and teaching supplies back to a community after the Christmas/New Year break.
Since there is the outstanding flight to Ambuluwa, plus another scheduled for Tuesday, I'm going to try for a first light departure at 6:00 a.m. in the hope that we can get two flights done before the wind picks up. Whether we'll get a weather report remains to be seen as mobile signal coverage is poor and the agent has to walk about 4km up a mountain to talk to us.
*************
Sally has just sent a text that the aircraft door has just closed, so she should be here in about an hour and we'll leave in about 30 minutes.
When we had the dry, windy weather for a couple of weeks the highway was graded and it remained in reasonable, though very dusty condition. The word 'reasonable' wouldn't mean the same for describing a road's condition in the UK as it does here. Anyway, it meant that it was possible to get to the airport down the highway without getting lost in a pothole or tearing the axles off the car. Heavy rain over a couple of days has washed a lot of the fill out of the potholes once again, so it's a question of deciding whether to go the longer and smoother back road, or the still slightly quicker but much rougher highway.
Highway = two lane road, often unsealed where it hasn't been maintained, or where it has been washed out or ripped apart by a landslip. Potholes are common, often in extended patches that cars and trucks lurch through. Edges of some potholes are sharp due to the tar seal persisting for a while until it breaks off and the lip becomes smoother.
Reasonable = potholes have been filled with gravel (rather than mud) and the surface graded and rolled. The surface generally lasts until the first heavy rain after which the surface becomes wash-boarded before potholes develop again.
A 4-lane highway between town and airport is under construction, no doubt to impress visitors during APEC meetings scheduled for PNG in November (APEC = Asia Pacific Economic Community).
The moral (as the Queen of Hearts says in Alice in Wonderland) of the road conditions is that you must never let yourself get stuck in a rut.
... it's now Sunday afternoon. We very much enjoyed our visit to a rural community church this morning where I was speaking. The mix of village language (Melpa), Tok Pisin and a low level of English gave us a smile. The two collection pots were labelled "Offerings" and "Tights"!
