On the line...

So I finally got a taste of line flying... :-D

I've been sent "on tour" to a small town, in the Northeastern region of Kalimantan, called Malinau.

Up North

My first official operational flight was a short hop from Balikpapan (WALL) to Samarinda (WALS)... Literally a postage stamp in the middle of a large city...

Easy to spot

Looks shorter than it is

Not a bad day in Samarinda

We then had a delay due to weather at our next destination, Long Ampung.

Climbing enroute to Long Ampung

Sadly, the delays meant cancelling a couple of afternoon sectors to Data Dawai and back, so we headed to Malinau instead.

I learnt a lot on my first day... Thankfully, I have been paired with a very relaxed Training Captain who is happy to answer all my questions and offer some very useful advice from his 4+ years working on the line here...

Day 2 was a little wet to start with... Some overnight storms had left their mark and there was some light drizzle and low cloud... For me, it was a half day of flying. Headed off to Tarakan (WALR) and back and then up into the middle of nowhere to a place called Long Bawan (WALB) to pick up some passengers and one prize fighting roster!!?! Before coming back to Malinau to change over with the other FO based here so he could fly the afternoon portion of the schedule.

Daily Schedule

All in all, another good learning experience... And a couple of new places visited.

And with 3.4 hours yesterday and 2.2 today... I'm now over 900 hours Total Time... 900.1 to be precise ;-) w00t!

A crazy day...

Had an "interesting" day...

Started out by taking a "short stroll" in 35 degree heat to a shopping mall...

About 100m from the house, I almost got run over by a guy taking driving lessons... Doing about 5km/h... Yes... Five! :P

Later on my walk, I saw a guy wearing a 'Hamas Palestine' T-shirt...

Was greeted with "Helloooo meeester" about 20 times (including 6 at once from school kids hanging out the windows of a bus and once from a guy who shouted it at me as he went past on a scooter doing about 50km/h)...

Was followed by a woman in the shopping mall... As in, down an escalator and halfway across the mall!!?! "Excuse me mister, where are you from?"... New Zealand... "Excuse me, Do you have a family?"... Yes, in New Zealand... "Do you have any kids?"... Ahhh, No... "Do you have a.... Wife?" <insert hopeful look here>... Ahhh, yes... "Meh"... <insert disappointed look and 180° turn here>... Not sure if she was going to try and set me up with herself or her daughter... :-/

Realised I've been in Indo too long when I decided that a salon asking NZ$8 for a haircut was just outrageous...

Took a taxi back to the house... Meter says 21,000... Go to pay 25,000 because I like to tip the drivers who don't mess with foreigners...  gives me the 5,000 back... And asks for a 10!!?! :-/

Nothing makes sense... I love it! ;)

Waiting...

Got a good lesson in waiting... Which is ongoing ;)

Just over a month from completing my ground course and flight training with Susi and I finally got my Indonesian license validation issued... The wheels of bureaucracy turn VERY slowly in Indo... Doesn't help when the DGCA takes a 1 week vacation to celebrate then end of Ramadan... :-/

Then, 1 day of travelling, from NZ to my first base assignment in Kalimantan, turning into 3 days due to fog in Sydney, missed connections and some admin hiccups...

Then... I get to base to find that the flight crew to aircraft ratio is a bit high...

Still, I can think of worse things than getting paid to sit around and watch TV and drink beer... :P