So after another couple of tours of Kalimantan, with business as usual and just as I was thinking I was becoming a permanent fixture, I got a somewhat unexpected, but pleasant, surprise in my inbox from the scheduling department...
A schedule for Papua!
Having heard plenty from other pilots about the sights, sounds and smells of Papua, I was a fairly sure I was in for a treat. I'd heard the mountain strips were "interesting", the pilots were "chilled" and that the flying was "pretty good"...
Based on my first month here, I'd say that those descriptions were huge understatements!
From the high mountain strips to the coastal lowland airfields, this place is some of the best flying I've been fortunate enough to experience.
I started my journey with a 7 hour overnight slog (once again confirming just how "wide" this country is!) from Jakarta, via Makassar, to one of the major airports in the region at Biak. Then a short hop down on a company flight to, my first Papua base, Nabire.
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| New base... New adventures |
Nabire seems like a pretty decent place to be introduced to Papua flying, as it combines both mountain and lowland flying. So I can be flying to island strips one day... And then flying down mountain valleys the next!
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| Blue skies... Blue waters |
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| We're at 10,500'... So are the mountains... And they're the small ones! |
The mountain flying has certainly been a highlight. Flying into 600m long "one way" strips with 7-10% upslopes, at 6000', in a mountain valleys, with uneven surfaces and wild pigs running around makes for an interesting day at the office. Due to the challenging nature of these strips, most (for good reason) are deemed "Captain only landing" and one or two are even "Captain only takeoff"!
After visiting a couple of them... I can understand why. Visual illusions created by sloping strips, coupled with tricky winds, lots of other traffic and poor surface conditions make for a high workload.
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| Rocks and potholes, also known as a runway! |
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| "Ski Jump" at Ilaga |
Indeed, there are one or two "reminders" dotted about the place that Papua can be quite unforgiving if you let your guard down.
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| A stark reminder... |
The result of a training flight (by another company) gone wrong. If you look closely you can see the damage to the wing... I was told that both wing tips actually came into contact with the ground during the incident. Thankfully, everyone walked away relatively unscathed.
Even the lowlands present their own challenges. The weather here is constantly changing and quite rapidly. Also, with a lot of runways being near to shorelines and surrounded by trees/jungle, it isn't uncommon for sea breezes to bring 10-15kt crosswinds and a fair bit of turbulence. It sure does keep you on your toes!
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| Black and white... At 0700hrs |
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| Glad we were flying in the other direction! |
One of the less formidable challenges here, is the number of "legacy" aircraft... These aircraft don't have the fancy G1000 cockpits. Back to the "steam powered" analogue gauges with all the buttons and switches in different places. Good fun! ;-)
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| Rocking it "old school" |
Thankfully, it isn't all work. My first week here I got the opportunity to visit some of the locals... Of the underwater variety.
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| What's better than one whale shark? TWO whale sharks! |
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| Swimming with the fishes... |
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| I think I was slightly more excited than the whale shark ;) |
A truly amazing experience, that I certainly won't forget in a hurry. (As evidenced by the last photo ;-)
