This & That Around the Hangar

I've collected these pictures over the last while in and around where I spend most of my time: The hangar!

Along with flying sick or injured people out of the interior, another way we help meet a real (although sobering) need is moving bodies to be buried where they called home. Below, family and friends gather around an airplane for prayer before a body leaves on this flight.

I'd say on an average of once every month or two, a big column of black smoke appears on the horizon towards town, as someone's store, house - or anything flammable - burns down. On this particular day, I found out later that it was a boat in the harbour, and unfortunately a couple people died. Houses are built here close together, using a lot of flammable materials, poor wiring practices, open flames for cooking...the list goes on. The result is lots of fires.

Pak Nelson was nice enough to pose with his newly acquired Biawak (monitor lizard). This one was caught near Luke & Si's school. It later became a delicious source of meat for Nelson's family (I've heard it tastes like chicken, but doesn't everything?) Nelson is from the Krayan Region and knows how to cook up almost anything that can be found out in the jungle. Biawak's are quite common here, even in the suburban areas. I'm happy to not have this one hanging around the kids at school, as a bite from one would not be pretty.

Below, one of our Kodiak's is looking funny sitting there without it's nose landing gear. We took it off for some routine maintenance, and just in case anyone was wondering...No, we didn't leave the plane sitting like seen below; held up with an engine hoist, this was a temporary "situation", as we shuffled nose gear assemblies.

Tim is in the process of re-assembling the nose landing gear strut after we completed an inspection. Man, Tim! You look professional!!

Here, Pak Jonathan is helping with a compressor / engine rinse. A couple times a week we "bath" certain parts inside the engine with de-mineralized water. This prevents deposit buildups from salt and other goodies floating around in the air. Combined with really high temperatures, these deposits can compromise the internal integrity of the engine. I don't think cleanliness makes one more godly, but in this case it certainly makes things safer.

 In the last few months we have tackled some larger inspections on a couple of our Cessna 206's. Below, we are beginning to take apart the entire tail of this plane. so that we can inspect all those parts that are hard to get at.

 Jerry cleaning seat rails.

 Jos getting ready to clean spark plugs.

 And of course, there's no doubt who is working the hardest...just look how much I'm sweating. Oh wait, I'm always like that. I just need a tuque...

Into the Fall & Back to School

Our kiddos started their new school year in August (like the US does). Luke started Grade 3, Simon - Grade 1, Helena - Kindergarten (with Amy), and Charlotte, well, she's moved on to Big Girl Play Time (as apposed to littler girl play time). Here's a couple of attempts of a first day of school picture:

Between the two pic's, each kid is smiling at least once :)

Luke and Si attend a small MAF school run this year by two awesome teachers who serve our families by teaching our kids. Let me tell you, this is such a blessing! We are very thankful to have Lynne & Mary again this year.

Summer break from school is handy for Amy and I as it is one of the very few indications we have to what time of year it is. Having them home for "summer break" helps one to mentally support the idea that it is summer, and once they return to school it is "the fall".

Below the kiddos are taking advantage of an afternoon rain storm that rolled by. When we lived in Salatiga (Central Java), rain storms like this that happened during the day seemed to be more frequent. Here, due to coastal weather patterns and such it more often storms and rains at night. Luckily, it rarely goes more than a week or so without rain, as all of our water reserves come from the rain.

Okay, more pic's and stories about what we've been up to here the last while...coming up!

Palangkaraya - The "Monkey" Boat

Okay, just one last post about my time in Palangkaraya.

One day myself and some other MAF visitors-to-Palangkaraya types got to hitch a ride on the USS Monkey Boat. Some nice Swiss folks let us fill up the vacant spots on the cruise ship.

Where were we heading? Well, if you weave and wind your way up a river or two from Palangkaraya, you get to this Island in the Rivers that is home to some orangutans. These particular orangutans are being rehabilitated back into the wild, as Borneo and a wee bit of Sumatra are the only place in the world a few still actually live in the wild.

Yes, I called this boat the "Monkey Boat", and yes I know Orangutans are not monkeys, but hey, we did in fact see some monkeys on the way.

 

Above is our faithful Captain. Notice the throttle cable is made from an old bike pedal gear. Below is what looks like a sawmill of some sort, maybe a bit of the style you would see in black & white pictures in a museum in any given small town in BC, back before things like "legislation" and "rules" complicated the way folks cut down & processed trees.

(I apologize because all of these pictures are from my super awesome Samsung phone). Below you can kind of make out a guy walking on floating logs. This is a brief glimpse of a 1/4 mile long log boom floating down the river, with around a 1/2 dozen tug boats keeping it from smashing into stuff.

Below a typical little abode we'd pass now and then once away from the city. River life!

I guess you would call these "river signs" since signs along a road are called "road signs". I think I know what most of the meanings are, but the one on the far right !? It can't mean "straight stretch" because that would conflict with the "sharp left turn" sign...

Here is a village we passed along the way. This river is the main way to get to and from here, very typical to many, many villages in this part of Borneo.

Okay, from what I understand, these contraptions are one of the main reasons most rivers in this area of Borneo have "0" clarity. These are homemade gold finding machines. They dredge the bottom of the river and send the silty sandy water mix down a sluice box, and to do this they use an exhaust-less super LOUD engine. It's just crazy to see. There is usually a little covered area on the back, and on one I saw a Mom & young kid hanging out the side. The whole family was living on it. Imagine your family living on a half rotten dock 6ft from a Harley Davidson V-Twin!

Most of this mining is of the illegal kind, but I really can't blame those who are poor just trying to provide meals for their families.

Below is an orangutan! (Where's my good camera!?) I heard that the word "orangutan" comes form the Indonesian / Malay words "Orang" meaning Person or Human, and "Hutan" meaning Jungle or Forest. I can see the forest people resemblance. They are pretty big when you get up close, I'd hate to mess with one!

A couple of shots of the short boat ride to the island to see the orangutans.

Thus concludes my adventures in Palangkaraya. I really enjoyed seeing another part of Borneo, spending time with our Comrades in the South, and seeing how MAF is used there. Next post back to Tarakan!!

Flying off of Rivers - Part Deux

So, after we picked up our patient, we flew her and a nurse to the city of Banjar Masing, located on the south coast of Borneo. But to get there, you gotta dodge the clouds!

Below is the landscape in this southern area; flat with meandering rivers. It is also much more settled, and actually reminds me somewhat of Central Java with all the rice fields in neat rows, cut into what once was all jungle.

Our elderly passenger is helped off the plane with the nurse.

A cool old boat that was at the dock we stopped at.

There is always something or someone interesting going by on these rivers. As soon as I got out of the plane and stood on the float, a couple fishermen floated by.

Getting his net ready to cast. Unfortunately my pic's of him casting were not that focused. It is amazing how hard it is not to get washed out pictures in the hours before & after mid-day. The sun is so high in the sky, either you under expose & can't see anyone's face, or you white out the scenery.

This guy here had good luck and was proud to show me what he caught near the shore. This fishes' head looks like it's on backwards.

Back at home at the floating base! This plane just recently turned 50 yrs old, and is the oldest plane flown by MAF around the world. Nonetheless, these Cessna 185's still do a great job here. In fact, a lot of what you see is probably not the original airplane, as so many parts & pieces get replaced over the years.

Next year this base is hoping to receive a Quest Kodiak on amphibious floats (Amphibious Floats: Floats on a plane that also have wheels so they can land on dry land as well as water...Just don't land on water with the wheels...youtube can provide visual evidence of what happens when folks have tried to do so). I think the guys here are excited to see their base transition into flying a Kodiak , as it can carry a lot more, fly faster & fly further.

Okay, believe it or not, I have even more on Palangkaraya yet to come! More rivers & boats, and less airplanes.

Palangkaraya - Flying off of Rivers

One morning I had the privilege of tagging along with Pilot Sean Cannon on a medivac flight. We went up to a village north of Palangkaraya, picked up an elderly lady, and then flew her to the city of Banjar Masing on the southern coast of Borneo. But let's get to it, as there are many pictures to peruse!!

Here, quite a group of locals greeted the plane at the dock. Although a bit of a somber occasion (as someone was in need of medical attention), it didn't take much more than Sean, myself, an airplane, & a camera to give excuse for lightening the mood so-to-speak. Some of the women here were pretty funny and, shall we say, down right extroverted! Sean was nice enough to lend me his camera and I was able to shoot pictures of what was going on.

Since I was just along for the ride, and had Sean's camera, the hunters became the hunted as I turned the tables and took many pictures of the picture takers! Below are a select few...

Posing with the plane...

Posing with the Pilot...Even if he doesn't know it!

The coolest 5 year old on the dock...

Our patient was an elderly woman, and here they carry her onto the dock to load her into the airplane. I must say I was worried for a few moments as I thought there was a real chance she was going to get dropped in the water, thankfully she was not.  I can't say building codes in Canada would approve of the dock ramp. I think they would have gone for a slightly bigger board.

But hey, one thing you have to learn when living far from Canada, things that were dangerous back home aren't really dangerous here. Danger is relative, it is merely a state of mind. Hand rails and anti-slip tape on a dock ramp? No need, the board works fine. Safety shoes in a construction environment...What are those? I think "safety flip flops" would sell well here. Helmets on a motorcycle? Just for adults, kids can go helmet-less. Idaho doesn't even enforce that one. They have more 'freedom' south of the Canadian boarder to smash their heads however they want to.

Joking aside, people do pretty well here with what they have. I mean, MAF's ministry here would most likely not be needed here if this little village could afford a nice safe dock with proper height hand rails & anti-slip tape. If they had that, they probably would have access to a road worthy ambulance type vehicle that could drive they elderly woman on a half decent road to another bigger town with a small hospital. Of course, there is no ambulance, decent road, or small hospital near by. We are pretty blessed to be on the business end of blessing these people in this way. It still blows my mind to think of all the people and efforts needed for there to be a plane ready to fly in a location such as here. It really is by the provision of God that we are here at all, and we are so blessed that He would use us in this way.

People look on as she is loaded in the plane. This is a moment when you could really read the underlying seriousness of us being there. I'm sure a lot of the folks here are related to the elderly woman, and might not ever see here again alive.

Okay, I have too many pic's so I'm going to make a Part Deux free of charge. Well, not totally free, your internet & electricity costs money...Unless you're at work, in which case you better get back to working...& don't forget to sign your facebook out too.

Yes, I'm going on about nothing, but me thinks the Indonesian Karaoke I currently hear loud & clear in the back ground serenading my evening is affecting my good judgement. We have this quaint little restaurant karaoke type place up the hill from our house, and the sounds just bounce perfectly around our home to make it feel a whole lot closer than it really is...6pm to11pm.  The Karaoke was gone for the month of Ramadan (Holy month of fasting for Muslims) but now it is back with a vengeance! But hey, it's not really a big deal. Further more, Amy and I can now also recognize (by melody) some of "what's popular" in the Indonesian pop music scene:)