... and another Western Equatorial Shuttle

After a relaxing Easter break it was back to flying today with another Western Equatorial Shuttle. I landed at Mundri, Maridi, Ibba, Yei and Kajo Keji and carried 15 pax in total representing 9 different organisations including Baptist Convention, Sudan Evangelical Mission, American Refugee Committee, Call for Ministry, ECS, Charlotte Baby Home, World Relief, Winrock International and AMREF Health Africa.

At one point it looked like a rain shower was going to prevent me landing in Yei but fortunately the weather cleared enough and I was able to complete all the flights as planned.

Western Equatorial Shuttle

I had a fairly long day today with a shuttle stopping in Yei, Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, Mundri and Kajo Keji. We had 20 passengers in total representing organisations including ECS, Christian Horizon Global, American Refugee Committee, Reconcile International, International Medical Corps, Living Water Ministry, UNFPA and Sudan Evangelical Alliance Partners.

In the afternoon the rain arrived in Juba, conveniently while I was flying to Kajo Keji. By the time I flew back in to Juba it was wonderfully cool(ish) and there was absolutely no turbulence. A great way to end the week. Tomorrow we are off to Nairobi for some R&R so there'll be no more flying blogs here until after Easter...

Medair to Maban

Yesterday's flight to Maban for Medair was a mixture of passengers and freight on the way out but empty on the way back down to Juba.

Some mist/fog up in the north of the country made the arrival into Maban a little bit more interesting than usual, with visibility ranging from mediocre to very poor as we flew the last 40km or so. Fortunately the visibility in the immediate vicinity of Maban was good and we were able to complete the flight as planned.

Another of our flights was bound for Wau in the north west (more than 600km from Maban) and had to divert to another airfield because the visibility in Wau was reportedly down to 200m.

More soap to Motot

Another double rotation today starting with a short half hour hop down to Yei to collect two passengers.

The second flight was up to Motot with a ton of soap for Tearfund. Both flights went smoothly (if you ignore a bit of turbulence) and still no rain, although there was rain further to the north today and Motot was a little damp so it seems they have had their first shower.

Open Doors back from Yida

On Friday I returned to Yida to collect the Open Doors team which we had flown up a week and a half previously. It's always good to fly the return leg for a team when you've flown them out into the field, and it was good to see some familiar faces and hear the positive reports of their work.

Eight of the ten passengers I collected were going back down to Yei, while two were coming all the way back to Juba to connect to an international flight. We needed to stop in Rumbek on the way down from Yida in order to refuel but fortunately we were able to make it a quick stop and we made it back to Juba just in time for the international flight...

ACROSS to Rumbek

Well, Thursday and Friday were long days and, with the weather as hot as it's been, I was rather tired by the end of each day. So there's my excuse for only blogging a couple of days after the fact... ;)

I had a double rotation on Thursday, starting with a flight with 3 passengers out to Boma in the east, where I collected another 4 passengers for the next leg to Rumbek. The team, from Tearfund in partnership with Across, was visiting projects in each of those places to report on the work being done.

After returning to Juba I continued down to Kajo Keji as part of our Central Equatorial Shuttle. I had 3 passengers on the way down with just 1 returning to Juba. Our four shuttle passengers represented four separate organisations: Never Thirst, Windle Trust, Christian Horizon Global and ECS.

Soap to Motot

Today was a much more relaxed day, flying wise. I did a single rotation to Motot for Tearfund with just over a ton of soap. The aircraft was loaded last night so I was able to get away early in the morning and I was home by lunch time, having enjoyed a 25 knot tail wind on the way back.

Equatorial shuttle

Today's flights were for our Central Equatorial Shuttle and I had stops in Torit, Nimule, Kajo Keji, Juba (again) and Yei. Of the six legs flown, all were half an hour or less so it was rather a hot day with temperatures on the ground ranging between 35 and 40 deg C.

We had 19 passengers in total and the organisations we served included ECS, Confident Children out of Conflict, Tearfund, CMA, Christian Solidarity International, Pioneers International, Make Way Partners, Scripture Union, UNFPA, American Refugee Committee, and Seed Effect.

No rain today but it's not far off...

Here come the rains

Today I flew the shuttle to Loki, via Kimatong and Kapoeta on the way out and via Kapoeta on the way back. During the time on the ground in Loki we had a short rain shower and then again in Kapoeta on the way back to Juba there was short but heavy shower.

In Kapoeta it started to rain as I opened the door after landing, and by the time I had begun removing the passengers' bags from the pod under the aircraft the rain had become quite heavy. Initially I thought we'd just get the unloading done quickly and then shelter from the rain, but I got wet so quickly that after a few moments it hardly seemed worth seeking shelter as I was so wet already.

I'm not sure I would have been much wetter if I'd had a couple of buckets of water emptied over me and what made it seem even worse was that it stopped raining almost as soon as we had unloaded the baggage! Mental note to self, next time sit in the plane and wait for the shower to pass rather than trying to beat it...

One patient and two patient passengers

Yesterday morning I was all set to take 2 passengers and 600kg of freight to Pochala, on the Ethiopian border, for the Presbyterian Church (USA), but then plans changes a little.

We received a request from Medair early in the morning to collect a sick member of their team from Leer, in the north, and bring them down to Juba so that they could travel on to Nairobi for medical care. We asked the Presbyterian Church passengers, who were already at the airport checking in to go to Pochala, if they would be prepared to delay their flight by four or five hours so that we could help Medair with the medevac. Graciously, the passengers agreed to the delay and we were able to accept the Medair flight. The flight to Leer is just over 1.5 hours and I was accompanied by a Medair doctor who would assess the condition of the patient and look after him on the flight back to Juba.

On returning to Juba our dispatchers loaded up the 600kg of freight (mostly metal pipes and pump equipment) for Pochala and I met our two patient passengers. I was interested to hear that they were going to be manually drilling for water (down as deep as 39m apparently) to provide a water supply for a school which the organisation has built. If they are successful with the manual drilling it will mean the cost of a well could be as little as $1,500 compared to $15,000 or so using heavy drilling equipment.

Open Doors and a little bit of difficulty closing a door

Yesterday I flew four passengers up to Yida, in the north of the country, for Open Doors. I really enjoy flying for organisations like Open Doors as they are so clearly involved in spreading the Gospel and building up Christians in areas where it is not easy for Christians to live.

I took two pax out of Juba in the morning, leaving one in Yei and collecting another 3, before the long 2.5 hour flight up to Yida. We were also able to carry half a ton of freight for the team which included sacks of sugar and flour and other food items.

Open Doors team in Yei

In Yida there were a lot of people crowding around the aeroplane and a lot of requests to fly down to Juba, something we get quite often in some of the places we fly. Open Doors requested us to carry one couple, but the answer for all the others had to be 'no'.

As the two authorised passengers boarded the aircraft another man in military uniform tried to follow them onto the plane, and I had to place myself in his way to stop him climbing the stairs. He was very determined and refused to take his foot off the bottom step, although I was telling him that he was not allowed on board the aircraft. After a very short and slightly comical standoff I physically removed his foot from the step so that I could close the door, after which he placed a hand on the step as I lifted it. Fortunately he did not resist further when I moved his hand and finally closed the door and we could get going back to Juba...