Loki shuttle

Today's shuttle to Loki stopped in Kapoeta on the way out and in both Kapoeta and Torit on the way back to Juba. We carried 14 passengers in total from 5 organisations which included MSF, Carter Centre, SIL, Presbyterian Relief Development Agency and the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.

Medical flight to Maridi

Today I went to Maridi to collect an old man who had broken his leg and needed to come to Juba for treatment. I asked how the injury had occurred and apparently the man was pulling a goat when he fell and broke his leg.

The flight was organised by Doctors for Africa and I carried the patient plus another man who came along to care for the patient.

Elia and Tito en-route back to Juba

It was a beautiful day for flying with a high overcast which kept the day cool and the air smooth after a night of refreshing rain.

Jiech for CMD

On today's flight to Jiech for Christian Mission for Development I carried one passenger from Juba plus close to a ton of freight. The freight was mixed but included 9 'School-in-a-Box' boxes (see http://www.unicef.org/supply/index_40377.html).

On the return leg I had 8 passengers, more than half of them children, plus several dozen flies! Fortunately flies get a little sleepy up at altitude and stop flying around quite as much as they do near the ground, but they're still rather annoying.

Jiech is still dry, as you can see from the dust being blown around by the helicopter in the picture below, but as I was departing for Juba there was a line of thunderstorms just to the east so it looks like they may be getting some rain this afternoon.

A couple of showers to the east of Jiech

To Renk and back

Today's flights were quite straight forward. A three hour run up to Renk for Medair with 2 passengers and nearly half a ton of medical supplies, tools and stationery.

The return leg was about 20 minutes shorter, since I had a good tailwind, and I was on the ground about 15 minutes before the arrival of the leader of the opposition who has been expected here in Juba for the last week. That was good timing since VIP movements can often cause quite a lot of disruption at Juba airport.

Please join us in praying for peace in this country.

Juba-Lohutok-Lokichogio-Kapoeta-Juba

Today I once again flew the shuttle to Loki to meet one of our MAF Kenya colleagues and to swap aircraft with them. We had a slightly earlier start than usual to try to avoid security hassles at the airport with the expected return of the Opposition leader to Juba. When I arrived back in Juba this afternoon there was a heavy military presence at the airport but we managed to get through without any trouble so the timing worked well.

Our passengers represented the following organisations: Carter Centre, ECS, MSF and Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron.

With talks of another possible VIP arrival tomorrow it might mean another early start...

Loki via Lohutok

Today's flights were for the Loki shuttle. I stopped at Lohutok on the way out to collect one man who has been doing Bible translation in that area, and on the way back to Juba had stops in Kapoeta and Torit.

Passengers were from Wycliffe Associates, UNIDO, Carter Center and War Child Holland, with a couple of hundred kilograms of freight for Medair coming back to Juba too.

A day of prayer and another Western Shuttle

Yesterday we did not have any flights and closed the office for the day so that we could get together as a staff team to pray as part of the MAF International Day of Prayer. We do this twice a year and join MAF staff all around the world in praying for MAF and the world we operate in.

Today was another busy Western Equatorial Shuttle, although not as many passengers this time. I had stops in Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, Mundri, Yei and Kajo Keji and carried a total of 12 passengers plus about 100kg of freight. Organisations represented include UNFPA, Seed Effect, ECS, Bible Society, World Relief, Catholic Diocese of Tombura, Light for the World, AMREF, International Medical Corps and Sudan Evangelical Mission.

Western Equatoria

Today I flew to Kajo Keji, Yei, Maridi, Mundri and back to Juba for our Western Equatorial shuttle. We had 14 pax in total and the organisations we served were the ECS, Sudan Evangelical Mission, Development and Literacy Partners International, Action Africa Help International, ZOA and Seed Effect.

Today was a beautiful day for flying with smooth air and amazing visibility. Quite a morning for wildlife too, with a small snake found hiding under one of the aeroplane's tyres and a frog resting in a puddle near the other wheel!

Loki shuttle

Yesterday's flights were out to the east to meet our Kenyan counterparts in Lokichogio. I stopped in Kapoeta on the way out to collect an American family of 5 who were travelling to Nairobi for a week or two, and returned via Kapoeta, Lohutok and Torit.

Due to expected VIP movements we had to deal with a lot of extra security on the roads to the airport but fortunately the flights were not disrupted.

Werkok

Today's flight was a short 40 minute trip up to a village called Werkok for an organisation called Partners in Compassionate Care to collect a team of four people. 

The team I collected included a pastor from the USA and an Indian doctor who lives in Bahrain, and they had spend the week in the village of Werkok supporting a hospital project out there.

Thursday's flights were not easy ones for several reasons. In a sad reminder of the hatred and violence which plague this country we received a call from an International NGO on Tuesday requesting a flight to Yei, south west of Juba, to collect several staff members and the bodies of two of their colleagues who had been shot that morning.

A group of national staff members of this INGO had been travelling by road to/from Yei when they were ambushed by about 30 armed men. They were taken into the bush and assaulted, during which two of the staff were singled out because of their tribal background and shot dead. The others were then told to put the bodies in their vehicle and take them away.

One of our other pilots did that flight down to Yei on Tuesday afternoon to collect the five people plus the bodies of their colleagues.

On Thursday we had been chartered to fly the bodies of the victims up to their home areas to return them to their families, and that was my flight. There had been some miss-communication between the INGO and family members which resulted in a slight delay in the morning as we worked out the details. Fortunately the weather was much better than the day before, which made things a little more straight forward and I was glad that we could complete the flights to allow the families to grieve such a sad and senseless loss.

Thunderstorms

My logbook entry for Wednesday looks rather odd as it shows a flight from Juba to Juba which lasted over 3.5 hours. The picture below explains why. This is a picture of my weather radar screen as I was approaching Leer (the end of the purple line is my destination) and the red and purple areas represent heavy rain and thunderstorms.

I was booked to take a ton of freight to Leer for Medair and most of the 1.5 hour flight was spent dodging thunderstorms. I had been forced to divert nearly 70km off track to avoid them, and as I was nearing my destination the weather overhead Leer was deteriorating quickly.

I did arrive in the vicinity of the airstrip but was unable to land due to the heavy rain and severely reduced visibility. It was rather a long way to go for nothing but I guess that is just part of flying in the rainy season...

A busy Western Equatorial shuttle

Today's shuttle was a busy one with stops in Mundri, Maridi, Ibba, Kajo Keji and Yei. I carried 35 passengers in total, representing 12 different organizations including the ECS, Sudan Evangelical Mission, East African Ministries, Light for the World and SIL.

The weather was great for flying with a high overcast keeping the temperatures down a little and making for less turbulence. The rainy season is definitely here and there are plenty of thunderstorms around, but we are still waiting for a proper big rain here in Juba...

Make that a single

Today I was booked for a double rotation, initially to Torit to collect a team of 7 working with Petros Network, followed by a trip to Motot for Tearfund.

The first flight to Torit went as planned, but due to a technical issue with the aircraft I was unable to continue to Motot. Fortunately for Tearfund one of our other pilots was back in time from his first rotation and was able to do the Motot flight this afternoon.

Open Doors to Yida

Today's flight was to Yei to collect a team for Open Doors and take them up to Yida in the north of the country, with a stop in Rumbek for fuel.

It's always good to fly for Open Doors and to support the work that they do, but today's flight was also special in that I had the opportunity to fly with an old friend. Before starting work with MAF, I worked as a flying instructor in South Africa and one of today's passengers was one of my fellow instructors at that time. He continued to instruct for a few years after I left to fly for MAF but then he stopped flying and went back to work for Open Doors in South Africa.

It was great get the chance to fly together today and to have a chat as we made our way up to Yida.

A damp runway in Motot

Yesterday's flight to Motot for Tearfund was delayed for a few hours in the morning due to rain showers and a wet runway.

After pre-flighting my aircraft we heard from our contacts in Motot that it had begun raining. They reported that the airstrip was wet and we should delay our flight until the weather cleared and they could re-assess the airstrip condition. I came back home and got on with some other administration tasks while we waited for an update.

Mid morning we heard that the weather had cleared and the airstrip was drying well. I returned to the airport and was able to complete the flight without any trouble. The rainy season is definitely here now...

Hot and dry in Renk

Today's flight was the weekly run up to Renk for Medair. Two pax and half a ton of freight on the way out and one passenger on the way back down.

On the ground in Renk it was 40 deg. C and the surrounding countryside is looking very dry indeed. Evidently the rains have not yet reached that far north.

Loki Shuttle

Yesterday I flew the shuttle to Lokichogio via Torit and Kapoeta. Although we've only really had one rain in Juba so far, Kapoeta has had more than that and the airstrip is a little worse for wear now. As I arrived in Loki there was a big rain shower passing just to the north of the airfield, but only light rain in Loki itself as the storm passed.

It was a fairly empty shuttle with only two passengers for Carter Centre, two for MSF and one for ZOA South Sudan.

A medevac and a little more of Western Equatoria

I had two rotations to Kajo Keji today, starting with a medical flight to collect a man who had received 2 gunshot wounds and needed to come to Juba for treatment. Medevacs are always a little more complicated than normal flights, with large crowds and plenty of people who want to be involved and try to help. Fortunately we have a good working relationship with the people who were involved in this flight and, although there was a large crowd, things went fairly smoothly and we were able to complete the flight without much too much trouble.

The second rotation was to collect 5 men from Kajo and take them to Mvolo and Maridi in the west, where they will be doing surveys for potential boreholes. The men work with an organisation called East African Ministries (www.eamafrica.org) and they told me that their organisation drills and manages boreholes for remote communities as part of their ministry.

A long day, but rewarding to be playing a small part in such exciting ministries.