Loki shuttle

Today was another Loki shuttle with the usual stops in Torit and Kapoeta both on the way out and on the way back.

We carried 10 pax on the outward legs and 10 on the return legs, serving 10 different organisations.

More timber and food for Motot

Yesterday I was back in Motot for Tearfund. We took another ton of freight up, consisting mainly of timber and dry foods like flour, and I brought one passenger back to Juba.

Motot is one of the airstrips which we go to regularly but which can be affected badly by the rainy season. This time I noticed that the airstrip at Pieri, about 15km to the south of Motot was very wet and yet Motot itself was dry. The Tearfund guy on the ground receiving the freight told me that there was rain all around Motot a few days ago but it didn't actually rain in Motot, so we'll make the most of the conditions before 'rain stops play'. Last year there was a period of about 3 weeks when Motot airstrip was unusable as it was partly under water!

Timber and cement for Motot

Today I flew a single rotation to Motot for Tearfund. I had one passenger on the way out, plus almost a ton of freight, and one passenger returning to Juba.

The freight for Motot was mostly made up of timber and cement, but also included PVC pipes and fresh food or the team based out there.

Loki shuttle

A straightforward Loki shuttle today to swap aircraft with our MAF Kenya colleagues. Stops in Torit and Kapoeta on the way out to Loki and again on the way back to Juba. Not many passengers today, just five in total representing Caritas Switzerland, Carter Centre, Make Way Partners and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, plus 6 MAF Juba international staff family members returning from R&R.

What has 27 legs and carries 68 people plus 3.1 tons of freight

Answer: my schedule last week.

One busy week of flying

Yesterday I had another double rotation, starting with a run up to Motot for Tearfund and followed by a shuttle to Kapoeta and Torit.

The Motot flight had two pax on the way out with just over 800kg of freight, mostly timber, and one passenger back down to Juba. The second rotation, to the east, was passengers only.

A delayed Western Shuttle

Thursday's Western Equatorial Shuttle had stops in Mundri, Yei, Kajo Keji, back in Juba, Maridi and Yambio. There were 30 pax in total representing ECS, the Catholic Church, International Medical Corps, Reconcile International, the British Council, Sudan Evangelical Mission, Malteser International, Food for the Hungry, Seed Effect, Action Africa Help International and AMREF.

It was going to be quite a long day, but it needn't have been as long as it was! In the morning there was a strike over unpaid salaries at the airport so no aircraft could start up until that was resolved. We did eventually get started at about 10:15 but it made for another late end to the day, landing back in Juba shortly before 6pm.

Quite a day

That was quite a day! Over 7 hours of flying, almost stuck in the mud, bitten by a tsetse fly...

The first flight of the day was out to Pagil for Christian Mission for Development with a load of 17 School in a Box kits plus some tarpaulins. While unloading the metal boxes (40kg each!) from the back of the aeroplane I was bitten by a tsetse fly, which is rather uncomfortable. Unfortunately the one that bit me was not alone. I think I provided some amusement to the locals when I climbed into the cockpit to prepare for departure and sat for quite some time trying to swat as many of the tsetse flies as possible before starting up.

The ones that didn't get away

From Pagil I went to Gorwai to collect some more freight and then on to Jiech. In Jiech I collected one lady and eight children for the flight back to Juba. The airstrip in Jiech was quite wet, thanks to rain a couple of days ago, and I came very close to getting stuck in the mud while I was backtracking the runway before departure. Thankfully there was a small dry patch at the end of the runway which meant I could turn around without getting stuck and we continued back to Juba with a rather muddy plane.

My second rotation was to Tonj for Don Bosco and I carried 5 passengers and 450kg of freight, mostly food. Although the weather was building up by the afternoon, I was able to divert around the thunderstorms and the flight was pleasantly uneventful.

Western shuttle

Today I flew our Western Equatorial Shuttle, with stops in Nimule, Kajo Keji, Yei, Ibba and Maridi before returning to Juba. Our 14 passengers represented eight organisations including Winrock International, ECS, AMREF Health Africa, International Medical Corps, the British Council, Seed Effect and UNFPA.

Along with our other paying customers, we had on board LuAnne Cadd, our 'roving MAF reporter'. LuAnne spent most of the flights hard at work interviewing passengers for stories which will end up in various MAF publications.

LuAnne interviewing a passenger en-route from Yei to Ibba

Yesterday on the flight to Aweil I was also accompanied by LuAnne, but without a plane load of passengers I was the one being photographed and interviewed! I find it surprisingly difficult to keep a straight face and to 'act normally' with a big camera lense a few inches from my face so I think I make her job quite difficult, but she takes some great pictures so the results are always worth it.

Plumpy Sup for Aweil

Yesterday I flew up to Aweil in the north west of the country, with a stop in Rumbek on the way out for fuel. I carried 2 passengers and nearly 800kg of freight.

The flight was booked by Medair and was in response to an urgent need for Plumpy Sup in their child nutrition programmes. While we were on the ground in Aweil we also heard that Medair is responding to an outbreak of Measles in that area and are in the middle of a campaign which aims to vaccinate 45,000 children! MAF also played a part in that response when we flew an aircraft load of measles vaccines up to Aweil last week.

The MAF staff shuttle to Loki?

Yesterday morning when I departed Juba for our regular shuttle to Lokichogio there were 12 people on board (including me) and everyone was a MAF employee or family member! It really was a MAF shuttle!

Two MAF Juba international staff families were travelling to Nairobi for R&R while our roving reporter, LuAnne Cadd, was on her way to Kimatong to work on some stories about the work being started out there by some of our partners. Next to me in the front was a visiting pilot/programme manager from the MAF base in Arnhem Land, far northern Australia.

We did collect a few more passengers along the way, representing Carter Centre, St Patrick's Missionary Society and Presbyterian Relief Development Agency with stops in Kapoeta, Kimatong, Loki and Torit...

Medicines for Renk and a flooded taxiway

Yesterday's flight was to Renk for Medair and I carried a full load of medical supplies plus fresh food for the team up there. The flight back down was empty and the timing was good as I had a clear run home before the weather built up with heavy rain in the north east of the country yesterday evening.

Juba airport has been going through some big changes over recent months including resurfaced taxiways and runway and improved drainage, so I was a little surprised to find that one of the newly surfaced taxiways was actually flooded yesterday morning after a night of heavy rain. I think some modifications may be required to the drainage system...

Helicopter vacating the runway via the flooded taxiway.

Yei, Motot, a Base Check and an update on Leer

Yesterday was quite a busy day. In the morning I took two passengers to Yei for the Baptist Convention of South Sudan, accompanied by one of our pilots from Nairobi. After dropping the passengers in Yei we flew for about an hour and a half in that area and en-route back to Juba to complete my Base Check. Base Checks are assessments which we all need to do twice a year to check proficiency in handling the aeroplane and in dealing with emergencies.

After we landed back in Juba we had another flight up to Motot for Tearfund. We took a ton of freight up to Motot and returned with one passenger to Juba.

For those who read the blog about bicycles to Leer and wondered what all those bikes could be used for: they will be given to Medair Nutrition Assistants to enable them to do home visits as part of their community malnutrition management programme.

14 Bicycles for Leer

Today's flight to Leer was for Medair and carried one passenger and about half a ton of freight. The freight was made up mostly of fresh food items and bicycles, with a mattress thrown in for good measure!

How do you put 14 bicycles in a Caravan? Carefully...



Leer is not a particularly friendly place and so we off-loaded the bikes and other freight as quickly as we could in order to get going back to Juba with as little hassle as possible.

Loki again

Today I was back in Loki again for the shuttle. One stop on the way out in Kapoeta and two stops on the way back home in Kapoeta and Lohutok.

The 9 passengers represented Dan Church Aid, Goal Ireland, SIL, Carter Centre, MSF and AIM.