Well, a lot has changed since I last blogged. Tensions in Juba had been rising and on Friday night 8th July fighting broke out in various parts of the city. On the afternoon of Saturday 9th July, by God's grace, there was a window of opportunity to get to the airport and I flew one of two MAF aircraft which evacuated all the MAF international staff families and children to Kenya, leaving only a handful of MAF staff in Juba. The remaining international staff members were successfully evacuated to Kenya the following Tuesday on another MAF flight.
We are now living temporarily in Kenya and I have been doing some flights for the MAF Kenya programme. Tomorrow we will travel to the UK for home assignment so there will be no flying blogs here for a while.
Thursday 28 July 2016
Friday 8 July 2016
Weather
Yesterday the weather was bad. At least that was the way the guy in the tower described it when asked on the radio by some pilots trying to come in for landing! It was a grey rainy day, which is quite unusual for Juba, and it certainly made for some challenging flying conditions.
I was booked to fly the Western Equatorial Shuttle to Kajo, Yei, Juba, Maridi, Ibba and Yambio. Due to the bad weather my departure was significantly delayed in the morning and the knock on effect of that was that Ibba and Yambio had to be cancelled later in the day. On my return to Juba after the first rotation the weather was particularly nasty and I flew the instrument approach down to minimums in cloud and heavy rain which is not something we have to do often here in Juba.
I carried 23 passengers representing ECS, AMREF, AIC, Tearfund, Carter Centre and International Medical Corps.
Wednesday 6 July 2016
Food supplements for Motot
Today seemed to be a busy day in Motot. Chris, one of our other pilots, flew a double rotation to Motot and I did a third, while WFP seemed to be doing a major food distribution as there were hundreds of people gathered at the southern end of the airstrip.
I took one ton of 'supercereal' food supplement for Tearfund and brought back one passenger.
I took one ton of 'supercereal' food supplement for Tearfund and brought back one passenger.
Tuesday 5 July 2016
Loki shuttle and thunderstorms
Yesterday I flew the shuttle to Loki via Torit, Kimatong and Kapoeta on the way out and via Kapoeta and Torit on the way back. Passengers represented War Child Holland, ZOA South Sudan, Carter Centre, New Kush Foundation, American Refugee Committee, NIRAS Water for EES Project, UNIDO and Rural Action Against Hunger.
Apart from the passengers I also carried pipes and solar panels to Kimatong for a borehole project and 100kg of medicines from Loki back to Juba for Medair.
The weather was typical for the rainy season in Eastern Equatoria with small cumulus clouds in the morning building into thunderstorms by the afternoon. On the return legs we had thunderstorms close to Kapoeta and Torit but fortunately we were able to get in and out before the heavy rain reached the airstrips.
Apart from the passengers I also carried pipes and solar panels to Kimatong for a borehole project and 100kg of medicines from Loki back to Juba for Medair.
The weather was typical for the rainy season in Eastern Equatoria with small cumulus clouds in the morning building into thunderstorms by the afternoon. On the return legs we had thunderstorms close to Kapoeta and Torit but fortunately we were able to get in and out before the heavy rain reached the airstrips.
Loki shuttle and thunderstorms
Yesterday I flew the shuttle to Loki via Torit, Kimatong and Kapoeta on the way out and via Kapoeta and Torit on the way back. Passengers represented War Child Holland, ZOA South Sudan, Carter Centre, New Kush Foundation, American Refugee Committee, NIRAS Water for EES Project, UNIDO and Rural Action Against Hunger.
Apart from the passengers I also carried pipes and solar panels to Kimatong for a borehole project and 100kg of medicines from Loki back to Juba for Medair.
The weather was typical for the rainy season in Eastern Equatoria with small cumulus clouds in the morning building into thunderstorms by the afternoon. On the return legs we had thunderstorms close to Kapoeta and Torit but fortunately we were able to get in and out before the heavy rain reached the airstrips.
Apart from the passengers I also carried pipes and solar panels to Kimatong for a borehole project and 100kg of medicines from Loki back to Juba for Medair.
The weather was typical for the rainy season in Eastern Equatoria with small cumulus clouds in the morning building into thunderstorms by the afternoon. On the return legs we had thunderstorms close to Kapoeta and Torit but fortunately we were able to get in and out before the heavy rain reached the airstrips.
Friday 1 July 2016
Another 4 in 1
Well, we had an excellent 2 week break in Kenya and since getting back on Monday, have hit the ground running (or should that be flying?).
It's been a busy week with flight times averaging a bit more than 5 hours a day. I haven't managed to keep up with blogging each day so here is a break down of the week:
On Tuesday I did the run up to Renk for Medair. Four pax on the way up with 400kg of freight, empty on the way back.
On Wednesday I flew a ton of medicines to Yida, via Rumbek for fuel, for Far Reaching Ministries.
On Thursday I carried a mixture of freight and passengers for Christian Mission Aid. We stopped at Jaibor, Keew and Lankien before coming back to Juba.
Today turned out a little differently to the way it was planned but in the end I flew a double rotation for Tearfund. The first rotation was to Yuai with a ton of CSB (Corn Soya Blend) food supplement. The second was to Motot with a ton of water purification kits and dry food items.
And now it's time for a weekend...
It's been a busy week with flight times averaging a bit more than 5 hours a day. I haven't managed to keep up with blogging each day so here is a break down of the week:
On Tuesday I did the run up to Renk for Medair. Four pax on the way up with 400kg of freight, empty on the way back.
On Wednesday I flew a ton of medicines to Yida, via Rumbek for fuel, for Far Reaching Ministries.
On Thursday I carried a mixture of freight and passengers for Christian Mission Aid. We stopped at Jaibor, Keew and Lankien before coming back to Juba.
Today turned out a little differently to the way it was planned but in the end I flew a double rotation for Tearfund. The first rotation was to Yuai with a ton of CSB (Corn Soya Blend) food supplement. The second was to Motot with a ton of water purification kits and dry food items.
And now it's time for a weekend...
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