Back from Doro to Kajo

Today's flight was the return leg for the team I flew up to Doro/Maban last week from Kajo Keji. I always enjoy collecting a team who I've taken on the outward leg of their journey so it was good to do today's flight and to meet the team from Empower One and the Baptist Convention of South Sudan again.

The weather is still very hot and the turbulence is reaching right up to levels where usually we expect to find smooth air. I flew at 12,000 foot on the long leg from the north of the country down to Kajo in the south, but even up there it was a little bumpy. The only consolation was that we had a good tail wind so the flight was 20 minutes shorter than it could have been, but I'm not sure that was much of a consolation to the passengers who felt air-sick...

En-route to Kajo Keji we received a request for a 'medevac' (technically a medical evacuation, although this would more accurately be described as a medical transfer) from Kajo to Juba. Since the aircraft was going to be empty on that leg I was able to collect the man and his carer and bring them to Juba where they will hopefully receive better medical care than is available in Kajo Keji.

Western Equatorian Shuttle

Another shuttle today out to the west. First stop was Yambio, followed by Maridi, Juba (again), Yei (pronounced yay!) and Kajo Keji.

15 passengers in total from organisations including the ECS, Windle Trust, Carter Centre, AMREF and Action Africa Help International.

Doro Maban

A longer day yesterday with a charter for the Baptist Convention of South Sudan from Kajo Keji to Doro/Maban. I had three joiners in the morning out of Juba to Kajo Keji for International Medical Corps and Scripture Union. After collecting the five charter passengers from Kajo I then returned to Juba to collect a further two pax and to add some fuel before flying the 2.5 hours up to Maban.

The weather is very hot these days, up to around 38 deg C most afternoons, and it is always a relief to climb up to the higher altitudes on longer flights to get away from the heat and the haze.

Today is a non-flying day as we had to go to renew our 6 monthly visas...

Loki shuttle

Today I flew a very straightforward shuttle to Loki, mostly for the purpose of swapping one of our aircraft with MAF Kenya for maintenance. I was empty on the way out of Juba, flew direct to Lokichogio and returned to Juba with just 2 pax. One passenger for UNIDO (Universal Intervention and Development Organisation) and one passenger for MSF Holland.

Stand by...

I've endeavored to blog each time I fly. Today I didn't fly, but I came pretty close so I think it qualifies for a blog anyway.

Yesterday evening we received a request for a security evacuation from Malakal. There has been fighting within the UN POC camp (Protection of Civilians) and the situation in the town is rather tense. This morning I went to the airport to prepare an aircraft for the flight while our Ops department continued to liaise with the charterer and tried to get the required permissions to fly.

For security reasons Malakal airport was not an option for the flight and the team were prepared to drive a couple of hours to another airstrip to the east along the Nile. We would need a security clearance to fly to that airstrip though and while we waited for the clearance I sat at the airport and waited at the aircraft.

Unfortunately the charterer was unable to get the clearance in time and so, at midday, we locked up the aircraft and returned home. Fortunately the team has a safe place to stay and we will see what we can do next week to get them down to Juba...