Tarapoto

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to put two motorcycles and their riders into the back of our Cessna 206 and fly them off to a motorcycle race in the city of Tarapoto. The riders are both missionaries with SAM but they both enjoy motocross and use it as a tool for sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the other racers. The trip encompassed 3 days and my responsibilities included, pilot, baggage handler/loader, motorcycle mechanic, and race spotter.

It was a challenge to put the bikes in the airplane, but thanks to the large cargo doors on the 206, we were able to fit both bikes inside. It was a gross weight (3800 pounds) takeoff with a center of gravity (balance point of the airplane) right on the aft limit, but the cargo pod was a great help as all the heavy things went forward to keep the C.G. within allowable limits.

Todd took home second place in his category and Julio flew through the air landing the 1st place trophy in the 450cc class. I was just happy that nothing I fixed or worked on broke during the race...

Tarapoto is in foothills of the Andes mountains so the change in climate was a very welcome break. This was also grape country and for 3 days straight we sampled wonderful grape juice, a local specialty, with every meal.

From the Logbook

I just got back on Monday from a 4 day trip to the city of Tarapoto. I was there with two of our SAM missionaries who were racing in a motocross event. More on that along with pictures in the next post, but I did want to mention that we took both motorcycles along with the 3 of us to and from Tarapoto in our Cessna 206. It was another 3 hours of flight time for me and I thought I would give a quick update from my pilot logbook.

Total time logged flying in Peru: 82.8 hours
Total Cross country (more than 50 miles away) 45.0
Total float plane time: 65.9

For being in Pucallpa for around 5 months, I am starting to fly more and more. On a busy month, a fully checked out pilot can log up to 80 flight hours! I´m not there yet, but I am getting more and more experience.

ACR

It was supposed to be fairly simple, take the 2 hour Annual Check Ride (ACR) with our program manager. Normally, one hour of flight and one hour of ground review are included. However, some times it can take all day.

Ground review of Peruvian air regulation led to the discovery of 3 types of airspace A, D, and G. With A starting at FL 240 and G from the surface to FL240. D is only used around a couple airports that have control towers.


Anyways, the ground review took 2 hours and then as we were getting ready to fly, a call came in for an emergency flight to a village about 1 hour away. So we changed plans and headed out to pick up the sick person in the village. Landing the float plane, I shut down and got out on the float to dock the plane with a dugout canoe. Standing in the canoe, the wind started to blow the airplane and so I pulled on the tow rope and only succeeded in losing my balance and falling out of the canoe. Waist deap in murky water, I could hear the muffled laughter of my fellow "comrade" and check pilot. I'm not sure what he found so amusing.


We get the patient loaded up in the stretcher in back along with the nurse. I begin to load some baggage into the pontoon when I manage to wrack my head against the wing strut. Wow, that hurt but I think I am ok. As I continue loading I notice red splotches on the white floats and a quick check reveals I am leaking 5606 hydraulic fluid from my head. Thankfully the other pilot is there to wash the wound with my bottled drinking water and put antibiotic creme on a gauze pad. Man, why is he laughing again? Now, what to hold this bandage in place? Oh, of course, my helmet. So off we go with me still soaking wet and my head throbbing away... perfect time to practice an instrument approach on the way pack into Pucallpa.
One VOR/DME approach and 60 minutes later we are on the water again and the patient is on his way to the hospital. By 3pm I am back in the office regaling our secretary with the whole story. I guess sometimes when it rains is pours. At least I passed the ACR.

Float plane landing

Here is a video clip of one of my first float plane checkout flights with our Chief Pilot, Jon. These were taken about two months ago but I have just now had the chance to post them. Only took about 15 minutes to upload each video... which is a miracle in it's own right. Note how EVERYTHING is green down there. Also, if you look close, you can see some of the logs and branches that are sticking out of the river, you want to avoid hitting these with the floats at all costs. Also notice that since none of these rivers are straight, the traffic pattern that we fly is not very "standard".

One of the great challenges of flying the float plane is that the conditions of the river change every time you go somewhere. Even if it is the same place, there may be a new log, a new sandbar, or some other thing that makes you adjust your approach or touchdown point. I won't even talk about docking the float plane as that deserves it's own post. Suffice it to say, it is very tricky to dock the plane when you are fighting the river current, wind, and can only go forward and not backwards with the airplane. It is quite a challenge but I love it!

Cleaning out the fridge

When I first got to Pucallpa, I lived in this small two room house with another SAM missionary. During the day the house was hotter than a pistol as there were no shade trees and at night the steady hum of machinery from a saw mill and the wiff of acrid black smoke gently put me to sleep. I lived here for two months until my roommate moved back to the USA.


I have a number of stories from that house, the roach that I killed the first night by stepping on it in the dark, the frog staring back at me from the shower head 3 inches away from my nose, and of course our refrigerator. REFRIGERATOR? Yes, the fridge. Our wonderful ice making machine. The problem was that it made ice where it was not supposed to. The top freezer portion, if left unchecked, would continue to build up more and more ice, encapsulating anything that was left in the freezer for more than a week.


One saturday I decided to clean out the ice build up. Dethawing would take to long and leave a wet mess all over the kitchen, so I used the one solution that I knew of. Mr. Estwing. A 20 ounce Estwing hammer would make quick work of all that ice! Just five short minutes later, the kitchen floor was full of ice but the freezer was empty! Mission accomplished.

Bellavista

Today I was off to Bellavista with Dave, our cheif pilot. Bellavista is a small community of 100 people and there is a missionary family that has been there for a number of years. They used to have to travel two weeks by boat to reach the village but once they found out about SAM AIR, we were able to show them it would only be 50 minutes by air! They now exclusively us SAM AIR!
The river that runs right by the village is not straight which makes the approach to landing and takeoff very challenging. Read: FUN! (if you are a pilot). We set up on final approach with full flaps (30 degrees for the float plane) and 60 knots airspeed. Coming just 10-15 feet over the approach end trees, you land, and immediately get ready to dock. It all happens in less than 30 seconds!


The missionary family was eager to see us as we had about 250 kilos of food and supplies for them. We were given the grand tour of their house and the village and spent about half an hour catching them up on the latest news from the "outside world". For me, it was really fulfilling to spend time with them and realize that I was part of the team helping them with their work in that village!
Ok, back to flying. So for takeoff, you go up river, do all your checks, turn around and cob the power. Hugging the right hand side of the river, you have to be up on the step and indicating about 40 knots before the bend in the river. Then, just like in NASCAR, you cut the left hand corner on the inside. While you are doing this, you have full left aileron and are putting the flaps down to 20 degrees and raising the right float out of the water. At 50 knots you are off the water and on the way to climbing out above the 100 foot trees in the remaining straight part of the river. What a day!

Note: For those of you who are not pilots or have no interest in aviation. I will try to write something in the english language that is understandable and that you can hopefully relate to in the next blog post. Thanks for your patience, but there are people who actually understand these things and get excited about them as well! I know, we are all just "plane" nuts!

First flight

This past week, I had my first operational flight here in Peru. Having finally received my Peruvian Pilot license the week before, I was able to log 3.5 hours with 10 takeoffs and landings. I guess they would be splashdowns as all of this was in the float plane.
There was a team of 15 people who were visiting an Indian village about 20 minutes away so I got to shuttle people back and forth for the whole morning.


It was a great experience and I am looking forward to going on more and more solo flights. I still and getting checkout into many different places but it is a little slow as we have to work around our normal flight schedule as well. Thus, I have been flying about 1-2 times per week. But, whenever we have space I get to go along and do the flying.


I imagine it will be a snowball type of affect as I get checked out into more and more places, I will be able to do more and more flights. So, it looks like with time I will be flying 3-4 times a week. The main goal right now is to get me ready for this fall when we have two weeks that will be very full with every pilot flying 6-8 hours per day for two weeks straight. I'll continue to keep you posted.

Fathers Day

Once again, I found myself at the South America Mission guest house in Lima. My cousin had just spent almost two weeks in Peru visiting me and helping install a computer network in our office at SAM AIR. Having dropped my cousin off at the airport, I had a day and a half before my flight back to Pucallpa. So, I made the best of my time all day Saturday and it got me inspired to write something up for fathers day.

Growing up, I remember my own father working around the house. Some of my clearer memories of childhood were of me “helping” him repair ovens, replace window screens, build ping pong tables, and other such handyman jobs. When I was 7 years old I even wrote a father’s day card in the shape of a tool belt that said how I wanted to be like my dad. Well, for my day at the Lima guest house, I found myself doing the same things my father had taught me.

From talking with the lady who runs the house, I knew that there were a few different issues that needed to be addressed. So, I spent my day installing a new window screen, fixing a leaking faucet, and buying and installing both a fluorescent light fixture, and shower head/valve assembly. These things, in my mind, were simple jobs yet I knew that not everyone knew how to do them or would take pleasure in them as I did. The satisfaction of fixing something that was once broken or leaking is a wonderful feeling.

So Dad, this blog post if for you. Thanks for teaching me how to work with my hands. Thanks for teaching me that no job, even a leaky faucet, is to small to fix. Twenty years after that card that I gave you, I still find myself wanting to be like you. Happy fathers day!