A day out

Raewyn has been visiting me in PNG for the last month or so. Recently, I got to take her for a day's flying. This is her story:

MAF allows overseas visitors to accompany a pilot for a flight, and mine had been arranged for Friday. Bridget had chosen it especially for me, a route that would give me a good range of what flying in PNG is like, a combination of standard and the more difficult airstrips with the best of the country’s scenery, that was her opinion anyway. I was very excited albeit having a few nerves as two of the airstrips we would be landing at were short and had 10% slope.

It was overcast with low cloud at Mt Hagen but Bridget was confident enough that there was evidence of a hole in the cloud for us to be able to climb up above to be able to get going. Right on 9am we departed for Wanakipa, she had indeed read the weather well and found that hole for us to climb up through and very quickly we were above the cloud layer, and not long after we were flying over another valley in which the cloud had disappeared. The landscape is rugged, and covered in dense forest. As we flew along, all the landmarks were pointed out to me, Mount Hagen, Magic Mountain, the Porgera gold mine, the pyramid mountain (because of its shape).

We landed at Wanakipa, it was fine, I wasn’t nervous about that one. We were quickly surrounded by the village people, we got out of the plane and everyone helped unload it. I wanted to take some photos, but was a bit nervous about doing so, how would the locals feel about a ‘white-skin’ coming in and taking photos of their village. I stayed close to the plane, unsure of myself and how to act in this culture that I know so little about. I didn’t feel aloof or better then them, I was just very aware that I am different, and the impression that I might leave behind. In the end my desire to take some photos won out and I tried to discreetly take some around the plane.

We took off for Yifki, an airstrip a short 13-minute flight away, flying low level as it wasn’t worth climbing up too much. To walk between these 2 airstrips, according to the passengers, it would take 5 nights and 6 days. Much quicker to fly! There are so many valleys that are intersecting, and range followed by range, followed by range for as far as the eye can see, of course, with a valley in between each one.

Yifki airstrip

After Yifki, it was a slightly longer flight time to our next destination, Tekin. The first of the D airstrips with a 10% slope and short. En route we passed a few clearings, seemingly in the middle of nowhere with a handful of buildings near them. Some had airstrips but most didn’t. The isolation of villages and the difficulty of reaching many of these places was certainly beginning to make an impression on me.

Tekin is a steep, short strip, with a high range directly at the end of it, it’s a tight valley with a tight circuit, we were flying pretty close to these ranges as we were coming in to land. I wasn’t overly worried about the landing, and I was very surprised at how I didn’t get an appreciation of how steep it was until we touched down and then had to power up to get up the strip to the parking bay at the top. Again the villagers were waiting for the plane and we were quickly surrounded. We jumped out and the agent and his helper both introduced themselves to me and made me feel very welcome. They told me that I was welcome to come back anytime. I was a little braver here, and wandered down the airstrip a bit to take some photos.

On the ground at Tekin

From here we had a charter flight out to Tabubil and back, a full payload both directions. The entire village helped to load the plane and soon it was time to take off again. I hadn’t been nervous about taking off at these strips, I know a downward slope is going to help the plane get airborne, and yet for a split second I was wondering if we were going to get off the ground in time, but we did. The valley was short and narrow with a high ridge line that we had to get over to carry on. Bridget flew parallel to it, until she was sure she had sufficient height to get over the ridge and not get stuck in a downdraft on the other side.

The clouds were becoming more prominent again, so despite the longer distance of this leg Bridge decided to fly lower. She told me the nationals will be happier flying closer to the ground as they seem to think it is safer, but I find it interesting that I don’t like flying so close to the ground! Bridget must start working a bit harder now, finding holes in the clouds where she can see land through it for us to fly through. Some of these holes I feel like she is trying to thread the plane through the eye of a needle! Yet, each time we go through one of these holes there is the ground and then she is looking out for the next hole to go through, always keeping an eye out for other options.

Tabubil is one of the MAF bases, it’s close to the Ok Tedi mine, which I don’t get to see due to the rain cloud hovering over it. It’s a long flat, gravel strip and there’s no issue getting in. We refuel here and the base staff unload the 600 kg of vegetables we have brought in and reload it with 800 kg of trade store goods, aka, 2-minute noodles. I have never seen so many of these in my life until I got to PNG!! Again the base staff are very friendly as I am introduced and one of them seems very excited that this plane load is a plane load of ‘meri’s’ (women) only.

Vegetables being unloaded, and 2-minute noodles being loaded at Tabubil

Heading back to Tekin we fly along the south side of the highlands, and the stark contrast of the ranges to the left and the abrupt change to the flat plains of the western province is quite striking. We start to pick our way through those holes in the clouds again. At one point she decides to turn more northerly, as I look in the direction, I wonder what she is doing as I can’t see through the cloud, and it looks much greyer than those around us. I am sitting there thinking ‘I can see a hole over there, why don’t we go through there?’ We are about to go into cloud, and I don’t like it!! However, as we fly through the wispy cloud, within a second the entire valley opens up before me, I can’t help but say ‘Wow!’ 

Wow!

We come into land at Tekin again, it’s early-mid afternoon now and the wind has picked up a bit. There is a limit on how much of a tailwind Bridget can land with, and it seems to be swirling in the valley. As she flies the circuit she is constantly talking to herself about what tailwind she can land with, how everything is looking, where her committal point is etc. The landing seems no more difficult to me then the first time, and yet she admits to having had to work much harder this time around. We are flying out of here this time empty, and as the villagers help to unload the plane again the agent mentions a group of women sitting on the hill on the other side of the airstrip from where the plane is parked, they were there when we landed earlier, and they had made the comment about the ‘meri’ pilot. Bridget takes me over to greet the ladies and shake their hands, they really seem to appreciate it and I, once again, get to see how she is doing her best to care about these communities and make a difference to the people there.

Ambi is in the Strickland gorge, Bridget thinks this is the most beautiful scenery in the country, and although I have not flown around much of the country, I think I must agree with her. It . . . . . is . . . . . GORGEOUS!!!! I can’t describe it, you must see it for yourself, and as per usual, the photos don’t do it justice. Let’s just say I was mesmerised.

Ambi airstrip (bottom left) and the Strickland gorge

Again it seemed like the entire village had come out to meet the plane, it amused me that by the time we jumped out there was a line of people on either side of the plane underneath each wing. There was a small hill at the end of the airstrip again and Bridget told me that it was a good spot for a photo, I decided to be a bit brave and go amongst the locals to get my photo, as many were standing up there. It was a bit steep and gravelly where I decided to climb up as it was the only route I could see, everyone was yelling something (I thought they were impressed that a waitskin meri was climbing the hill!) turns out they were trying to tell me that I was going up the difficult bit and I should have gone around to the right and up the path! I am glad I was able to entertain them a bit. I saw the path as I came back down, it was lined with people, I put my big girl pants on and greeted them with ‘avinun’ and shook hands with those who wanted to. I decided to walk a little further up the hill and greeted a few more women that were up there before heading back to the plane, on my way down, one old women went to shake my hand, but instead pulled me into an embrace. 

The plane at Ambi

Ambi is an airstrip that only MAF flies into, and not very often, the last time a plane had been here was 3 weeks before. Like all of the other bush airstrips we had been to today they were all isolated, MAF provides a lifeline to these communities, providing medevacs, taking out cash crops for the community to obtain funding, and bringing in store goods for them to live off, reducing the isolation by providing transport for people to get to and from places, all whilst trying to display the love of Christ to them by showing them that they matter, they have worth, they are no different to the 'white-skin' as we are all made in God’s image. By sharing with them when opportunities arise and time allows, by selling Bibles and Bible literature. Our actions matter, whilst they won’t bring someone to salvation, for they need to hear the gospel (Romans 10:14), they matter, for they prove our faith and what we live for (James 2:18), do our actions prove what we say or contradict what we say? 

I hope that my actions within this community have given them a glimpse of Christ’s love, and affirmed what MAF stands for. I just wish I had had the courage to interact with the people at the other villages earlier in the day, and I hope that my self-consciousness has not portrayed the wrong impression.

We flew low again, a similar route to what we had taken this morning. At one point Bridget said to me that there was a lake ahead that was at a higher altitude then we were currently flying, that kind of information blows your mind a little, it’s just weird for a lake to be that high up! It was pretty straight forward getting back into Hagen, especially for that time of the day, it was about 4pm, and often the weather can close in later in the day. It was a beautiful day after what we had left behind in the morning.

Even though I was starting to develop a cold and had a headache, I was glad I went, and I was thankful to have the opportunity to go. It is a day that I am sure I will remember for a long time to come.