When any MAF pilot starts in a programme they start with CARA - country, area, route and airstrip - training. This usually comprises a week or two of observational flying in the right-hand seat, followed by any number of dual flights with a training pilot to learn the intricacies of each of the different airstrips. The Timor-Leste programme is quite small and so after a week I am nearly finished; there is only one airstrip that we haven't been to yet. This is just as well as the chief pilot who is training me, Marcus, is on a fairly tight timeframe to get back to Australia for various flight tests at the FTC (he is also a CASA examiner).
I'll write more about the airstrips themselves in a later post, but as far as a summary goes, here is what we did:
Monday - Two training flights to Baucau (circuits and GA8 airwork) and Atauro Island
Tuesday - Training flight to Lospalos which turned into a medevac back to Dili
Wednesday - Training flight to Viqueque which turned into a double medevac (two patients) back to Dili. Then a second training flight to Same
Thursday - Training flight to Suai, from where we were called to a medevac at Lospalos and then a second medevac at Atauro Island
Friday - Charter flight to Oecusse
As you can see, in addition to our training flights we also did 4 medevacs! While it was a little frustrating to keep getting interrupted, there were some major benefits: (a) getting to do some 'real' operational flying, (b) experience flying the aircraft when it is close to maximum weight, (c) cost saving for MAF as both legs of a medevac flight are paid by the Ministry of Health, even in the cases where we were already at the airstrip doing training.
Here are some pictures from the week.
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| Marcus smiling through his mask (We have to wear these in the plane while I am in quarantine) |
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| Making the aeroplane dirty at Lospalos |
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| Flying past Mt Ramelau (highest peak in Timor-Leste at 9800 ft) on the way to Suai |
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| Neighbourhood roosters |
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| South Korean C130 offloading cargo at Dili |
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| Hot water system problems = bucket shower time |
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