Events this week - including a bike race!

It's been a busy week this week!
On Monday we did an oil change (which took about 2.5 hrs) and then three medevac flights back-to-back.
On Tuesday another three medevac flights.
On Wednesday we were called to a medevac at Maliana, which I attempted but was unable to land due to the wind being too strong. By the time I got back to Dili it was pretty challenging there too. We had to decline a second medevac later in the day.
On Thursday it was still windy, so we had to cancel a charter flight in the morning, but I was able to do a flight in the afternoon.
On Friday I did two medevacs, which were bumpy but otherwise ok.

9 medevacs in total!

Then on Saturday I took part in the 'Referendo Cup' mountain bike race event. I took a shortcut and didn't do one of the massive hills - it was still pretty hard going. As one of the other cyclists said: "There are two types of fun - type 1 fun and type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is where it's fun while you're doing it. Type 2 fun is where it's horrible while you're doing it but afterwards you look back and say, 'Well that was fun.' Cycling in Timor is very much type 2 fun."

Here are some pictures.

Lots of keen cyclists at the start line

View from 'Antenna Ridge'

Church at Camea

At the finish line enjoying type 2 fun

Destination: Oecusse

 Oecusse is an enclave - a little bit of Timor-Leste surrounded by Indonesia. At the moment the land borders are closed, so the only ways to get there are by boat (12 hrs from Dili) or aeroplane. There used to be a company running regular shuttle flights between Dili and Oecusse but they aren't operating at the moment. For us it's a 50 minute flight.

Oecusse itself has been designated as a 'Special Social Market Economic Zone', offering low taxes to attract investment. The government has built a second international airport there, which is similar in size and layout to Dili, and is complete with a shiny new control tower, a terminal with four airbridges and a nice long runway. Whether it will receive ICAO certification or not to actually operate as an international airport is anyone's guess.

The airport itself doesn't pose too much difficulty for our operations there, but in flying to and from Dili you have to transit through Indonesian airspace, so there's a lot of radio frequency changes and position broadcasts that need to be made.

Runway directions: 09/27
Length: 2000 m
Altitude: Sea level
Surface: Sealed
Slope: Nil
Obstructions: None significant. Terrain nearby can generate turbulence in strong southeasterly wind conditions.

Passing Maubara, west of Dili

Oecusse hills. The airport is on the right edge of the photo.

Oecusse airport

Oecusse airport

Destination: Baucau

 Baucau is about 30 minutes' flight time east of Dili, on the north coast. It used to be the site of the main international airport, but at 1770 ft above sea level it is often prone to low cloud in the wet season. Timor-Leste's international airport is now at Dili, just above sea level.

As a result the runway at Baucau is a whopping 2.5 km long. The main challenge with landing there (apart from the strong wind at times) is dodging the mountains of cow, horse and buffalo manure that literally cover the entire runway surface.

Runway directions: 14/32
Length: 2500 m
Altitude: 1770 ft
Surface: Sealed (and covered with animal manure)
Slope: 1% up to southeast
Obstructions: Animals and vehicles frequently on the runway. People use the runway for driving practise.

Flying in to Baucau from Dili. Smoke is a good wind direction indicator!

Horses seen on the runway during my overhead inspection

A rather forlorn looking sign and old control tower.

View during take-off, runway 14. Note the copious amounts of animal manure.

Destination: Viqueque

The Viqueque airstrip is, to quote Forrest Gump, 'like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.' It's probably the most frequently used of all the airstrips we fly to. That's because it's not just used as an airstrip, but also as the local sports ground, livestock grazing, and major thoroughfare. The first time I went there, on an observational flight, I experienced the kind of chaos that you see on a MAF calendar picture - a couple of hundred kids swarming the plane and watching intently.

Since those first couple of trips things seemed to have calmed down a bit. Either that, or I've got used to it... although there seems to be more police and firemen in attendance for crowd control now too. Anyway. The route to Viqueque is interesting as you have to cross the mountainous spine of the island, the approach into the strip requires you to positively identify and then avoid three cellphone towers in the circuit area, one of which is very hard to see, and then as you come in low over some trees to land you have to be constantly on the lookout for people, animals and vehicles entering the strip.

The town of Viqueque is reasonably big, and given how far it is from Dili, we get quite a few medevac callouts - at least 1 or 2 a week.

Runway directions: 15/33
Length: 960 m
Altitude: 100 ft
Surface: Gravel
Slope: Nil
Obstructions: High terrain to the east and north. Three towers base/final runway 15. Trees short final runway 15. Pronounced step at runway 33 threshold - do not land short. Possibility of people, animals, vehicles on the strip, including a mentally unstable woman.

Aerial view of Viqueque. Runway 15 - the usual direction - runs left to right.

Inspecting the strip (at left) from overhead

Take-off view, runway 15

Arriving at the 'parking area'

The beginnings of a crowd

Destination: Los Palos

 Los Palos is the furthest destination that we fly to, 87 nm east of Dili. Despite the often challenging weather conditions and the ill-defined airstrip (until you're on it), I think it's actually one of my favourites. This is kind of surprising since it was the site of a rather tragic medevac at the very start of my training.

Runway directions: 02/20
Length: 760 m (645 m usable ground run)
Altitude: 1300 ft
Surface: Grass/dirt
Slope: Nil
Obstructions: Terrain to the north, tower near the threshold of runway. Stock, people, vehicles frequently on the strip.

Making out the airstrip from the air is not easy...
(viewed here from the southwest)

Approximate boundaries of the airstrip (compare the picture above).
The southern 1/4, closest to the camera, is very rough and unusable for the ground roll.

The strip can get very muddy when it rains

View down the centreline for take-off, runway 20.
Note that the centreline is not the road!

Destination: Atauro Island

Atauro Island is our closest destination, only 15 minutes' flight time from Dili. It's also probably the one I find the most challenging to land at, due to the short length and many obstacles - there's not much margin for error!

Runway directions: 01/19
Length: 720 m
Altitude: 10 ft
Surface: Gravel
Slope: Nil
Obstructions: Trees on eastern side, power lines on western side (between the road and the airstrip), trees and school buildings short final runway 01. Significant turbulence possible in crosswind conditions. Possibility of people, vehicles and animals on the strip.

Approaching the airstrip from the south

View overhead the airstrip

Take-off view runway 01

In this picture you can see how close the power lines are to the strip!

One of the features of the Atauro airstrip is the thorns that stick in the tyres (and in your shoes)

I call them 'devil thorns'.
The local name is karau dike (ka-RAU DEE-kay - buffalo horns)

MAF's destinations in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste is a small country, essentially the eastern half of the island of Timor. The island has a mountainous spine running through the centre, so getting to each of our destinations is not always as straightforward as the map below might indicate - especially in the monsoon season when the cloud is low and many of the saddle points are blocked. Because most of our flying is medevacs or charters and Dili is by far the biggest town, we mostly do 'out and back' flights.

Each of the airstrips we fly to has its own challenges. Some are sealed runways (Dili, Baucau, Oecusse, Suai) while the others are gravel or grass. I'm in the process of writing more detailed posts about each airstrip - click the links below for more information.

Dili
Atauro Island
Baucau
Los Palos
Viqueque
Same
Suai
Maliana
Oecusse

Little things

Sometimes it's the little things that can get to you... sleep broken by roosters crowing/dogs barking/cats fighting outside, the power going out, mosquito bites, traffic...

Street puddles outside my house (I think from people washing their cars)

I wish that mozzies would leave me alone...

 

But it's in these times that I need to remember that even though there may be lots of irritating things, there are also blessings to be found: air conditioning at home, a hot water system that works (when the power is on), worthwhile work, being able to use a few words of Tetun to make someone smile, going for bike rides...

Cafe and lookout at Dare ('DAH-ray')

View of Dili biking down from Dare

Corner store mural I found amusing

Apartment block opposite my house with my name on it

Flying this week

This week was a busy one for flying around Timor-Leste - literally from one end (Los Palos) to the other (Oecusse)!

Here are some photos... enjoy 😄

Cloud on the flanks of Mt Curi, near Manatuto (east of Dili)

Crossing the main divide on the way to Viqueque

On the way to Viqueque

Coral reef on the north coast, west of Dili

Rugged hills near Oecusse

Happy kids at Maliana

Weekend bike rides

 The last two weekends I've joined Catharina, an Australian expat who's been living in Timor for 17 years, for a bike ride. It's been great to venture a bit further afield, get some exercise, get to know her better and learn more about Timor all at the same time!

2 August: Maubara

Maubara lies on the coast about 45 km west of Dili. The road to get there is relatively flat and sealed most of the way. We met at Catharina's house after church and started our ride. Her husband Rob met us at Maubara, where we visited a friend of theirs, and then drove back together.

Stopping for a photo on the way to Maubara

Old Dutch fort at Maubara

Visiting Rob and Catharina's friend for his birthday

We stopped at the Ai Pelo prison near Liquica for me to record a kids talk for church in Atherton.
The theme was Jesus as the cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4-6).

 

9 August: Gleno

Gleno lies in the next valley over from Dili, at 882 m elevation according to Wikipedia. To get there by road requires about 1700 m of climb! Thankfully Rob drove us to the top of the first big hill, but after that we were on our own.

Near the Gleno lookout we stopped at a kiosk and met a man whose uncle had been killed in a massacre. It turned out that Catharina had known the uncle, who was a priest in Suai when she was based there around the time of the referendum. Although I couldn't understand much of what he said, it was obvious that the memories were still painful, but being able to talk about it was helpful to him.

In Gleno we visited a man called Joseph who is running a boarding house for high school students. He and his wife are from Singapore, however his wife was in Singapore visiting family when the Covid lockdowns happened. She has been unable to return to Timor, so he is running the boarding house (with 33 students) largely by himself. It was great to be able to spend time talking with him to encourage him and pray with him.

The ride took pretty much all day; we got back to Dili about 5:30 pm. It was 68 km all up - not too bad for someone who has hardly touched a bike in over a year!

At the top of the hill ready to start our ride (thanks Rob!)

Gleno lookout

View of Gleno

With Joseph at the boarding house in Gleno

Biking through coffee country - lots of shady trees

View of the coast and Atauro Island