Last week I had a relatively straightforward programme but difficult weather to deal with. Winds of 40 kts as low as 2000 ft - thanks to tropical cyclone Gabrielle, pulling the air across the Western Province like a magician whipping off a tablecloth. The last leg of the day was to fly six passengers from Kiunga to Mount Hagen - a journey that normally takes about 75 minutes. Thanks to Gabrielle, I had a hefty tailwind. But thanks to the wet season being well and truly in force, there was a lot of cloud in the Highlands.
Coming from the south or west into Mount Hagen, there are a few options. You can fly to the west of Mt Giluwe, over Mendi, and enter the Hagen bowl through the Tomba gap. This route has the highest terrain to negotiate and is usually the first one to become blocked by cloud in the afternoons.
Or you can fly to the east of Mt Giluwe, and come through the saddle between it and Mt Ialibu and then across the Kuta ridge. If that doesn’t work, you can usually continue east of Ialibu to the lowest route into Hagen, up the Nebilyer valley.
Most of the way from Kiunga, the cloud was quite manageable. As I approached Mendi and looked towards the Tomba route, all I could see was black. Whether it was cloud or shadow or terrain, I didn’t want to find out. It looked like the kind of cloud that chews up aeroplanes and spits them out in pieces. And I knew that there was terrain to contend with as well. So I continued on.
The cloud bank was towering above me, but I was in a sunny pocket just to the south of Mt Ialibu so I decided to descend and have a look underneath. What I saw was pretty discouraging - rain showers, and grey cloud completely filling up the saddle. I continued east, descending even further, towards the entrance to the Nebilyer... which to my dismay was also full of cloud and rain.
Maybe there was a way over the top, if I could get higher? I flew back to the pocket and climbed up to 13,000 ft (as high as we can go with passengers) but I could not see a way through. I checked how much fuel I had left and realised that if I was to return to my point of departure, I had to make a decision to do so now.
On my way back I heard two other MAF pilots on the radio, also attempting to return to Hagen from the Western Province. I shared my observations and intention to return to Kiunga. (One somehow managed to get through; the other diverted to Goroka.) I used the aircraft avionics to calculate how much fuel I would be landing with in Kiunga, but was a little concerned about the head wind I knew I would have to fly into, as that would mean more time en route so less fuel remaining when I arrived. What if the weather deteriorated before I got there? Were there other options?
As I passed an en route reporting point at Moro I could see that the Tari bowl was open, which is unusual in the afternoons. I quickly sent a message to the MAF flight following team to ask, if I were to divert to Tari (where we have a base), could accommodation be found for me and my six passengers? I was told, yes, go to Tari. I set a new course and within 15 minutes we were on the ground.
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My route (in red) on our flight tracking system
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I took a bit of time to compose myself as the base staff, called back to work at short notice, unloaded the aircraft. This was the first time I had diverted somewhere that wasn’t my point of departure, and my first time staying overnight in Tari - a notoriously volatile town.
As I was packing up the plane I noticed one of the expat passengers was clearly not happy. “I need to be in Hagen,” he was saying. “Well, you saw what the weather was like,” I replied.
“But I have a flight to Vanimo in the morning. And these two have flights to Moresby with international connections.”
I summoned up as much patience as I could muster. “I’m sorry we can’t get to Hagen today,” I said. “I can’t change the weather and we’re not allowed to fly through clouds.” He shrugged and walked over to one of the base staff to ask where the passengers would be staying. Then he immediately called the manager of the NGO he was working for to tell them about it.
“We can’t stay at that guest house,” he said. “It’s not safe.” He handed the phone over to the base manager, and a discussion ensued. Eventually it was agreed that if he and his two colleagues wanted to stay somewhere else, that was fine, but the NGO would have to pay the difference.
The base manager came over to me. “The driver is here to take you to the lodge,” he said. I looked over at the unhappy passenger. “Can you please ask him to wait,” I said. “I want to make sure everything is sorted out before I leave.” I had visions of the man taking out his frustrations on the base staff, and didn’t feel that was fair given that it had been my decision to divert.
Indeed, my unhappy passenger wasn’t finished. “What about our flights tomorrow? I am supposed to check in at 6:45 for a flight to Vanimo, and these two have flights to Moresby.”
“Which airline are you flying with to Vanimo?” I asked.
“Not Vanimo! Morehead! With MAF!”
Due to his thick accent I had confused Vanimo with Morehead, but now I had a simple solution for this particular problem. “Leave that with me,” I said.
I called the MAF bookings team and spoke in a loud voice. “Hi, I’ve got a passenger here by the name of [---] who is on the flight to Morehead tomorrow. We’ll leave Tari as early as we can in the morning, but can you please make sure that plane doesn’t leave without him? Thank you so much.” I turned back to the passenger. “They’re not going to leave without you.”
Then I asked his two colleagues what time their Moresby flights were. One was at 10:00 and one at 11:00. “That shouldn’t be a problem,” I said.
He still wasn’t finished. “What time will we get to Hagen in the morning?” he demanded. I sighed internally. “Well, again, that will depend on the weather, both here and in Hagen.” I knew that answer wouldn’t satisfy him, so quickly tried to think of a reasonable time. It’s only half an hour flight time, but sometimes there is low cloud in the mountain valleys that hangs around for ages. If I told him too early a time, I knew he would complain about having to wait. “If you’re here at 7:30, we’ll leave as soon as I have a good weather report from Hagen. I’m reasonably confident we will be there in time for the 10:00 Moresby flight, but again, I can’t control the weather.”
Finally he seemed to relax. But he still had one more gripe. “This box needs to be kept frozen,” he said. “It’s got all my food in it.” I turned to the base manager. “Do you have a freezer here that we can keep this box in overnight?” “Sure, I’ll just turn the generator on.”
In the meantime, the other three (Papua New Guinean) passengers were getting in a vehicle to go to the guest house. I apologised again and wished them a good evening, telling them to come at 7:30 in the morning. Having ascertained that a vehicle from the second place was coming to collect the three expat passengers and that all immediate problems had been sorted, I finally agreed to go with the driver to the lodge where I would be staying.
In the morning I was driven to the airport, arriving at 6:20. Two of the base staff had slept there overnight to keep watch over the aircraft. I got the plane ready while they refuelled. The Papua New Guinean passengers arrived at 7:00, just as the sun’s rays were starting to reach the hills around us. I talked with them for a bit and got the paperwork ready. I contacted Hagen for a weather report and was told the ranges were all clear.
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6:45 am: Preparing the plane in Tari
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The expats arrived a little after 7:30, seemingly no worse for wear after their night in Tari, and the base staff whisked their luggage into the plane. Ground fog was starting to encroach on the airport so I started the engine and did all my checks as quickly as I could. We took off just before 7:50 and were in Hagen before 8:30. The grumpy passenger easily made his Morehead flight and I presume the other two heading to Moresby had no issues making their flights.
Looking back on the episode, I am confident that I made all the right decisions. As pilot in command, my first responsibility and priority is the safety of the aircraft and everyone on board. As far as minimising disruption both to my passengers and to MAF (since an aircraft diverting has knock-on effects for the following day’s programme), diverting to Tari for the night was the best option. Managing passengers’ expectations is sometimes difficult and I felt an obligation to protect our national Tari base staff from this particular expat passenger. They say that PNG is the ‘Land of the Unexpected.’ I guess he is still learning that.
