‘Mission Adjusts Frequently’ is an informal phrase we pilots often use in PNG to describe a last minute change of plans, either through oversight or necessity. A few weeks ago I had an experience that fell firmly in the latter camp.
Most Thursdays, one of the Hagen-based pilots flies out to Tari for a few short runs from our base there. My programme was relatively straightforward - one run to Oksapmin and two runs to Mougulu.
The weather was good and my first Mougulu run was uneventful. I had a fast turnaround in Tari, where I removed all the passenger seats and our base staff loaded 1000 kg of store goods for Oksapmin and topped up the fuel for the trip. I landed in Oksapmin just after 12:00 and as I taxied into the parking bay, I felt the right wheel was a bit draggy. Assuming I had found a bit of soft ground, I applied extra power to get the aeroplane into a good position and then shut off the engine.
When I opened the cockpit door, the agent told me there was something wrong with my right wheel. Aha, I thought, not soft ground after all. I proceeded with my normal routine - chocks, tail stand, checking the propeller and wheels, and sure enough, the right tyre was noticeably deflated. I made the usual joke that the tyre was only flat on the bottom, set about unstrapping the cargo so it could be offloaded, and jumped on the radio to MAF HQ in Hagen to let them know what had happened.
I knew I wasn’t going anywhere until another plane could come from Hagen with engineers, tools, and a replacement tyre. I checked in on the radio every fifteen minutes or so, as the bookings office and engineers asked me questions and put together a plan. Thankfully another pilot was doing a line check in the Hagen area and his programme could be altered to accommodate a rescue mission that afternoon - otherwise I would have been spending the night in Oksapmin! (At no stage was I concerned about this prospect; the Oksapmin high school was founded by Glenda Giles, a New Zealand missionary, so I knew the community would look after a female MAF pilot from New Zealand. And I always carry a small bag in the plane with overnight essentials.)
As I waited for the plane to come, I chatted with people and considered options for the return home. The other aircraft had departed Hagen at 1:45, and would take around 45 minutes to reach Oksapmin. Changing the tyre would take at least an hour… so it would make sense for the other pilot to take my Oksapmin-Tari passengers, and collect the seats and Tari-Hagen passengers I had left behind, while I took the engineers straight back to Hagen. When the rescue crew arrived, they had come to the same conclusion.
I didn’t have a lot of fuel on board, expecting to only have to fly back to Tari, but I had enough to get to Hagen with the necessary reserves intact. Thankfully the weather held and I was able to fly more or less in a straight line, with a 10 kt tailwind to boot, landing just before 5 pm.
This was the first time I’d needed rescuing from a bush airstrip, and it was a good reminder that while we may feel like we’re out there flying around on our own, we are actually part of a much bigger team. I could trust that there was a plan being put together for me, even though I wasn’t privy to the conversations. And help is just a radio call away. I'm sure there are some life lessons there...
Oksapmin airstrip 
'Hagen, we have a problem' 
Engineers Franco and Markus change the tyre
