At 5:45 I meet Nathan at the airplane. It is still steadily raining and the Cyclops Mountains located next to the runway are obscured by low cloud. Nathan is new to the Papua and this is his first field assignment as an MAF pilot. He has just soloed on the program, which means he has completed Chief Pilot Tim's rigorous 6 flight field transition course, has flown a 100hours of dual flight with a field experienced pilot, and taken the ceremonial bucket of ice water over the head. Nathan is now checked out at a handful of interior airstrips. During this first term Nathan will continue the checkout process on more airstrips of increasing difficulty. Although already fully qualified commercial instrument pilots, MAF pilot/mechanic applicants complete a through standardization course in Nampa, ID at MAF headquarters before going overseas. After nearly a year of language school, MAF takes a slow, safe methodical approach to field checkout. That methodology has comes from decades of experience in landing on difficult airstrips in the most remote parts of the world. The island of Papua averages an aircraft accident a month. The instrument flight system that allows a pilot to fly in clouds in this part of the world is of limited benefit. High mountains, short sloped runways nestled in tight valleys and lack of electronic navigational aids and landing systems means that one must see where they are going when flying below minimum enroute altitudes for the instrument system. Situational Awareness is a critical lifesaving thing to have here. In fighter pilot terms, "lose sight, lose fight", if you can't see the objective it is best to not be there at all. CFIT or Controlled Flight Into Terrain is the #1 cause of aircraft accidents here in Papua. A CFIT accident happens when a pilot has taken a perfectly good airplane and flown it into the ground, usually because he lost sight of the ground due to weather, or tried to make an impossible turn by flying too far up a canyon.
As Nathan looks at the weather, considers the terrain around the runway he is going to this morning and makes a very wise choice; delay the flight until the weather gets better. He has a cargo flight this morning, and the nice thing about cargo is it rarely complains about being late. With our flight delayed, I finally get the warm cup of coffee I have been wanting. Checking the flight schedule, I see Phil as a flight later in the morning that I can get on.
After a few hours, the weather has cleared sufficiently for Phil to make an attempt at getting to Pamak, an airstrip located in a valley known for difficult weather. If we get there and don't like what we see, the weather is now good enough for us to return to Sentani. Phil has 14 years of experience on this program and it shows in the patient, methodical way he treats both passengers and airplanes.
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| Working the weather into Pamak |
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| On the ground at Pamak |
Phil patiently and masterfully works the weather during the decent into the narrow valley. With the airstrip in generally good weather below we start our approach. For these remote runways MAF has developed in house strip charts, charts with diagrams and notes for pilot reference. Well before the runway we arrive at our key position over a small village. This key position is where we need to be at a predetermined altitude and airspeed to make a landing, and we are just a little high. Phil does not like this and executes an abort well before the predetermined safe abort point. Beyond the abort point we are committed to landing due to terrain restrictions. It takes discipline to make this decision. A different kind of pilot would have attempted to use the Kodiak’s excellent performance to make up for the slight variance in altitude. Disciplined flight procedures, wisdom, patience and prayer support make for long term success here in this part of the world.
We circle around again and make another approach. At the key position we are on altitude, airspeed and configured for landing. Phil makes the minor adjustments necessary for a smooth, stabilized approach to touchdown. It’s a fairly quick turn once we are on the ground. Passengers and cargo are secured and we are off again before the weather closes in.
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