Captain’s Log-27 January 2012- Shoulder Shot

Kids stand under the wing to see what is going on with the plane. Sorry but I left my camera home for the shoulder shot man.

Getting a call to pick up a man who has been shot always sparks speculation as to how such a thing has happened, and this time was no exception. Especially because of the area it was in.  There have been many attacks by the LRA around Bangadi so one always suspects them.  It was hot and dusty by the time I got there in the Cessna 206, “ndege kidogo” as it is often called by the locals using this plane; the “Little airplane”.  And the 40 degree Celsius temperature was physically draining.
As I landed and parked with UN troops all around, one of the soldiers came up to the door and said their supply helicopter was coming in right then and would I please move.  I looked through the windscreen and, sure enough, a big MI-8 was coming toward us, and not far away.  I got on the radio, told the Russian pilots that I would move the plane down to the end of the strip and started up again.
The MI-8 landed right where I had been in its’ usual enveloping cloud of dust as the nurse and I walked back to try to find our patient.  As we got there a couple of motorcycles, or piki-pikis, drove up, one having 3 people on it.  The driver sat in front, of course. The patient sat in the center, dressed in camo shorts with a hole in the crotch, a short sleeved red shirt with bandages sticking out each shoulder where he had been shot and slops for shoes. The man in the back sandwiched the patient in so as to keep him from falling off on the bumpy trip from town.  He looked like he was in pain as he sat with hands placed gingerly on his lap. His head was also bandaged from another wound.  We pointed them toward the plane and walked back again.
It always surprises me the level of pain and discomfort the average African will tolerate, and this man was no exception.  Trying to help him into the back of the plane where I had taken out the seats and placed a mattress, I took his feet and the motorcycle “ambulance” driver took him under his arms.  The patient grimaced in pain and said he couldn’t stand that because of the bullet holes in his shoulders and asked him to please take him by the head instead.  Whereupon, the man was grabbed by one hand behind his neck and one under his chin and lifted into place on the mattress!  This got a smile out of the patient and what must have been a very curious look from me.
We took off as the big MI-8’s rotors started turning and bumped our way in the heat back to Dungu and the hospital there.
I got back to Bunia around 2:20 and since our other 206 was still out and didn’t have time to do one more leg after his return, I took his last flight to Mambassa.  The burning grass fires around Bunia were so bad that it was almost IFR until I got a bit further out over the forest.  Africa is burning this time of year and the sky is just full of smoke.  I look forward to the rains and some clearer skies.  But it was an interesting day at the office none the less.

Some of the many bush fires burning around Congo now. The smoke in the sky is quite remarkable. This is just a little one.

Captain’s Log-21 January 2012- Beautiful Day Over the Forest

Colorful trees that "bling" the forest

Cruising over the Ituri in the fresh morning air I could smell the forest below.  It was reminiscent of frangipani or something sweet like that.  I couldn’t put my finger on it.  But  while looking at every shade of green tree under the sun, one of florescent coral orange or pink or rusty brown or polk-a-dots of white would pop out in stark contrast.  Black and white hornbills gliding through the tops of the branches, their white trailing edge feathers forming a gentle sweeping C, showed that there were living things below.   A turquoise green parrot of some sort shot along as if in a very big hurry to get somewhere and added other flashes of color to delight your eyes.

I was going to pick up some men at Mambasa who had been working on a building project for a mission that needed living quarters for people coming to meetings, youth camps and conferences.  They were big strong tan handsome curly-haired Dutch guys who were obviously brothers.  Kees, Marko and Thijs (who are 3 of 12 kids in their family).  They build and engineer roads in Holland and do other building construction things.  They grew up on a farm and knew about tractors so the airstrip was mowed beautifully in the process of their work.  That is a rare treat in the forest.  They said the grass was about 2 meters high so I was glad they went to the trouble before I got there.  An airplane is a very expensive lawn mower and when the grass is hitting the leading edge of a high wing airplane it is not nice.

Mambasa airstrip-not to be confused with Mombasa on the Kenya coast

Mambasa airstrip is built on the side of a little mountain and the bottom of the field is down in a hole so deep that I usually bypass about half of the runway before touching down.  The big hump in the middle dividing it keeps you from seeing the other half when you are on the ground, so taking off you are never sure what is down in the back half until you get there.  I have found a herd of buffalo over such hills at other strips like this so you really need to be on your toes and ready to abort the takeoff or landing.

Kees and Thijs and me with soe of the brothers from Mambasa

The village community had lined up along the area we stop in to say goodbye to the volunteers…or just because they were curious and they greeted us enthusiastically.  I once took a couple of the kids for a ride in the plane so maybe they were hoping for that. Anyway, pictures were taken, there were hand shakes all around and last minute words were spoken.  They had obviously been appreciated.

Marko gets to be the co-pilot for the flight back to Bunia

Marko won the toss for sitting in the front and we loaded the VERY heavy suitcases.   Luckily there were only three people and not far to go, just a 50 minute flight.  But they enjoyed the forest and wonderful scenery along the way.  Sometimes we even see chimpanzee nests in the trees along the way, but the forest is so thick you would have to be very lucky to see the elephants that wander around below.  We circled the building project as we left the area to many waving people from the ground.

As we circle the building sight Marko and Thijs take pix.

We were hours early to catch the MAF-Uganda flight over to Entebbe so I invited the brothers home for something cool to drink and a bite to eat.  One of the nice things about this job is the close interaction with so many of our passengers who become great friends over time.  While we talked they said that their suitcases, which were going to cost $50 in overweight just to Uganda, were full of pineapples!  These would no doubt be confiscated on entry to Uganda or Amsterdam so they finally decided to leave us with a bunch and we got it down to where there was no overcharge.  We are now enjoying pineapples and were able to give many to friends.
It was another great day at the office.

Kids from Epulu who came to welcome the plane on the afternoon flight. The always chant "Maji, Maji Maji" to get me to do a few magic tricks.

Captain’s Log-15 January 2012-Back in the Saddle Again

Unloading the Cargo of hospital supplies at Mungbere Mission

As I cruised over the thick vegetation of the Ituri forest and the beautifully manicured Epulu airstrip, hiding its’ bounding bumpy surface, came into sight, I was struck again that I am just made for this job.  I love it.  It happened to me the first day back flying on Monday as well.  Lary and I had flown over to pick up a load of medicine and hospital supplies for Mungbere Mission, taking the chance to do a PFR (Proficiency Flight Review) along the way.  When I stopped at Kajjansi to load the cargo I was greeted by Daude Lule at the door of the Caravan.  “It seems you are glad to be flying again Mr Jon!”, he said.

Very happy to be flying over the forest again. Rosie Ruf from the Okapi Reserve is looking out the window at the millions of trees.

Oh yes!  It is such a pleasure it is hard to describe.  That perfect fit.  That moment in time when all the elements of a great receipt come together to create the mouth watering cuisine. delightful dish. When something….or someone…is fulfilling the purpose for which it or he  was created.  Like the sound of Babe Ruth’s baseball bat connecting with the ball that will sail out over the walls of the park for a home run.  Like morning mist on the banks of the Rogue River. The sweeping curve of the fly rods’ line as the sun traces it’s gentle path through the air.  When the fly almost touches the water and a huge rainbow trout tail-stands out of the water to grab the fly and…it is perfect.

That is me slipping my Caravan into a bumpy little strip of grass cut out of the tall trees in the steamy forest of Congo and making the delivery.  Just perfect!

Rosie finds a box of Swiss chocolates for Cher and me as a thank you for the flight while I unload the plane and play with the kids. Umm, those chocolates are good! I like the picture of half in half out. Like a picture half under water and half in the air above.

Cher and I lay in bed in the morning with smiles on our faces as we listened to the sounds of birds and the little town of Bunia waking.  She said to me, “Describe, in one word, what you are feeling right now.”  I said back without hesitation, “Relaxed.”  And she yelled out, “Hey, that is MY word!”   We are so glad to be back home where we belong.

Game Scouts of Epulu stand guard over the plane as I get ready to take off for Bunia. Notice the new terminal building in the background. Progress. There are also flush toilets but they were all locked up and the man with the key was gone, so they were not very helpful.

Kids at Mungbere Mission. Check the Obama T-shirt and the fashionable way to wear sunglasses.

Captain’s Log-25 December 2011-Christmas Together with Family

The whole family together for the first time at Christmas.

It has been our pleasure to spend this Christmas time in the United States and with our whole family for the first time in many years and with friends both from long past and new.  Contrasting it all with our life in Congo there are some striking differences.  I have noticed what seems to be a hesitation to use the words “Merry Christmas” almost as though you might offend some.  Happy Holidays seems to be the substitute that would leave Christ out and be less offensive.   I guess I have never been that politically correct but is does seem like many wonderful things are hijacked to be the representation of something totally different and often opposed to their origin.  Rainbows as a symbol of gays or owl’s association with witches, to name a few.  I guess that the real meaning of Christmas is not as good for sales as Santa Claus.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am all for the celebration and giving gifts and all.  In fact this is sounding much more negative than I had intended at the start.

The contrast of Congo and the US is striking….over the top riches and things.  I walk in the mornings and this morning I walked past a nativity with live sheep and a donkey.  It was cold and early and I had to look over a tarp to see the scene inside.  The animals got a little start but quickly came over to me for a rub and I felt the joy of life forms or differing types connecting.  Then I looked up in the corner where Mary and Joseph stood with the baby Jesus lying in a manger in the hay.  The Christmas connection happened for me right then.  God sending his very own son, out of fabulous riches and power to be a helpless baby in the care of first-timer parents with very little in the way of what we consider the blessings of life.  But there was a purpose in it all.  That is what I am so grateful for this Christmas.  The sacrifice and the purpose.  It inspires me to live a Christlike life of purpose.  I hope there is something that fires you up to the real meaning of Christmas this year that fills you with Joy!

Scarlet with her new Dolly. Very happy!

Grandma Cher with Scarlet on Christmas morning. Jullian in background.

Jullian and I try on my uncle Dean's Air Corps uniforms from World War II that were given to me as a gift. Dean was a navigator on B-24s in the Pacific in the 13th Air Force.

Captain’s Log-26 November 2011-“When the Wheels Fall Off”-(or your landing gear is on backwards)

The phone rang and my friend Simon Rodger was on the other end calling from South Africa.  He had been having some trouble with his Cessna 185 and, since I have specialized in working on them and taught him how to fly C185’s, he thought I might be able to help.  He had bought this plane from MAF during our fleet renewal program. It had just come out of a commercial shop after a change of registration and replacement of cracked gear boxes and this was one of his first trips in the plane since the work.  There was a vibration in the tail wheel but the plane was harder to handle than he remembered and he thought maybe we should fly together again as a review.  The Cessna 185 is a taildragger and is squirrely. It needs to be flown all the way till it is parked in the hangar, so if you are not really “switched on” things can go wrong quickly on the ground.  He said he just couldn’t seem to figure out where the ground was and he would bounce it and it acted crazy.  In fact, one time he was taxing up to the fuel pumps and when he braked to slow down, the plane had gone up on its’ nose and he was only able to stop it from flipping over by pulling the stick back all the way and adding full power.  This is a very scary thing to do only meters away from fuel pumps and I’m not sure I would have thought to do that so quickly!  He said he would fly right up and I agreed to look at it.

When he arrived we pulled the plane in the hangar and I put the tail up into the air on a sawhorse.  It was not too complicated to see the tail wheel problem.  The wrong size bolts had been put into the holes that held the whole tail wheel spring allowing it to wobble around.  I went to get some of the right bolts but as I walked past the front of the plane I noticed something funny on the main gear.  There were some painted-over rust pits on the front side of the spring steel gear which were just the size of the brackets that hold the brake lines in place.  They are supposed to be on the backside of the gear.  And the brackets were now super-glued on the back side.  That was strange.  Things just looked wrong!

The landing gear is actually on backwards. This puts the wheels back about 8-10 inches and causes the plane to flip over on its nose.

The National Parks Cessna 185 was out on the ramp so I walked out to look at its’ gear to see if I could tell what the problem was.  It was obvious as soon as I looked at the gear on the other plane.  Simon’s gear was on backwards!  That made the wheel sit 8 or 10 inches further back and so the center of gravity was all wrong for ground handling  Now it was easy to see how the plane had almost gone over on its’ nose.

Landing gear on the National Parks airplane installed properly. Notice the straight leading edge of the gear and the angled trailing edge. The gear reaches forward . This makes all the difference in ground handling.

The front landing gear leg edge is straight when properly installed and the back side has a bit of an angle in it.  When the work was done on the plane they had put the gearboxes in backward and then had to switch the spring steel gear legs to make them fit.  So now the left one was on the right and the right one was on the left.  They should have noticed when they had to go to all the trouble to take the brake brackets off and put them on the other side to make things work!

Brake line bracket superglued onto the gear. Notice the pits from the rust that was under the brackets where they had been installed correctly.

I told Simon that I was very proud of him for keeping the plane right side up under these circumstances.  I knew about this happening once before and when they took the plane out to test fly it the pilot hit the brakes to stop and do his pre-takeoff run up checks and the plane went right over on its’ nose, striking the prop and causing a lot of damage.

After Simon took his plane back and had it fixed properly he had no problem landing and ground handling.

It strikes me that it is not uncommon for us to think we have done something accurately when only the slightest change to the placement of even the correct parts or pieces of information can lead to the most disastrous of conclusions.

Captain’s Log-24 November 2011- Very Thankful on this Thanksgiving Day

I don’t have to work hard at finding things to be thankful for.  When I say I’m “thankful” for my family it seems it’s too small or cheap a word.  Thankful on steroids is more like it!  I can not imagine a better wife than Cher.  She is exactly right for me.  A perfect fit.  And now that I have grandkids, it is as though I string words together like kids and grandkids and almost gloss over the kids bit.  But my kids are amazing.  My heart warms at the thought.  Now the grandkids are a real joy.  Each one holds my heart in their hand and has given me a new kind of love that I didn’t know before they came on the scene.  It is hard to describe.  But when my first granddaughter showed up, I was holding her little body in my arms and as I looked into her deep blue eyes someone said, “Isn’t that a sweet picture”.  And I said back, “You have no idea how dangerous I am right now.”  I would not have allowed anything to hurt this little girl and the intensity of my feelings to protect her was shocking to me.  I could really understand why in the wild, it is always the mothers with babies you have to worry about attacking.  Not the huge old bulls that are on their own.  Family…and it extends out from there in tree like fashion with roots and branches and the odd nut or fruit in a wonderful continuity of blessing.

I am thankful for the heritage passed on to me by my father and mother and their family before them and the faith in God they have nurtured in me.  Their example showed that it is possible to live out that faith and that a joyful marriage can last a lifetime, no matter what the world throws at you.

My mind rushes from one blessing to the next until it is a blur of thankfulness like the ingredients of one of the dishes on the table of great abundance soon to be before me.  Each ingredient special in itself, but becoming something different, but equally wonderful, when mixed together.  And there are many of these mixes of ingredients and dishes on the table.  The one of friends.   The one of prosperity.  The one of experiences,  And the lists go on.

I am a blessed man.  It is a good thing to think about.  What makes you truly thankful?

It has been a great joy to be with our whole family for the first time in years . We joined up at the beach and had a great time eating sea food at Mo's, walking the beach, sitting in front of a roaring fire and visiting the undersea world of the Oregon Coast Aquarium. To have all our grandkids together for the first time was wonderful. (Sorry this is out of focus. Didn't get any clear ones. Everyone moving too fast I guess.)

 

Captain’s Log-23 November2011-Photo History Update-Crazy Lorry Load Picture

I saw this Unusual Lorry Load on my way to Charles Prince Airport outside of Harare-Zimbabwe for a flight. I was going down the road at about 70 kph. Notice all the seat belts! Everyone seems very happy.

There are a bunch of new pix on the Photo History Slideshow under Photos and slideshows.  Hope you enjoy them.  Memories can be a wonderful thing!

Captain’s Log- 18 November 2011-Volcano Eruption in Congo

Nyamulagira Volcano erupted at about 9 pm on November 6 in Virunga National Park. The eruption appears to be on a lower section of the volcano, or in a separate caldera with lava flowing north into a non-populated section of the park. I love the pillar of smoke rising into the clouds.

It seems there is always something remarkable going on in Congo and now is no exception.  We first got the news from my sister LuAnne Cadd, who is working in the Virunga National Park where this is happening as we speak.  She is living less than 20 kilometers from where the eruption is taking place and was one of the first people to walk in to the site with other parks staff.  I fly this area all the time and am really wishing I was back home right now getting some aerial shots of this.  But in the meantime, enjoy some of Lu’s amazing photography.

Two sections of rangers accompanied Virunga National Park's security officer, tourism director, and communications officer (my sister Lu),into the site of the spectacular volcano eruption.

Shot from Rumengobo camp where Lu lives on Day 2 of the eruption notice cone size.

Nyamulangira Volcano Eruption-day 11- Now see cone size.

Night View. Catch more great pix on the Gorilla.cd website by clicking on the Park Logo in the right column.

Captains Log-12 November 2011- Elephant Encounter

A lovely sighting of elephant in the road.

A very close encounter. Try to stay calm.

"Ah, I think I need a nice scratch."

"Now this is a real scratch."

"OK, that's enough. Now I'm tired of this."

"Take that sports lovers."

Well, this was game viewing- Up close and personal. Elephant Dropping pictures of a different kind

Doctor Cotton’s Aerial Traveling Surgical Show, The Matabeleland Flying Doctor Service

Dr. Michael Cotton with the school boys at Manama Mission Hospital by the MAF plane.

For years I had the privilege of flying Doctor Michael Cotton and Doctor Specialists with their medical teams all over Matabeleland from Beit Bridge to Binga and everything in between.  It was one of the most interesting things that I got to be a part of in Zimbabwe.

In "theater" (operating room) with Dr. Cotton "the flying doctor" of Zimbabwe.

We took monthly medical trips to various government and mission hospitals to do surgery and training exercises.  Victoria Fall one of the great destinations we visited regularly. Trips to Association of Surgeons of East Africa meetings all over the continent from Zimbabwe to Zanzibar.  This was always a fun time for me because we would take a couple of days and stay at the hospital guest house or crocodile farm or some other very unusual place and I would find interesting things to do.   From fixing broken machinery around the mission station to fishing or even assisting in the theatre during operations, I had a ball.

I have sat in the corner of the operating room with my Leatherman knife trying to repair the skin grafting machine so Dr. Cotton could finish a serious operation.  There was a young school girl who had been struck by lightening causing her nylon knee socks to melt to her legs.  She had 3rd degree burns from her knees to her ankles.  I was able to fix the machine and the surgery was very successful.  I have had my mechanic’s tools from the airplane put in the autoclave to be sterilized for some orthopedic operations, as they were better for the job than anything at the hospital.  After assisting I think I would have loved being a surgeon.  It is much like working on a car or plane.  Just blood in stead of hydraulic fluid.

X-ray of barbed spear near Tonga man's heart, and the healed scar after surgery.

Doctor Cotton has done some very unusual operations that you wouldn’t see every day in the US or UK, like removing axes from people’s heads or repairing bites from crocodiles or gores by buffalo.  But my personal favorite was removing a fishing spear from a man’s chest that rested only inches from his heart.  It was the result of some altercation between men.  Someone owed someone money and someone said something rude…but, bottom line, Mike was able to save him.

Fishing spear removed from a man's chest.

Dr. Mike worked tirelessly and always with a smile to serve the people of Zimbabwe.  It was always great working with him and being a part of what he did there.

Me with Dr. Mike and some of his team, patients, and people that just wanted in the picture.