Last day of duty before HOLIDAYS:)
They (Our Company) really know how to squeeze the last bit out of you;) My day was going to be long, and only for 2.3 hours of flight time that I could log.
The day started out at 8:30 when I was picked up from the house by our driver who took me to the airport, I was catching a Lion Air (My worst) flight to Medan. On arrival at Medan I would then catch a Sriwijaya flight to Padang, with the starter/gen as luggage, and then ferry PK-BVA, one of our C208’s, back to Medan for the guys for the next day’s schedule.
The flight itself was planned to be 2 hours long and IFR at a level of 12500 ft. I arrived in Padang to find the plane I was going to be flying missing a starter/gen.. that is where the one that I had just transported came in. It was installed, checked, runups done and I was then ready to set off to Medan.
I got airborne about 1 hour before sunset, with a bit of a storm on my route I opted to just stay along the coast where the weather was pretty good rather than track my original route. This was a good Idea as I had a beautiful sunset view and not too much zig zagging around storms. As the sun set the light show from the storm cells around was spectacular! And a little scary, I kept my weather radar on just to make sure I wasn’t going to fly into anything unpleasant.
The temperature also got bitterly cold once the sun set, at cruise it was about 2°C! I turned on the cabin heat to keep me warm, along with stall and pitot heat, just incase.
I arrived in Medan with beautifully clear weather and a great view of the city lights. I tried my best to get a good photo, but I have no idea what settings I need on my camera to get a good sharp shot. This was one of my best:
The Only Light I See
This flight was a flight of firsts. First night flight in a C208, first time I had to use cabin heat in Indonesia and first time I had to use a bottle to relieve some pressure;)
All in All in was a very memorable flight.
Rainbow
Route: WIEE to WIMM
Hours: 2.3 hrs
Distance: 295 nm
Runway Details:
WIEE (Padang)
Length – 2750 m
Elevation – 18 ft
Runway – 15/33
WIMM (Kualanamu)
Length – 3750 m
Elevation – 23 ft
Runway – 05/23
Writing you from the hospital. Great flight, anyway, full of new experiences. For a moment, I thought you would be staying in Padang for a new tour. Enjoy your holidays! Cheers!
Hi Carlos,
I hope nothing too serious with you being at the hospital? It has been about 46 days on tour, I think another Padang tour would have pushed me over the edge?
Thank you, I will definitely enjoy it!
Awesome 🙂
Where are you going for your holiday?
Hi Jim,
I am glad you enjoyed it!
I have 3 weeks, the first I will be staying at Raja 4 Divers (www.raja4divers.com), in Raja Ampat, and the last 2 weeks I will go back to South Africa to renew my license and spend some time with my folks.
Mike
Raja Ampat.. a place I definitely want to visit. Have a safe trip.
Thanks Jim, I will definitely do that! It is one for the bucket list for sure.
Mike
https://www.facebook.com/MackAirBW/
Hi, Mike. Check this link and one of its last posts about recruitment. May be somebody you know could be interested. I´ve also send you a message through FB. Cheers!
Hi Carlos:) Great thanks for that, will chuck it on the job section!