In the hotter months (August – November) one feels the need for a short siesta after lunch. It is very uncommon for it to rain here during the dry season so, fortunately, humidity is kept at bay, but on the other hand, there is dust and a lot of it.
Tag: Bushpilot
En route Base-camp : Tafika 12 51.317′ S 31 59.812′ E
The aircraft has been prepped and the day has finally arrived for me to head to the bush. I routed via Jeki airfield, Lower Zambezi, to pick up an Australian couple who would join us at Tafika, Luangwa Valley. It was a quick sprint from Lusaka to Jeki in the cool morning air as the new engine still required to be operated at high power settings for the run in. The take-off out of Jeki, I thought would be a rather interesting one. I had eight people’s luggage, two of them that were missed on a connecting flight and a short (860m useable) runway. Continue reading “En route Base-camp : Tafika 12 51.317′ S 31 59.812′ E”
Two Tom’s in a Cessna 210 over the magnificent Namib
Every once in while a VIP shows up and this time it was my turn to be the VIP’s personal pilot for the day. It was strange that the company gave me these flights, as they were usually done by the experienced freelance pilots who have thousands of hours flight time over the whole of Namibia in bush planes. Film crew and scouts are notorious for being scared of small aircraft and typically request two experienced pilots on an aircraft for which one pilot is the norm.
Continue reading “Two Tom’s in a Cessna 210 over the magnificent Namib”
Validation in progress
So I’ve been told that the airlaw exams can sometimes be a tricky one to pass over here. But not for the reasons you might think. They are not too difficult to pass, but one just hopes that the person marking your paper aligns the memorandum correctly. In spectacular bureaucracy fashion, I went all out and wrote word for word what they required for the open book section. It left me writing 5 full pages and a slight carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist.
PilotWhite 