In the Caravan on our way out of where we fixed the other airplane. Climbing out with the trees coming quickly gives you a little burst of excitement.
A view of the beautiful countryside of DRC.
We spotted this little airstrip in some sort of national park or something. It was full of water, and we were going through the light rain anyways.
I thought this little river was neat, snaking its way along.
We spotted some hippos playing down in this portion of river, not far from a village.
Can you spot the airstrip? We were dropping an SP colleague at a village where he is based.
We didn't even shut down...we turned, dropped him off, and off we went again. This was the view as we were getting ready to depart. These three little guys were like guards on the runway.
Climbing out over the village.
I spotted this "sprawling" Congolese town on the way to another village. Pretty neat to see from the air.
Heading into another airstrip in eastern DRC to pick up some passengers.
The village below as we were descending to land. Very cool!
We got our passengers and their cargo, fueled, and we were on our way again. The guy in the forefront of the picture was so proud to be standing in front of the airplane getting his picture taken. It was neat.
The runway. It was "huge" compared to most.
The small little "FBO" at that airport. Nothing fancy, but the traffic controller was certainly proud of his post.
Some more beautiful Congolese countryside.
The second captain of the day, Reini Schmidt. Reini was getting some good DRC/Uganda checkouts that day from Linnie Weeks (in the right seat in this picture). It was a good day.
Mountains in the background.
Heading into our last stop in DRC.
A friend in the middle of nowhere...a MAF Caravan. This is a short Caravan, not the C208Bs that AIM AIR operates. Note that it doesn't have the radome on the RH wing. It's actually S/N 10...that's pretty early!
Make that a pair of friends! I can never resist taking a picture of another Cessna 206 used for mission aviation. This is a MAF 206. It is a later model 206, as I spotted the larger oil check door on the engine cowling. After some research, I found that it is S/N 6373, which is less than 100 from N827DG. Cool! I heard that it has the Bonaire IO-550 engine conversion and it also has a McCauley prop. I did also spot a little mirror hanging down from the RH wing, just inboard of the wing strut. Interesting, what's that for?
Another picture of the Basler converted turbine DC-3 that was in the earlier post. It was just a neat looking aircraft. You can see the structural beef-up on the side of the fuselage under the co-pilot windows. Wow.
There were a couple of the UN helicopters parked down the side of the runway. This one is sporting the Bangeladeshi flag on the side.
3 comments:
The mirror is required on all MAF's recip airplanes. The main purpose is to make sure no kids, animals, etc are playing in the prop arc before start up. The second purpose is because it can help you see what's coming out of your exhaust.
Steve Persenaire
MAF Indonesia
Fun to see your pictures of DRC, I'll be flying there with MAF very soon. Say hi to Caleb for me, he was my roommate in college.
PS--the mirror hanging from the right wing is supposed to be for the turbo 206 so the pilot can see the exhaust --or-- for a retract so you can see the nose gear...not sure what it's doing on a normally aspirated 206, your guess is as good as mine!
Hey, thanks for the info!
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