Flying for Life - Limpopo Dental and Womens Health

Mercy Air was scheduled to do another Flying for Life trip in mid November, but on this occasion the elements seemed to conspire against us.

We have weather radar and a storm scope in the aircraft and can safely navigate around most weather. However, we are also fortunate these days to have access to fairly accurate weather forecasting and it became obvious in the days leading up to the proposed trip that the conditions, particularly around Johannesburg for the return flight in the afternoon, would be less that favourable.

We therefore decided to cancel the trip, and that probably was one of the better calls we've had for a long time!

Below is a radar image of the storm we would have been flying into and back out of (dark red) in the top RH corner.

Here is a multiple image shot taken over a few minutes by some weather watchers in Jhb, at the time we would have returned.

There were also photographs of people who could only hold five pieces of hail in an outstretched hand!

Fortunately Africa can be quite flexible and after a few frantic phone calls, we were able to re-arrange the flight for the following week - when the forecast promised far better conditions.

So the trip was back on and this time Cathy was also able to come along to help with some women's health issues.

Our team at the pick-up in Jhb...

..during the flight...

..and when we landed in Tshikondeni in Limpopo.

While the dental team got busy in the mobile dental unit..

Cathy got help from a very efficient local nurse for her series of pap-smears.

As in previous visits, after the clinic we visited a disability centre and took a few small gifts that were well received.

The area we visit is remote, even by South African standards, and is also quite neglected in terms of health provision.

This Makuya valley is one hours' drive away from the strip we land at

Tshikondeni airstrip

On the way back we were routed over Pretoria..

..and in particular the Union Buildings, the equivalent of the UK's Houses of Parliament.

The flight distance covered for this trip was about 1000 miles (1600 km), equivalent of flying from London to the north coast of Africa.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Container Base, Marromeu, Mozambique

Paul recently completed a trip that begun a week earlier with a different pilot.

Many years ago Mercy Air re-furbished some shipping containers and drove them up to Marromeu near the end of the Zambezi River in Mozambique, in order to set up a base from where we could help a local mission team work with the almost forgotten people in the Zambezi Delta region. As there are no roads this mission group used to travel three days by dug-out open canoe in order to reach the delta, a journey which now takes our helicopter only 20 minutes!

The weather and humidity had taken its toll on the five containers and they were in bad need of repair. For this reason we flew a team, tools and materials up for a week to bring the structures up to standard. They had only been there a couple of days when they got a call that the father of a missionary doctor in Beira had been taken ill and was coughing up blood - could we help? Without much delay John, Mercy Air's chief pilot, went to Beira, collected the patient and flew him and his son back to South Africa, where he spent a week in hospital. The rest of the team stayed in Marromeu working on the 'container base'.

At the end of the week Paul flew up with Andy, a maintenance guy looking at joining Mercy Air, to help with the last few issues, and obviously to fly the team back to South Africa.

I'm always amazed at the range the Kodiak has. In the shot below we had already been flying for an hour, yet could shill have cleared Madagascar to the east or Cape Town if we had turned round.

Dotted green circle - 45mins fuel left. Solid green - no fuel.

The view was similar to the range - seemingly almost limitless.

We have been flying to Marromeu for many years. Back in the day, we used to land in the middle of town, but these days that would be unwise!

Fortunately the local sugar company has built a strip out in its plantations and we can safely land there.

Short final Rwy 11

We knew it was toasty up there but weren't quite expecting 41 deg C on the ground at 1500 in the afternoon!

The container base has provided 'moderatley' comfortable accommodation, kitchen and ablution facilities for the heli crew as well as a place to store supplies, fuel and to facilitate some minor on-going maintenance for the helicopters themselves.

The containers were fitted with roofs to keep the rain off as well as to provide airflow to allow cooler conditions inside. One of the main issues was that the steel frames that supported the roofs were badly corroded and needed major work to prevent the sheets being torn off in the upcoming rainy/windy season.

Another of the issues that was fixed was the lighting for security at night.

Saying our goodbyes at the strip on the day we left.

On the way back we flew past a teddy bear who was waving at us!

The work we were able to do at the base will be effective through the next rainy season, but we will need to give it some major attention next year if they are to continue to be an asset in helping us help the communities in the delta, who's only contact with the outside world is a helicopter, or a three day dug-out open canoe journey.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy