Cyclone Eloise Survey Flights

Following on from the last post, we have just returned from a week of survey flying in central Mozambique.

Our plan was to fly up the day before the cyclone arrived, get behind it, sit it out for a day to wait for the weather to clear a bit, and then follow it down, helping where we could. In the end we flew over 3100km and mainly covered the area up to 150km inland of where the cyclone made landfall.

We made it up to Chimoio on Friday and met up with our helicopter that had been doing mission flights in the Zambezi Delta the preceding week. As we were initially based near the Zimbabwe border out first flights were concentrated in areas we knew were badly hit by cyclone Idai, two years ago. The good news is that damage and flooding was not as bad as feared and although thousands of people have been displaced, there has been little loss of life and minimal structural damage. The main flooding was concentrated nearer the coast south of Beira.

This still amounted to some large areas of water...

..with some roads impassable...

..and villages cut off.

We flew members of Mozambique's Disaster Management Authority down to the Rio Save, a major river 150km south of Beira.

 Clever Garmin 1000 knows when you're flying up a river at 800'

 

 

They were particularly interested in the bridge carrying the main (only) arterial north/south supply road from the capital to the central parts of the country.

 

The old bridge was flooded but the new one was still passable, although with downgraded load bearing capacities meaning is now had a one way, stop/go, leading to some delays.

 

On the way back we flew over Buzi, the town that had borne the brunt of the last cyclone. As you can see from the photo below, the area was still suffering and many people were displaced. The town was mainly being re-supplied by boat although our helicopter was also able to help, even flying in the Mozambican Prime Minister who was keen to show his concern.

We flew up the river and past the place where Cathy had spent a week working at a field hospital two years ago.

The two small white tents just right of center in the photo below are all that remain of the field hospital that was erected by Samaritan's Purse in 2018.

One of the days surveys loaded on the Garmin 1000...

..and some of what we saw out of the window.

Most evenings consisted of planning round the dining table...

..and tweaking it the next day just before flight, as new information came in...

..before a muddy departure.

We got back to South Africa to find that our north eastern area of SA and eSwatini (the country formally known as Swaziland) had had heaps of rain whilst we were away. Apparently there are numerous bridges washed away and they are struggling to assess the damage. We are already talking to the authorities there and are planning to conduct survey flights tomorrow.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Cyclone Eloise - January 2021

A few maps to show what will likely keep us busy this weekend and maybe for a while after that.

Cyclone Eloise will hit the coast of Mozambique on Friday night/Sat morning and then traveling westwards through Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana.

It is slightly smaller than cyclone Idai two years ago - although still 1000km across. Winds will be in the order of 200kph and it will likely bring the same amount of rain to an area already waterlogged from heavy summer rainfall.

Our plan is for Paul to fly a team up tomorrow (Friday) just before the cyclone arrives to join our helicopter which is already up there. We will position behind it, sit it out for a day or two and then follow it down over the weekend and the early part of next week.

That way we'll be in a better position to respond by doing survey flights and flying in support of rescue efforts as they arise.

Bottom left to the middle of the cyclone is equivalent to the length of Britain.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Eye Cataract Surgery Flights - Again

After a long gap due to the current world health issues, Mercy Air has once again been able to resume its partnership with MAF/Flying for Life, and take a team of surgeons up to Limpopo to carry out eye cataract surgeries for under-privileged people.

As always this is a big day out, being airborne at first light to see the sun rise above the clouds when in cruise.

I'm always impressed by the range the Kodiak has - and will therefore likely always post a pic of the green range rings showing how far I could fly with the fuel I have on board. For scale, the length of the UK is just over half the length of Madagascar on the right.

I arrived at Grand Central Airport in Jhb at 06:30...

.. and met and loaded the surgery team.

Within 30 minutes we were on our way again for the 1h30/430km flight to Thohoyandou. Google Maps shows this as a 5h45 drive and that's with no traffic or stops! We were then met by the Health Department's minibus for the 1 hour drive the the hospital.

Then the real work could begin. The patients, many of whom had traveled to the hospital over the preceding two days, were screened...

.. before going upstairs to the ward to wait their turn.

 

While the doctors set up, I helped arrange and order the special lenses that we had bought up with us.

Then they were led into the operating theater...

.. where I was able to 'help' watch the procedure.

Prof was very good at explaining what he was doing and let me have a look through the microscope...

.. to reveal the milky cataract that he was about to fix.

There are all sorts of things that are apparently 'better than being poked in the eye with a sharp stick'. But for these people, this is probably one of the best things that can actually happen to them!

The team were able to complete all but one of the scheduled operations before the time was up and we had to return to the airstrip to be able to take off before dark.

The flight back was mostly uneventful - a small storm over Jhb when we arrived, and I actually got back home about 2200, just  in time to watch the second half of the final Premier League match of the day which ended Newcastle 1 v 4 Man United.

The bright lights of Johannesburg

 

This flight was scheduled to happen two weeks ago but in the preceding days it became obvious that the weather on that particular Saturday was going to identify as British, and there was no guarantee that we were going to be able to get into Thohoyandou at all - even Jhb would have required some special effort. We therefore decided to postpone.

 

I felt for the patients, some of whom had already started their journey, probably accompanied by family members, from their rural communities to the hospital. Their hope and anticipation of renewed sight dashed. Many have been on the waiting list for a few years - would it ever happen.

 

It feels good though when everything does come together - especially the weather! You fly home knowing that not only the patients have a new lease of life, but all those in their communities who surround them are likewise affected for the better.

Thank you.

Paul and Cathy

Logistics

One old version of the Mercy Air brochure describes Mercy Air as 'maintaining a growing team of highly motivated pilots, mechanics and logisticians'.

Pilots and mechanics are quite easy to spot (either carrying a headset or a spanner) but what on earth is a logistician? If we ever wondered, we certainty found out recently when we were asked to help organize medical equipment to be sent up to northern Mozambique to furnish a new Covid hospital.

OK, so we certainly didn't have to do all the work. A mission doctor who had been working and living in Mozambique for many years had worked out what they needed, and had ordered what he couldn't get to be sent to us here in South Africa. Then the fun began.....!

The 600kg worth of equipment duly arrived to be stored it in our hangar, although unfortunately a few days too late to go up on the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) flight that bought the first repatriation coffin down three weeks ago (http://pcm-mercyair.blogspot.com/2020/07/bitter-sweet.html).

In this new era of lock down, closed borders and general other travel restrictions, chasing paperwork has become a necessary and essential activity. It seems no-one is quite sure what all the rules are and then of course, there is always that new rule you didn't know about and which requires another piece of paper to prove you're compliant, or even a complete rule change to what you thought was the way to do something.

These twists and turns didn't allude us this time either. Even though much of the paperwork came with the goods, there was still a lot of arranging to do to make sure that the right information got to the right people at the right time. Even the MAF pilots had their fair share of the fun. After being told their flight pans were accepted, they arrived at the airport to be told that they needed a special document from the Ministry of the Interior, one that is normally only required for passengers - not crew. Immigration would not budge, so they had to re-route through Maputo which cost precious time.

Anyway, let's cut a long story short and just say that eventually, after two days,  they made it to our local international airport. We had ticked all the boxes to allow us to drive our Mercy Air truck onto the apron and meet them, together with an avionics engineer who did some quick tests.

Not quite like an F1 pit-stop, but certainly enough feverish activity to keep us all warm on a cool winters day.

The copper oxygen tubing was 5.5m long and only just fitted.

I promise they didn't fly back with it sticking out of the window!

The all important approval from the customs lady

Securing the load inside.

As we drove away

 

So, we now have a clearer understanding of what a logistician might do as a job. Whether we think that we also fit the description - that's another question.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Repatriation

Mercy Air has been called on to do a wide variety of tasks in the past - just scroll back through the last 15 years of blog posts to get an idea.

Some are fun, some are rewarding, some can be lifesaving. All of them help and serve people in some way or another, but these last two trips are perhaps the more sad flights.

We were asked to help repatriate a deceased person out of a neighbouring country. This time it was to fly a Turkish national who had been living in Lusaka, Zambia to Johannesburg, so he could then be flown home to Istanbul Turkey to his family for burial.

Again, the paperwork began weeks before the event and there were many emails, phone calls and forms to be filled out. Then there was waiting for replies, re-submitting, waiting again, waiting until the last minute (and even possibly a little beyond) for the final authorisation to be granted. The few lines mentioning it here goes nowhere near relaying the hassle and stress that is actually involved in bringing everything together at the right time! And then of course, you still have to go and fly it!

It turns out that Lusaka is quite a long way away - four hours flying in a mostly straight line in fact, and if you want to get there and back in a day, you have to leave quite early.

This wasn't too much of an issue and we were at our local international airport for fuel just as the sun also arrived.

So it also turns out that four hours in a mostly straight line isn't too exciting, but the highlight was flying over Lake Kariba.

Kariba is quite big, 30km wide and 280km long in fact, which is about the same distance as London to Leeds. Cathy and I once took a ferry from one end to the other and it took 24hrs. It's 5400km sq. and contains 180 cubic km of water. Not sure how you'd ever quite visualise that!

Here it is depicted on the Garmin 1000 map.

Once in Lusaka, I got to park with the big boys.

I'd like to report that everything went smoothly, aircraft was fueled, landing and nav fees paid, coffin was delivered and loaded and I was on my way again. The reality was somewhat different - very different. If you really want to know please Whats App or email and I'll dish the dirt on the occupational hazards of doing this kind of flight in the current world environment.

Let's just say that 'eventually' haz mat men came...

..as did a van with a coffin...

and it was loaded - with some difficulty - onto the aircraft.

All that was left now was 4h30 of mostly straight flying to deliver the cargo to Jo'berg International.

I enjoyed Kariba again for a second time that day and then, a few hours later a brief moment of excitement when I spotted a power line out of my window. I checked on the other side to see where it went and wondered if the Romans had had anything to do with its construction. I knew how it felt!

Eventually Johannesburg arrived and I was directed to my parking bay where some high viz guys helped unload onto a conveyor vehicle, for it to be whisked away to a Turkish Airlines A350 Cargo plane that had waited a couple of hours for me to arrive.

In sharp contrast to Lusaka, I was soon on my way again, but not before I had the chance to tuck a taxiing Emirates Boeing 777 under my wing.

After departure day...

..turned into evening...

..and then eventually night...

..before finally making it back to Nelspruit.

Despite the obstacles we faced, it was still worth all the hassle when you think that our efforts have helped bring closure for a family half way round the world, that we will likely never meet.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Repatriation Flight

Cathy and I took part in a repatriation flight this last weekend.

Mercy Air had been asked to help repatriate a deceased South African citizen from Mozambique over a week ago, but the list of required paperwork, authorisations and special permits were longer and more confusing than a politician's excuse. Navigating the complexities of the international transportation of human remains is not something we will rush into again, especially during a global health pandemic when borders are effectively closed and no-body seems to know exactly what the rules are anyway!

We worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) who are based in Moz and arranged for them to bring the body down to our local international airport.

Our Kodiak, already parked, as MAF's Caravan arrives after a five hour flight

I was somewhat surprised by the size and weight of the casket and it took six sizeable baggage handlers to transfer it from one aircraft to the other.

Once it was on, it was my job to secure it.

The turnaround was relatively quick and we were soon under way for the last leg, a two hour flight to Durban.

This time of year the weather is generally stable and the flight down was fittingly calm and serene.

The funeral vehicle met us on the apron at the airport.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy