things change here too, rules are being created every day, and tentatively enforced… but there is the bush touch. Here are some pictures over the years I’ve been flying here.
Not a perfect composure I know but hey, I was flying close formation and shooting over my shoulder at the same time, which I now know was not the smartest thing to do. Anyway, this the Cessna 206, one of those operated by Flying Medical Service. This is the airplane I started with in Tanzania, and the one on which I have most hours.
A flat shck absorber and a bush fixture, that is tube rubber band to avoid contact between metal parts.
Dump site in Nairobi. This graveyard has been totally cleaned up recently unfortunately. Pilots and aircraft owners, when your airplane gets incapacitated in Africa, make sure you check about the parking fee regulations. The Nairobi greedy authorities for instance charge hefty fees for planes while the spare parts take time to arrive and/or the labor is performed. So it has happened that beautiful venerable airplanes like DC3’s, Broussard or An2 (the biplane above) had to be scraped off because the parking fees got too expensive for the aircraft value. What a shame. So at some point, the airplanes get seized. Note also that if you want to buy such a seized plane, you must pay the old fees too. Those authority punks prefer to lose everything instead of dropping the fees and still getting something from the sales.
Damaged propeller, quite typical when operating on gravel airstrip. A newly painted propeller will show signs of sand paper abrasion within one hour of flying in a dusty environment.
Unfortunately this is not uncommon. This picture shows the wreck of a Cessna 206, on a mountain near Arusha. This is also how I got my first job in Tanzania…. the plot and 2 passengers died.
Some airstrips Flying Medical Service operates on need some cleaning. No wonder we get regular punctures.
I was under training for flying the bush, sometimes the plane would go without me so I could snap a few shots of the plane in the air.
Kaboom, some local mafia style ops in Nairobi. Not sure the inquiry on who planted the bomb was ever sorted out. No terrorism involved anyway.
some airstrips are tricky. Short and sandy in this case.
Comments