Flying Medical Service operates on about 26 remote villages. Here is our doctor of the day treating a kid’s wound.
A nurse busy with vaccination cards and syringes.
Monik, an airstrip on lake Natron. Extinct volcano Shombole above and active volcano Lengai below
A one-legged man goes home after a treatment on his stump.
Bush airstrips show challenges sometimes minor, sometimes serious. Slopes, altitude, difficult terrain and surroundings, flash floods…
we had some visitors at night…elephant tracks.
a colleague came to rescue me after a brake failure, we just swapped airplanes so I could continue safely on the medical tour and the other short airstrips. Notice the brown spot, an anteater hole that I had had just filled up.
volcano Lengai far away.
wet airstrip…and dry some months later. Same location.
time for the water level to stabilize.
I’ve just found an old picture of the larger area. Meet Empakai Crater and its salt lake. The rim towers at 11.000 feet. The airstrip, Engoveroni, lies on the lower left corner…yes that little green strip.
once in a while I take a walk while the clinic goes on and this what we see from the next ridge. As said before, at a slope of 1 to 11, the Vertical Speed Indicator will show 600 ft down on take off. I just love this challenging airstrip, with a lot of respect too.
so now our garden starts to look like an open abstract art gallery.
here is the propeller. Any idea to reuse that except for a lower glass table? Our mechanic wants to make tyre levers out the blades. Maybe we should call our friend Wieke, an art designer in Arusha, and see what she’d do about this.
we had had second thoughts whether to bring the engine back…looking at this crushed assembly…
but with a bit of stripping and cleaning , we went from this to that!
so with a few parts to change, we hope the factory will accept an exchange.
in the meantime another piece of art hanging in the garden. There are some crashed wings a bit further and the latest propeller cone below.
even the table survived the crash and is to be straightened out. The thing was located in the external belly pod that had been ripped off on impact.
while on a Flying Medical Service tour, I loaded my Leica M6 with Maco IR films and a 89B filter
The Rift Valley, the mythical Rift Valley. Here is the aircraft and the clinical hut at Engoveroni.
Herders eyeing me suspiciously…
2 opposite views of the active volcano Lengai.
people in line, yes in line!, waiting for the vaccinations.
as a reminder, this was the general aerial view of the crash site.
up close…
Jacek salvaging a trophy, the propeller cone.
the left wing, which became right wing from our point of view, got a bit separated from the cabin. Notice the black gap. And then the angle between the leading edge, up left, and the top windshield, down left…it should be a straight line.
Here is another interesting angle. The low part of the picture shows the right wing end trashed by a tree, then it goes straight to the cabin. The left wing, the far one that is, shows that impressive forward angle.
The landing gear struts looked OK, amazingly enough, but it is such a hard work to remove that with our limited time out there, we decided to remove only the whole wheel assemblies, only 4 bolts each and disconnect the brake line. The nose wheel and strut had been partially ripped off so there was only one twisted bolt to remove. Take a minute to pose on the landing gear…On impact the optional fiberglass belly pod and content were ripped off. Even if they had a cushioning effect, they still damaged the real belly. It means the landing gear struts got compressed big time towards the wings, past the belly line, then came back to normal position, without obvious damage! That’s serious spring capabilities. Congratulations to the Cessna engineers (obviously not the same ones who design accessibility to parts…)
steep slope, crappy vegetation, that’s why we brought the pick up as high as we could…
a little reward the next morning!
our campsite. 10 Celsius in the morning and rain…
by 10 am, we had packed the Cruiser carefully, protecting all the gear an equipment with straps, foam mattress, crushed empty bottles and old tyres. I just hate rattling noises for the discomfort first (especially for a 7h trip back) and also because I can’t help feeling we’re destroying something if it rattles against another part. We could have spent another morning for some last parts but we were constrained by time. We told the Masai they could use whatever they saw fit from the wreck. And we left ready for some stunning landscapes across the Ngorongoro Highlands. We didn’t expect the light rain and the heavy fog but it gave a certain touch to the trip. More soon for these shots.
Now, last week I overflew the wreck, well what was left of it…we had told the Masai to help themselves, and they just did that!
the whole tail section and one wing are missing, the other wing seriously hacked, we assume to retrieve some fuel though we had told them to be careful with that but try to make Masai reasonable…now we expect some fire injuries to come. We had let between 50 to 100 lt leak on the ground, we couldn’t access all the fuel left, we were surrounded by Masai who were obviously not pleased with that waste. I was not pleased either for ecological reasons but what to do without jerrycans? Kerosene lamps and stoves are dangerous enough as such. Fill those things with aviation gas…
so the other wing has been hacked for the fuel bladder but the cut is clean and rectangular, as is the case for the vertical fin below. This is quite typical, a large piece of aluminum cut out carefully out of a flat surface…
no sign of the 2 stabilizers. They might be used as tables? They’re flat enough for that…A little enquiry might prove interesting.
as a reminder this is the initial wreck before the double salvage process.
we estimate our salvage expedition to be worthwhile, not to mention the fun aspect in such a bush trip and gain of experience, the booty is worth past 50.000$! That is if we ever use each part, which of course is not going to happen… but the flying instruments at 20.000$ for the whole lot, the 2 wing tip tanks at 7000 a piece, the engine hopefully at 14.000, the windows at 500 a piece (replaced twice so far after burglaries), fuel pumps, wheel assemblies, seats… who knows, if somebody needs spares, contact us. Or just for a donation, most welcome. The new 2nd hand airplane can cost anything up to 220.000$ these days.
a Flying Medical Service mobile clinic in the Rift valley. Trees are rare in this place so either the nurse hangs the scale on the hut either on the wing hook like here.
the sun is quite harsh on lake Natron. So umbrellas made in China became popular as soon as they appeared some years ago.
Stunning vista covering most of lake Natron. There are about early 10 airstrips around and none of them is registered so no commercial flight brings tourists here.
a crazy sloped airstrip located on a ridge.
same place in he Ngorongoro area, different season.
after a violent downpour the airstrip gets flooded. The take off was interesting
yup the airstrip lies in there, picture shot just after take off.
or here, that is the thin shiny strip. We didn’t land that day. We know this soil here is really soft. We learnt it the hard way: 2 of our aeroplanes sank in on landing and hit the propeller.
some of my very old pictures in Tanzania, all on films.
A big chunk of Tanzania is volcanic, so there are many gorges out there. Once in a while it was too tempting to indulge myself.
Sengerema, a smart airstrip in the middle of the village…at the hospital is located on the very edge of this strip. Convenient…
Those are the remains of a Boeing 707 cargo which tried to land at night during a power cut. The generator never kicked in, the pilots were running short of fuel and had to do something. Now why didn’t they go to Entebbe next door is a mystery to me. The landing failed a bit, they finished the landing run in the water. The airplane was quite intact, sticking out of the water line, no casualties, but the salvage crew tore the plane apart. Behind are parked some Russian IL 76. See the documentary “Darwin’s nightmare” for juicy details…
Dusty take off in the dry season. One of the 2 Cessna 206’s Flying Medical Service operates.
This airstrip is quite challenging, the slope is at 11% and is slanted too.
the same strip can cause an embarrassment to ladies…we land and because of the slope, the weight in the back seats can cause the plane to sit on its tail. Then a lady, ladies are usually lighter than men and we make them sit in the back, steps out and then the plane suddenly comes back to a normal position. Embarrassing and a little joke usually pops out.
Olpirikata, the narrowest airstrip we use.
I had told the Masai people to maintain the airstrip, a never ending fight….
Bush fires had been raging around but the short grass on the airstrip was spared.
While on clinics, we may have time for some quality time. Here some video footage is shown to circumsized Masai boys.
the airplane, the pond, the curious Masai kids.
normally a pilot sits on the left seat but there was a new pilot to train so I sat on the right seat, gave him a lesson about flying low and I took some shots
here on final just before landing in the Ngorongoro area
next to an active volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai
high wing aircraft have a few advantages, the wings provide shade to our doctor and the patients, the clearance is better if the airstrip hasn’t been properly cleared of bush or high grass, aerial viewing of the ground is better.
a Masai warrior on his motorbike.
the C206 on a sloped airstrip. The Ngorongoro Highlands also offer incredible landscapes.
the main tree in the village, people love to gather there and chat.
A Caravan on take off.
Sunset on Mt Meru.
One of our Flying Medical Service airplanes facing lake Natron. The pinkish line on the horizon is the typical salt crust on that lake.
Another airstrip, Pininyi, on lake Natron. Shombole behind.
While on clinics we attract usually mothers and children and sick people. These Masai warriors are just passing by for me. The word has spread out that I give prints for my models.
contrast between a dry and a wet season. Volcano Lengai in the distance.
A good rain season changes the landscapes quite drastically. There is then a European touch. That is till you spot an elephant or a Masai.
That was a serious puncture,wasn’t it?
Flying Medical Service operates 2 Cessna 206’s in Tanzania, mostly between Arusha and the Serengeti but we cover emergencu flights all over the country. Here are some pictures of the beasts in their favorite element, the bush…
Oljoro, a small village off the map like many. The clinic hut needs some repair and that big dust devil won’t make the roof any better.
Landing soon on the shoreline, Olorbelin, lake Natron. A quick look outside and here is a picture of the reflection and the shadow on the shallow waters.
At Monik on the western lake Natron shore, facing the active volcano Oldoinyo Lengai. The doctor is busy attending the patients under the much needed shade.
Another airstrip, another clinic, another doctor at work…
This is Engoveroni on the slope of Empakai crater, Ngorogoro Highlands. This is our grade 5 airstrip. Look at the slope…it’s not me being drunk for the composure, look at the people who are standing straight up. I landed there last month with defective brakes but that was not an issue at all. Everything else is wrong too with this one, which makes it very challenging and rewarding.
More clinics, Ololosokwan in the Rift valley near Natron…
and Olbalbal outside Ngorongoro crater.
On another note I got a serious surprise 2 weeks ago: I was doing a preflight check around the airplane when the front half cargo door fell on my foot! Obviously preflights are there for a reason…
That was because the 2 hinge pins had been stolen. That is the twisted white thing on the picture, the top one here. Those things have no value but we never know what new use local Masai people could think of…
Pat, our director, has always been thoughtful about how to sort out troubles in the bush before calling for help. So we carry a decent toolbox on board amongst many things. For instance there are what look like giant hairpins, called Cotten pins. I just had to clip one in two and play around with one half for each hinge. Not sure this was entirely legal but what the heck…
while busy on clinics with Flying Medical Service, I have time to walk around, even to the nearby village.
Nobody is going to steal my aeroplane, right? A cessna 206 by the way.
Masai women have traditionally been stuck in blue, red or black, according to their social status in the tribe. There were slight variations depending on the clans as well. Now men haven’t actively looked for clothe change of style. But guess what? Women did… so let’s enjoy the explosion of colors and patterns nowadays.
Cows, the most precious possession for a Masai man, volcano Lengai in the Rift…
and looking behind is an airstrip, Engoveroni. I went for a short walk on a neighboring ridge because I wanted to have a large view of the sloped airstrip. Notice the tiny white shape, that is the aeroplane.
Masai men on an errand. The plane in the distance again.
Mini market in the village.
Modernity creeps in and I would never have guessed in some remote areas…
I hate those ugly wool hats, especially when the temperature comes close to 30 Celsius. It ruins my pictures and I am convinced the kids don’t feel comfy.
In the digital age of photography, I still enjoy too my old film cameras, loaded with slide or B/W films. These pictures were shot this year with my Leica M6 and 28, 50 or 90 mm lenses. A minimum of neurons is required to shoot with this kind of equipment…
here is a selection of some interesting locations I fly to for our outreach clinics.
Tanzania is not exactly is a flat country… this is a part of a dead volcano, Shombole, on lake Natron.
Part of the Gol mountains.
the medical staff and the pilot always take lunch under the Cessna 206 wing. Especially around lake Natron where 40C seem a normal temperature…
The active volcano Lengai can be seen from many airstrips around. The doctor is here treating a patient. Sometimes we have a royal treatment, that is an available medical hut, usually not. Personally I prefer to be in the open but in case a patient needs some privacy…It’s so hard to keep nosy people at bay.
Below is my all time favorite; Engoveroni. It’s located on a ridge of Empakai Crater slope. I love it, the slope at 11%, the gullies and ridges, the usual bad winds, the high altitude and the non turbo engine make a go around impossible, it’s roughly paved but it’s beautiful and keep skills up to date.
this was last week. The day had started badly with a flat battery. We had to start the engine like in the old day: by hand. Yes on a Cessna 206… I was delayed by 2 hours but the bright side of that was to be here in Engoveroni till 17h30. The light was just getting beautiful, warm, golden…
Nice slope huh? Taking off is here a piece of cake, even when heavily loaded.
For beautiful landscapes, there is plenty of choices, here in Ngorongoro area. The Gol mountains far out.
Mount Makarot on the SW Ngorongoro rim.
Mount Masonik, on the high edge of lake Natron
Old Masai men wise under a big tree. They’re having a meeting and in turn, women are not attending.
Serengeti sceneries below.
Wildebeests passing by...
As usual, shot on Kodak Aerochrome film and Rolleiflex 3.5F. Initially that was a scientific and/or military purpose film.
Every 2 weeks on a rotation basis, Flying Medical Service sends a Cessna 206 with a doctor, 2 nurses and some medical supplies to about 30 remote villages, mostly Masai. This one, Engoveroni, is spreading around a few of those ridges. One of those ridges, see yesterday post, welcomes the airstrip.
This is the medical hut, a luxury as not all the villages have provided us with one. Personally I prefer to help out the nurses while out of such a hut, enjoying the sun and cool air at 2000m.
Nice vista on the volcano Lengai.
A rare secondary school in the remote bush.
Cattle! A Masai man is nothing without his cattle. That and many wives of course. Here is the main street in the village.
Ridges and gullies all the way till the horizon. Quite a mission to visit a neighbor in that area!
That airstrip is everything but a textbook airstrip. A steep and slanted slope amongst many peculiarities. Here the doctor and a patient under the wing while the mothers and kids are being vaccinated in the hut.
The funny aspect of this very picture is due to a very old camera, technology from the 30's. All the pictures above were shot with various cameras anyway, film and digital.
Engoveroni, a big but scattered village in the Rift valley near the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai. Flying Medical Service operates an airplane to serve a mobile clinic out there
Beautiful area, isn’t it?
There is even a secondary school out there. These running pupils seem happy to go home.
This village is much better than others, look at the corrugated roofs.
and even a shop or 2.
The main street.
Here is the airstrip, a crazy one to be precise. The whole area is located at 2000m on the slope of a crater, Empakai, which explains the gullies and ridges. So a ridge has been used for the strip. Wind, steep slope (11%), short (450m), rough…if things go wrong, there is for instance a nice gully to welcome any veering aircraft… For a real bush pilot, this is a challenging and dream place to go.
Old-fashioned way to shoot, that is with film, here a Rollei IR 400 combined with a Leica M6 camera, a 28mm lens, a 89B filter and a tripod.
this trapeze-shaped mountain is a holy active volcano named Oldoinyo Lengai, Rift valley. Interesting how most volcanoes are highly respected and idolized in the world.
Local people are expecting our medical visit every 2 weeks on each airstrip we operate. Flying Medical Service operates about 30 airstrips in the beautiful Tanzanian remote bush. I must say I really enjoy flying this kind of operations…
The same volcano from another location.
Rift Valley, northern Tanzania, while I’m busy flying for the Flying Medical Service mobile clinics, I always bring a couple of cameras. From a 1910 folding to digital Nikons via Rolleiflex and Leica M. I hope to use Karine's latest Contax 645 soon! The patient are usually Masai in that area.
This mountain is an active volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai seen from Ngaresero airstrip.
The volcano again from another airstrip, Engoveroni.
the medical hut, 2 rooms, quite a luxury.
The Cessna 206, a workhorse to compare with a Land Rover.
These pictures were shot the old way, that is on B/W film. This implies usually a very slow speed due to the dark infrared filter which explains the blurry people when in motion. In this case the Rollei IR 400 film in combination with a filter 89B was equivalent to a 6 asa film… I thus also used a tripod. The lens was a 28mm F:2.0 mounted on a Leica M6.
Flying Medical Service 206 over the years in various places in Tanzania
a Barabaig woman patting the soft metal of the wing strut.
Yes this is the airstrip/cow track. Women sheltering from the rain.
on take off, Pininyi, lake Natron, western shore.
above Olbalbal on the outside slope of Ngorongoro crater. A non go-around airstrip. I did once and it was one of my scariest moment in my flying time. Altitude and slope are not pilot friendly.
another such airstrip is Engoveroni at 6500. Here is a glimpse of the slope.
and, same place, if heavy passengers sit in the back, you’ve got to be careful on how you load or unload the plane since it can easily drop on its tail, leaving the nose wheel free.
and here is an aerial of Engoveroni, seen from Empakai crater. All ravines and rough terrain and bad winds. Volcano Lengai on the left, and Kerimasi quite close.
fixing a flat nose tyre.
Flying Medical Service’s 206 at work in Tanzania.
here landing in Ngaresero near active volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, Rift valley. There was a tad bit of crosswind that day.
take off from Olorbelin at the foot of an extinct volcano, Shombole, lake Natron, Rift. Notice how people seem unfazed by the roaring plane… But others will run away or lie down even if the plane is not coming close.
Njurlan at the foot of Oldoinyo Sambu, western cliff of the Rift valley, lake Natron.
just having fun with ancient pinhole technique.
Engoveroni airstrip, volcano Lengai, Rift valley
in August, it’s getting quite dusty and the worst is still to come.
making friends…
Engoveroni airstrip on the slopes of Empakai crater, my first day of flying in Tanzania in 1999. I knew right there I’d love my time in TZ! This strip lies at 6500 feet, is about 4oom long, slope at 11%, VSI shows 600 ft down on take off, it is badly paved, is bordered by a ravine and the winds are always strong. Our 206’s are not turbo equipped…
Since then a homestead managed to develop just on threshold and 2 trees grew up, which we have just planned to have cut down. This being Maasai country, it might take a long while till they are actually chopped down…
and this time, Karine came along. It was high time to share this wonderful experience with her. So last Tuesday we took off from Arusha to Endulen where we picked the medical staff. We then flew to remote locations in the Rift valley, near lake Natron, Ngorongoro crater and volcano Lengai, bearing exotic names like Oleparkashi, Engoveroni and Olbalbal.
here in Engoveroni with the village leader who insisted to pose with this royal guest.
Here is the Flying Medical Service Cessna 206 on top of that crazy airstrip. This time of the year tends to be on the dry side and the dust gets everywhere.
I hardly took pictures preferring to show and explain a few things about the medical aspects, and let her shoot. See her blog these days (and anytime too by the way) for her experience to share. Below are some older pictures of my FMS time.
polio drops, such an easy and effective vaccination. Too bad some idiots with big powers decided to fight against it some years ago, in Nigeria for instance, allowing the polio strain to spread again. So the disease eradication took a serious delay.
weight decrease is usually a serious indication of health problem. A cheap and reasonably easy check.
Under the wing, dr Ole treats a Maasai woman.
a Maasai village, typical to the ones we fly to.
not so convenient as polio vaccine to administer.
so flying the bush…I was just hoping for nice pictures, a bit of dust, a nice landscape in the background (the Rift Valley at a place called Ngaresero, 600 meter cliffs), a touch of color with the red Cessna 206…I got more than expected: a tricky airstrip, quite soft and sandy and rocky altogether. The pilot got a bit rough on the controls, kicked the pedals a bit too hard and jammed the nose wheel in the sand…
just starting to move and turning to align with the airstrip heading…
the propeller is still rotating here….the 300 HP engine roaring, creating a lot of noise.
then the engine stops, see the dead propeller, and the total silence sets in…impressive moment.
nobody was hurt but the pilot’s pride. Two propeller blades are pretty twisted.
show time for the Masai!
on take off in a dusty area, Olpirikata, near the Serengeti. The power of a propeller!
Nairobi Wilson airport. A bombed airplane! Mafia style. The story was never cleared up…
the plane stayed there, like this, visible by everyone for months! Parked on the main parking lot, nice impression for the tourists who have just arrived in the country…nice marketing.
you’ve got long hair? Blonde? Or worse, red haired? You’re in to feel like a circus animal amongst the remote tribes who have never or rarely seen this kind of hair. And real, not extensions.
some incredible airstrips. Some pilots have refused to use this one again after the first training visit. Ngoveroni, one way in one way out no matter the wind, altitude 6500 ft or 2000m, on the flank of a crater (Empakai), 400 m long but luckily quite steep. No going around once you’re committed to land because the crater slope is too steep for the aircraft capability. For the pilots, 600 ft down on the VSI during take off, aspirated engine…
so steep that once I got booby trapped: heavy mamas were in the back of the plane, and as soon as I got out, the plane sat on her tail. Not proud of myself even if the conditions were unusual. The mamas were yelling at me while I was shooting instead of getting them out. Maybe they were angry that there would be a long lasting proof of their big weight…you know there is no television out there. Little stories like this are gold for people, not for the victims of course, and they stay for long. Legends start for less, nicknames or references too. “It was the day when the plane sat on its tail because fat mama 1 and fat mama 2 were on board…”.
here, the steepness is quite visible, and also the airstrip banks to the right as well. Quite challenging airstrip.
just a bit different than the airstrips I know in Belgium….the active volcano Oldoinyo Lengai in the distance. Engoveroni airstrip, Rift valley.
grasshopper scheme.
LSD effect? Nope just a super wide lens. A cool 16 mm Nikon lens I had borrowed.
Barabaig woman. She kept on touching, stroking the metal of the aircraft. It looks like she had never seen smooth surfaces like that.
friend of mine who trashed this plane by flying (by mistake) between power lines! He got sooooo lucky and so skillful to bring that plane back. He ripped off a big chunk of the wing…
…and an appreciable bit of the rudder
the rudder has been compressed vertically too! The antennas on the belly have been ripped off. No doubt he really flew between cables. Since that company owes me money, I congratulated that pilot for the ‘good’ job.
we had received a new airplane, so we went up for some fun, 2 planes together, filming, flying in formation…
bush repair…the main contact switch had died. I couldn’t start the engine. Luckily we had a solar engineer with us. He got an Xray machine switch in the hospital and ‘voilà’, an elegant fixture that held for 2 weeks while waiting for a spare part. Very stylish as the cables went outside the aircraft, from this picture to the engine compartment, glued with bandage tape.
a narrow wet and short airstrip (the brown bit) and brakes that were useless on that slippery mud…so I applied the emergency way: kick one pedal to force the plane to spin, left in this case, play with the power to control the U turn and full power in the end to push the plane the other way and stop. As you can see, this was not quite perfect, but at least I stopped before the end of the airstrip. Few pilots have performed that maneuver, which is not in the books. Only hearsay, no training. The next one was much better.
that mud would be called black cotton. La traduction en français semble difficile et varie selon les sites, ‘sol argileux lourd’ ou ‘terre noire à coton’…? Thick, soft, extremely slippery and very sticky…the worst kind. But potentially fun.
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