1000 Flying hours:)

So there it is 1000 flying hours in the logbook.

It has been an interesting journey up to this most enjoyable milestone in a pilots career. Over the last few years i have been broken down but flying has always built me right back up again........it has taken everything from me and then like a loving mother given it all back again with interest......it has almost taken my life but given me everything i could ever ask to experience and like the good lord flying just keep's on giving in ways i could only dream of.

I feel a sense of calm over my flying now,a heightened understanding of control over the aircraft and more importantly a control over the mental part of aviating. I would never claim to be a better pilot but i am most definitely a safer one. The mistakes i have made and the silly things i have done send a shiver down my spine, but none the less i am grateful because no matter which way you look at it....be it statistically or factual,flying is dangerous. Add in horrendous weather,workplace pressure and in-experience and the risk level triples. But here i am alive and smiling......would i ever change any of those experiences or challenges? No....because it made me the man i am today and the pilot i am today.

Pilots these days truely do take what they do for granted. To look out the window and down onto the boring rat-race and mundane day to day living of normal people always brings a little smirk to my face. But it also gives me a brief moment to thank the lord for everything i have and everything i have been given. I cannot complain. Even though so many of my colleagues do. We laugh atop a silver lined cloud, not risk nor fear will ever stop me from laughing out aloud.

So where do i want to go from here and what do i want out of my life? To be honest i have no clue but aslong as i am flying i am happy and thats all that matters.

So keep watching this space its going to be an awesome ride.....cheers for now.

For the love of flight and a six cylinder,fuel injected romance:)

For an aircraft to earn your trust,it takes a long,long time and many situations before you really do feel a connection to that aircraft. Many hours,difficult airfields and shall we say marginal weather conditions before an airmen feels a seemless connection between man and machine......this natural feeling slowly dieing, in the modern age as the romance of true flight and the skills associated with the pilotage of a hand crafted machine through the endless expanse above changes forever more. This  is all traded in for advanced systems,automation and the ever lengthening checklist. All in the name of safety and efficiency but none the less, killing off the essence of being an aviator.

 Today, an aircrafts idiosyncrasies are seen as a threat. Instead of something to be aware of and to learn to handle, aircraft ideas and plans are engineered away from something interesting into something mundane and "pilot friendly". This is sad because it takes away from the art involved with making a flying machine. Heart and soul of an aeroplane are traded in for good handling qualities,safe design and efficiency. Aircraft are all different but it is the older dis-continued models,the aircraft that pilots respect and fear that really become part of you once you have known them long enough. Not the aeroclub C172 or Piper 140 or the modern airliners of today. What impresses me in flying is not how big your career is but pure,un-filtered flight skills,that is what matters most,a 5 year old can land a 747 or A319,its been proven but go back to real flying and that's when you see who the real pilots are.

 These old tricky aircraft become like an old friend......initially awkward like a first dance with a pretty lady,you stand on her toes and she doesn't like it and shows you why but as time goes by you become close......calculated and fluid in intent.....she learns to like you and you figure out all her intangibles......you don't become man and machine but instead you become one form of function, call it airborne poetry. The aircraft becomes part of you and that's when your adventures begin together. You walk up to her on the ramp or strip,calm and confident in your abilities to control her. This is where the truly passionate aviator's heart warms at the sight of his aeroplane(although most of the time not his, he firmly believes so)and he feels an attachment to it. Caliced hands move softly over classic lines and a warm smile flickers on the pilots face. The smell of avgas or Jet fuel drawn strong into the nose with one smiling breath. The sense of familiar touch,sight and smell bringing a difficult to explain joy to a pilots soul. This to me is the love of flying,the love of aircraft and the greatest career available on the planet we call home.

 

I have flown a couple aircraft types and although I am fairly new to the industry and still young. In 2013 I had the opportunity to fly an aircraft that I had a little romance with. Memories of flying it warm my heart and it is the first aircraft I really truly do miss to fly. Dis-liked by many but loved by some. Pretty and gracious in function,not form. But an old aircraft that I bonded with, Many thousands of miles flown and majority of Mozambique covered from dingy delta swamps to the green and blue eden of offshore islands. She is worthy of a place on this blog and many believe one of the finest aircraft to ever come out of piper's factory. Awkward to fly and with some strange flight characterisitcs like running out of aileron authority with a forward COG on landing and off axis controls in the cockpit to tip tanks with weight limits for landing. She is an odd-ball, a mix of a couple different piper designs thrown into one.....to achieve incredible weight carrying capability,decent turn of speed,passenger comfort and above all one of the finest handling aircraft still gracing the skys today. She is an absolute honey and I will long to fly her always......welcome to the lovely Piper Cherokee 6.

Sunset Sentiments

So after 2 and 1/2 years flying in Mozambique, it is time to move on. Hundreds of lifelong memories to take along,mistake's made and sweaty hours flown. To the buddies that made my time here unforgettable and all the kuk times memorable. A bit of poetry from the flying mac.

Sunset Sentiments

Cold,Golden,frothy and sweet. Warm Heart, sunset streak. Afternoon malty Mrs kept steep,standard on the mushroom club beat.

Some come,some go. Pilots and Professional Hunters live life low. No lights , but warm water from the hardwood fed, donkey boiler. Days in lonely mind seem long, but together these boys are soul strong.

Firelight flickers deep in tired eyes,hunting tales shared and stories of pretty girls who cared. Mistakes made and new years plans laid bare. Best friends for life,nothing less. Distant Harsh Sun disappears into the West.

Not house but home,members of the mushroom club will always know. Friends will roam but these memories are set in stone.

Cement sunset sentiments always known.

-Sean M.

Safari Air LTD 2011-2013.

The ultimate Cessna 206 or 210 Hot Start Procedure

Hello people:)

I have decided to write this post about something that troubles most new 206 or 210 pilots,when they have a very busy day of many flights and engine startups and shutdowns,so common to middle and east african bush flying. The sometimes problematic hot-start of the 206's or 210's big continental engine. When you have the common 35-45 degrees Celsius day and you land,toss your passengers and bags out, jump back in the plane and try and start the now wickedly hot air-cooled, horizontally opposed, 6 cylinder engine,you will become a victim of a Cessna/continental design flaw. The aircraft sometimes refuse's to start using manufacturer recommended procedures or normal start procedures All you bush pilots will know exactly what i am talking about.So i hope this helps some-one new out there or atleast makes for interesting reading.

The design flaw of the continental engine is not entirely a flaw. The manufacturers just never realised that the engine would be subjected to such abuse,high air temperatures and quick turn-around times. Normally the engine would at least get 10-20minutes to cool down after a flight but sometimes with bush flying the time difference between shutdown and start up again can be between 3-10minutes. The continental engine has fuel injection and this is where the problem lie's. The continental IO-540 or similar has a central fuel distribution hub mounted on the top of the engine,in the middle of the two rows of cylinders. This distributes fuel evenly into 6 metal fuel lines,one per cylinder. They run from the fuel control unit over each cylinder to a small injector which vaporises the fuel and delivers the correct flow of fuel into each cylinder for ignition.

Now to explain what sometimes causes the hot-start.The 6 fuel lines are not shrouded between the distribution unit and the injectors and because of the fact that they run so close to the cylinder they are prone to heat-up quickly after shut-down. This is due to the engine being air cooled and as soon as you lose airflow over the engine and cooling oil flow within the engine the engine bakes inside the cowling. This in-turn causes the fuel lines to heat up quickly. So you do your normal start and using the auxiliary pump(yellow section of the two-part fuel pump switch in the cockpit),you prime the cylinders by pumping a bit of fuel in prior to engaging the starter. Little do you know that the fuel you have pumped into the cylinders is still (relatively speaking here)cool but the fuel that has now accumulated in the lines has actually boiled or begun to boil. So you engage the starter and after the second or third propeller turn the engine fires as per normal because it has cool fuel to ignite in the cylinder but it quickly coughs and splutters and then the propeller just spins power-less infront of you. This is because the fuel in the lines has vapourised, so you now have hot aerated fuel and this in simple terms does not allow a stable fuel-air ratio for ignition to occur.

Bush pilots have many different techniques to start the hot engine from pulling mixtures out with throttle all the way in,to putting lots of fuel in and jockying the throttle until you get correct fuel to air ratio etc etc. These all work and i have used and tried them all but usually the engine starts very rough. Normally with a backfire or two aswell as un be known to the pilot,a large flame protruding from the exhaust.The problem with these rough starts is that if you have a backfire while the starter is engaged you can damage your starter motor aswell as damage other related electrical hardware.

After trying them all i have come up with what i believe is the best hot-start procedure. Firstly using the auxiliary fuel pump switch in the cockpit,prime the cylinders with a very short squirt of fuel,basically 1-2 seconds and turn the pump off. Check that your prop area is clear and with the mixture fully rich and the throttle 1/3 of the way in from idle engage the starter. The prop will go through 2-3 revolutions and as always you will get that initial ignition with the "cool"fuel in the cylinder but this is where the trick comes in. Before that vapourised accumulated fuel gets into the cylinder and causes you trouble,what you do is as you get that first ignition using spidey fingers,keep the starter engaged but reach with your middle,ring or pinkey finger and flick on the low volume side of the 2 part auxiliary fuel pump switch(yellow section).What this does is it squirts cool,pressurised and stable fuel into the cylinders at a fairly low volume and this results in a smooth,non-backfiring hot start-up. As soon as you have more than a 1000rpm. Dis-engage the starter and turn off the low volume fuel pump switch. Works every time with minimal fuss and without the large flame out the exhaust.

Hope it was interesting and maybe it will save you from killing the battery and starter motor one day when you cant get the beast started.

The lone ranger

A single, lone misaasa tree extends high above the forest canopy. Atop this natural wooden pillar, one dark strange shape breaks the uniform, circular pattern of this particular tree's bouquet. Silhouetted black against the crisp descent of the sun, a vulture sleeps soundly with his bald, scarred head resting softly on his shoulder. Scruffy feather's out of pattern and place moving lightly in the warm afternoon breeze.

A foreign sound comes in waves, at first like a whisper with the southerly wind. The vultures eyes flicker open, alerted by the un-natural humming noise. He cranes his neck, looking lazily for the source of this disruption. There through the shimmers of heat, he spots it, at first only a white speck coming slowly towards him. The vultures interest grows and with two quick blinks of his sharp eyes the object comes rapidly into focus.

The vulture realises what he see's and sighs again in dis-interest. Many times before he has seen this un-shapely, red and white man-made creature flying noisily over head. It is the only other flyer in this expansive, in-hospitable area that the bird calls home. With one last non-chalant blink the scavenger lowers his head slowly to his shoulder, eyelids closing heavy and content.

The pilot configures his 40 year old, rough and ever-faithful Cessna for the approach. His eyes scanning the now dramatic, orange and yellow landscape.  One last radio call echoes into the empty abyss that surrounds him on 124.100. Smiling warmly he  realises that he too is all alone, except maybe for one cantankerous, scruffy  vulture soaring on the wing or sleeping in a tall tree somewhere.

One last weary glance finds him his destination, even though he is thousands of miles from everything he knows. He found something.

He found home.

back in the swing of things

Hey people,apologies for my recent lack of activity on the blog but it has been because i have been so busy:) its great to be back in camp,i moved back into my little ex-portuguese war building which has been rebuilt to resemble a respectable white mans abode:)i share this with my professional hunter apprentice buddies:)the house otherwise known as casa de' gintrap....named after a previous pilot who had way to many tequilas with a rich american client and was found passed out in the room where we keep our confiscated poachers gintraps:)our house has no windows and it has a 200litre avgas drum for a water boiler but we love it like you cannot believe:)our own space away from the ballies(old grumpy camp managers) and the sometimes painful american clients,it gives us space to chill and play a bit of music and drink a beer or two:)friendships formed here will last a lifetime...

well back to the flying.....and man oh man are we flying a stack this year:)more clients than usual but more importantly we are in the process of taking over a large profitable contract for a sugar estate on the zambezi river :)i am currently doing all there flying and it has been fantastic:)finally flying everyday:)with generally nothing less than 4 on board....aswell as the odd medi-vac and full freight load, keeps things very interesting and always a challenge:)so my hours are clocking up and there could be a new bigger aircraft on its way up if the contract works out.....holding thumbs and watch this space:):):)feeling really comfortable on the c206 again:)i have been lucky enough to do a bit of hunting in the 2 weeks i have been back:)3 reedbuck so far:)and flew low over a herd of fifty elephants the other day:)man i love my job:)

anyway possibly leaving for South Africa tomorrow to collect the last C206 and bring it up to camp:)it means i will be home for my birthday on the 06/06:)i cannot explain to you the excitement if it all works out:)

will keep you posted:)literally....

aviation kindness

This is slightly late but i had to throw it on my blog...an act of kindness that i will never forget...makes you realise that making friends and always offering help will come back to you in spades someday....

So there i was stuck in the shit-hole that is Maputo,Mozambique.....i needed to get back to SA and because i was there towards the end of the week the only flights back home were frighteningly expensive,my boss told me to take the cheapest one to get back so that i could return our aircraft which was in Durban for Maintenance back to camp in Moz. I was stuck.....the flights were incredibly expensive and i couldnt expect my boss to pay it,so i said i would wait until monday for a cheap flight......great 3 more days in this hellish city.....i walked back to the airport briefing office and standing there paying his landing fee's was an old tjommie of mine that i had helped in Beira when he came in with his Cessna 421 business liner,low on fuel and beira starved of avgas supplies as it usually is,i ran around the airport and tried my level best to get them fuel and make a plan,which they eventually did and they got back home to SA:)now he was flying a kingair 300 for the same company and was on his way back to JHB,my stomach turned at the thought of asking for a ride home....i kept thinking there is no ways he will allow me to hop on!!! after much chatting and time to build up courage, i asked is there any possible way i could catch a ride with you? after one quick phonecall to his very wealthy boss,the answer was a resounding yes:)!!!!! i couldnt even fathom in my head how this could be happening and how lucky i was,a free-flight in a king air 300,saving my boss alot of smackeroo's in the first place:)He told me i had to be ready in 20 minutes though so i absolutely raced to the hotel,got my stuff and raced back:) after thanking my friends boss profusely and being told to stop thanking him and kindly get on the plane....i was given a prego roll and an ice cold coke:):):) i honestly almost shed a man-tear....i have never experienced and act of kindness so great to someone who was to him a complete and utter stranger.....:)absolutely astounded still to this day.....and if he ever reads this which i doubt he will,sir thank you so much....you made my year:)

after a short flight i found myself in wonderboom with a cheap connecting flight from JHB international to durban,saving my boss in the region of R6000:)and it got even better....from kruger international across to wonderboom i got to log an hour in the 300 because they let me sit in the co-pilot seat and the captain happened to be a DFE grade 1 and instructs on the kingair series all the time,your kindness will never be forgotten:)

Truely blessed:)