Saturday 30 May 2015

In the Skies Once More

We've have been blogging a lot recently, but sometimes news happens that's too good not to share!


11 days ago a shiny new engine arrived.


The engineers got to work, preparing everything for installation.


It was good to see an engine attached to the front of the plane again.


So good that passengers were excited enough to take photos of the new engine. The aircraft has been sorely missed by us and our partners during the last 5 months!


On Thursday we did some engine runs to make sure everything was working properly.


On Friday it was ready for a flight test...


Today (Saturday) I took to the skies and did some training, ready for our base checks next week (a six monthly assessment MAF require us to do). It was nice to be back in the left hand seat again.

Saturday 23 May 2015

Our Garden

We are often asked what Matt and Bethan do while Becki is flying (or in the office). Well they spend a lot of time in the garden, with Matt building things and Bethan playing with/on them. The garden looks a lot different now to when we first looked around the house. Matt and the gardeners have worked very hard!

Here are the "before and after" photos:

Before we agreed to move in, we wanted the front garden cleared...


There is a house in there somewhere!


Now it's much less overgrown


Removing the structure on the front of the house has made it a lot lighter inside!



The front garden had a large wooden structure overgrown with plants - apparently the previous tenant used it for karaoke nights.


The proprietor arranged for everything to be removed, including the ceramic tiled bar at the far end!


Now there is room to run around!


There used to be a building here, on the side of the house, which the previous tenant removed, just leaving a lot of mud and some steps..


Now the grass is slowly growing and at the end we left some mud for Bethan to play with and built Bethan a table for her "cooking"


The top end of the mud.


which is now a sandpit and balance beam



At the front was an overgrown hedged garden. It looked better after the gardeners had trimmed it but..


 we decided the space could be better used for a herb circle and key hole vegetable garden (which is square rather than round but hopefully it will still work)


Wednesday 13 May 2015

 Ledadaky and the Dahalo

On Monday, a call came in asking for a medevac from Ankavandra. The details were a little hazy but we knew it was for a gunshot victim, with the bullet having travelled through the mouth. The man would be accompanied by some family members but we were unsure if any medical staff would be available to join the flight. Having a doctor on board means they can inform us if there are any complications that would stop us flying or restrict our altitude to maintain constant air pressure. God's timing is perfect and just as the Caravan was being prepared for the flight, in walked Dr Sylvain - a doctor who regularly joins us for our “Medical Safaris”. Thankfully he was willing to come along for the ride! This was a double blessing as he could also act as a translator in a region where little French is spoken.
The river between Ankavandra and the airfield
  Flying to Ankavandra, which is 144 miles from Tana, took 52 minutes. Located beside the river at the base of the high plateau, the area looked beautiful as we flew in. In the hot, dusty conditions on the ground it was a different story. Ankavandra is located in one of the 'zones rouges', where police and security are scarce and the Dahalo (cattle thieves) roam freely. The larger groups of Dahalo have assault rifles to protect their herds of stolen cattle. Ledadaky had fallen foul of the Dahalo that day. The bullet knocked out his bottom teeth and left a path of destruction from his cheek, down his neck. He had been carried to the village of Ankavandra, where his face was patched up and then a further 3 miles to the airstrip on the other side of the river.

Armed men, protection for carrying money
Ledadaky being assisted to walk to the plane
Ledadaky, his family members and some armed men (protection as they were carrying money for the flight and hospital fees) arrived at the airfield. Ledadaky's family then boarded the aircraft with some cooking pots and bags of rice that they had brought with them, and Josh strapped Ledadaky into the on-board stretcher. Your family must provide food for you while you stay in hospital and rice is more expensive here than where they live in the bush, so they came prepared! We flew back to Tana, arriving shortly before sunset and the patient was soon strapped into the waiting ambulance and taken to hospital.

Strapped into the Cessna 208 ready for the flight to Antananarivo

On the ground at Ivato Airport, Antananarivo
The journey to the ambulance was nice and short