Office Space

A large crowd quickly forms as our Pt-6 engines slowly whine to a stop and I open the door to greetings of "Bon Jour Captain". Our VIP passengers step down the steps thanking us for the safe trip. The large commotion quickly follow the passengers to the awaiting Land Cruisers and off into the village they speed. A calm settles over the ramp and Dave and I begin trying to picture how to fit two aircraft into a space barely large enough for one. We recruit some eager local men to help us push our twelve thousand pound airplane through the green grass. We give the word and the pushing begins yet the heavy plane moves barely inches. Then a deep voice sings out a few rythmic tones and 15 other voices join the chant. Slowly, steadily the aircraft begins to move as I listen in amazement to what I am hearing. I awaken from my trance and realize I am the one holding the tow bar and the fate of some very expensive sheet metal. Dave gives the "Finis" (Finished) call and every one rests. Hand shakes are exchanged in appreciation for the effort as well as a few dollars to be split between many waiting hands.

Dave and I grab our gear from the baggage area and set up our temporary FBO in the shade of the wing. Fanta, Coca Cola, beef jerky, and a little bread make up the lunch as conversation runs from topic to topic. We enjoy each others company as we wait for the return of our "pax" and watch the African world slowly roll by.

On our way home we point the King Air's nose skyward steadily climbing to 24,000 feet and enjoy the view from our "Office Space"

I know its about time Eh?

Ok, so I have finally decided to muster up a little self discipline and create a blog spot for myself and my adventures. This is a small process that I should have done long ago and simply kept relying on others to pass along my little updates. I do need to say a special Thank You to my Mom for all the forwarding she has done and helping people stay up-to-date on my happenings. To all those who read this blog in the near future, I hope through my ramblings you can gain a little insight into another world that I have the amazing opportuniy to experience. Please do not hessitate to add your comments or questions as the mood strikes you, I will look forward to your observations.

To start out with a little short update for those of you whom I have failed to keep updated. I left the states in late December and headed via an 18 hour flight to Johannesburg S. Africa. There I did a little ground training on the Cessna Carvan, as well as training for a S. African validation of my FAA pilot license. It was interesting learning new regs and a different way of doing things. While in S. Africa I met a couple other new Airserv pilots Andy Neumann, Tristan Cox, Tim Devlin, and Alex Veichec. We had some great time playing two card Uno in the car, traveling to the coast, drinking a few "chilled beverages", and basically just enjoying being guys. I had the opportunity to see animals within an arms reach that normally would have been behind steel bars in a zoo. The power and beauty of these animals was absolutely amazing.

I spent about a month in S. Africa before heading to my current home of Kinshasa, DRC. Andy and I arrived via the same airline flight at the end of January into a completely new world. Our first impressions walking off the airplane, across the tarmac, and into the airport told us quickly we certainly were in for an experience. Ndjili is the international airport here and it is pretty much total chaos with people running every where asking to carry your bags or just straight up asking for money. We managed to get our luggage and fight our way out after a 30 minute inspection of our bags by the,,, well we're not really sure who they were but they tried to act important.

The first week was overwhelming to say the least,,, people speaking French to me as I point and nod for what ever I wanted. Driving around a city containing about 7 million people, all who seemed to be walking along the roads or behind the wheel of their what could be called cars. I quickly grew a strong appreciation of our wonderful drivers that are provided by Airserv with out them getting anywhere would be even more of an adventure.

I have been in Congo right at 3 months now, I have had some amazing experiences already. I have hiked through the jungle to see Silver Back Gorrillas,,, calmly floated down a river in search of Hippos only to be chased back up river by one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
We have had the chance to transport polio victims across the country to have surgery. These VIP's were all kids ranging from 9-14 years of age. Most of them had never been out of their town never mind a King Air. It was a great trip and the kids were an inspiration.

Probabaly the best part so far has been the opportunity to meet and befriend so awesome people who all have a passion for what they are doing. Each trying to do thier little part in helping those who have so much less than we do.

Well there will be more to come in the near future.
JW