Back in Nabire

After three weeks off, I was scheduled to head back to Nabire, on the north west cost of Papua, to cover for the regular pilot there whilst he's on holiday. I don't often get to fly from Nabire but love the change of scenery and variety of airstrips flying from here offers.

Unloading the PC-6 in the long grass at Modio, Papua

1000 hours flying the Pilatus Porter

Well that came up without me realising! It wasn't until I was catching up on my logbook that I realised I've now passed 1000 hours flying the Porter. So to mark the occasion here's a list of the highlights and lowlights I've had with the PC-6 in those 1000 hours flying.

Monaco Grand Prix 2013 road trip

In case you were wondering why there's been no updates for nearly a month, it's because I've not been flying but instead have been "low flying" around France in my homebuilt Lotus Seven replica (Tiger Cat E1 for those in the know) to take in the Monaco Grand Prix with a few friends.

Nothing like driving in the Alps

Doufu

Located in the northern flat-lands of Papua, Doufu is one of the more straight forward airstrips we go to and is ideal to go to later in the day when the winds are too high for landing in the mountains. It's curiously located on a large mound with very little around it other than marshlands which makes spotting it relatively easy.

Approach into Doufu, Papua

Article for "From Private to Professional Pilot" Blog

A couple of weeks ago, Swayne Martin invited me to write an article for his blog about how I got to where I am flying today, the PC-6 in Papua, Indonesia. Always keen to help fellow aviators see the progression to another side of flying that most don't consider, I jumped at the chance and got busy writing. You can read my article on Swayne's blog here:

http://martinsaviation.blogspot.com/2013/05/share-your-story-matt-dearden.html

From PPL to PC-6 Bush Pilot

For those of you still chasing the dream, don't give up! And check out Swayne's blog for more inspiration and articles on how to achieve that dream.

GoPro HD Movie: Timika Bush Flying Part 2

After three months I've finally gotten around to putting together another little movie showing some of the bush flying we do out here in the mountains of Papua from our Timika base:


Pilatus PC-6 Bush Flying - Timika, Papua (Pt 2) from Matt Dearden on Vimeo.

As requested, I've included some aircraft noise from both inside the cockpit and from outside so you can hear stall warners, beta pitch etc. The next movie is already in the pipeline and as always, if you'd like to see anything else in these movies, do let me know and I'll try and incorporate them.

Subsidised flights are back!

It's taken nearly four months since the 2012 contracts expired but finally last week we restarted the subsidised flights which are known locally as Perintis or Pioneer routes. These are selected routes operated throughout the Indonesian archipelago to help with the growth of remote villages by allowing the local people to fly to/from them at substantially discounted ticket prices. The whole project is funded by the Indonesian government.

Everast explaining to the locals in Paro about the new Perintis route, Papua