African Skies (subtitle: The Wait is Over)

With great optimism, first thing Monday morning, I moved into position at the front door of the civil aviation offices to get my document and slap down my $500 for 3 months of flight privileges.

I had so much optimism that I had already pre-flighted the airplane, loaded in the luggage, medications, and medical equipment AND filed my flight plan! 

However... the waiting game that had started a week earlier resumed once I got inside the front door and was told that we were waiting on one last signature.

I got to the office of the inspector to get a closer look and actually saw the flight permit document on the screen of a monitor!  We're getting close!  Then... the person that needed to sign the document left for a two hour meeting!  UGH!  This lead to 2 passengers cancelling- a sick young man and his chaperone.  They simply didn't have the time to wait.  This part was a bit sad.

Due to the lapse of time, I had to void my original flight plan and later deposit another one.  So much for optimism!  However, I stayed at my post in the lobby of civil aviation and was there to welcome back the person whose signature we were waiting for.  20 minutes later, I was paying, getting the receipt, and taking care of loading passengers!  WE HAD THE PERMISSION!!!

I entered in our destination on the GPS to "LEBAM" (Lebamba) and followed the straight line!  Here we are passing over the Ngounie' River near the village of Fougamou (a word that is fun to say... and the name of one of our cats).

Our passengers were very happy (some were drousy!)! Dr. Loua R. is next to me- he is a surgical resident in the PAACS program at Bongolo Hospital.  In the back seat is the Hofman family.  Wendy is the ophthalmologist at Bongolo and also runs a training program.  Behind our passengers is sensitive equipment for the hospital that would not survive the trip by car.

A note from Dr. Wendy Hofman: 

"During this flight to Bongolo, AMB transported two pieces of equipment that are very important to the functioning of the eye clinic.  One of the pieces is an indirect ophthalmoscope which had just been repaired in the US and allows the doctor to examine the retina inside the eye to help diagnose and treat diseases that manifest there.  The other piece of equipment, which was also just repaired in the US, is an autorefractor and autokeratometer, which allows us to calculate the power of the lens implant that is placed inside the eye during surgery after the cataract is removed.  Without this piece of equipment, we do not operate on cataracts at all, because the right lens implant is essential to achieving good postoperative vision.  Since we now have this apparatus, we will restart surgeries this week."

This is the "serious" look from the cockpit, along with my SPOT flight tracking device.  It showed that it was sending out good signals, but later the online display only showed three "hits"- I'm looking into that.

A hazy day with some clouds to dodge.

A small village in the rain forest of Gabon.

After an hour and forty minutes and a quick buzz over the Bongolo Hospital, we were lining up on final approach for runway zero-nine.

Touchdown!

Back taxi to the reception area.

Back on terra firma!  It has been quite a while since N207FD had visited the Bongolo airstrip.

We are having some erosion control work done on the runway, so we had a nice welcoming committee plus Dr. Thompson was there to gather the passengers, take photos, and return to the hospital with Paul D.

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.