After a great 3-day visit with our team at Bongolo hospital that ended
with a HUGE African rain storm last night, we launched this morning for a
flight back home to Libreville.
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With only 3 passenger seats needed for the flight and plenty of useful load to spare, we used the occasion to shuttle some fuel to Libreville. Fuel that was meant for a Cessna 402 performing some aerial photography project in the south of Gabon. Their project was canceled early and they made us a great deal on the dozen or so barrels. It worked out to about $8.50 a gallon. In Libreville, our source is currently selling AvGas at $23.50 a gallon!!! |
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This year, by April or May, we'll shift our base from Libreville to the Bongolo hangar. A new teammate, Rob, on loan from SIL-Cameroon, will help us develope things there. Some needs: a 40' shipping container for storage/office to put along the hangar, new solar panels and batteries, lighting, eviction notices to many wasps, and much more! |
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Looking down the Lebamba/Bongolo airstrip toward the west. Low clouds, but not too low to launch. We were still able to get our "bon voyage" fly-by over the Bongolo mission and hospital just as church was beginning. |
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Bongolo field elevation is about 600'. We climbed between clouds until about 4000' and then came on top of that layer (as pictured) at about 4500'. A check on the radio frequency (118.1) to give a position report, but there were no other flights happening in our end of the county- no surprise. |
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Our passengers were very happy! Dr. Neni (Bongolo dentist- holding baby Meara) and our Libreville bookkeeper, Clarisse (behind me) stayed in conversation and laughing most of the hour and 40 minutes. It was super smooth! My favorite co-pilot made the flight fun for me! By the time we crossed over Lamberene, the low clouds were mainly gone. |
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A look to the west just after passing Lamberene. That's the Ogouee River complex heading out to the Atlantic Ocean- one of the largest river complexes in Africa after the Nile, Niger, and Congo rivers. |
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A look to the East at about the same area, toward the "Crystal" mountains. A very beatiful flight... the "sanctuary of the sky" for worshipping our Creator this Sunday morning! |
That co-pilot is a class act!
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