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

Maintenance flight

Every 100 hours of airborne flight time, our Pilatus Porters need to undergo what's known as (funnily enough) the 100 hour check. That means I have to fly the 200nm from Timika up to Biak about every four weeks. The trouble is, if flown empty, that's a long flight with no revenue for the company. The solution is to locate cargo/passengers to drop off en-route, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

Parked up outside our maintenance hanger

Tsinga/Mulu

One of the more dramatic mountain airstrips we fly to from Timika, Tsinga is certainly very photogenic and probably what a lot of people will think of when someone mentions "mountain airstrips". Perched on a ridge at 6500 ft, it looks simply stunning with steep sloping sides dropping off rapidly to the valley floor below. In reality, it's actually not as tricky or dangerous to land on compared to many other far less dramatic looking airstrips.

Final approach into Tsinga/Mulu airstrip, Papua

Doxa SUB 1000T Sharkhunter

I love a good dive watch and there are literally thousands out there. However, not many can lay claim to being the original commercial divers watch which is where the little known company called Doxa steps in. Being a watch geek and qualified diver, I just had to have one!

Doxa SUB 1000T black face