2006-12-25

What every man ought to do

So, I finally succumbed and did what every man does in his life (except quiche-eaters): Get a remote-controlled helicopter.

It really is rather difficult to get the hang of it - helicopters are inherently unstable (while fixed wing aircraft are mostly inherently stable). The salesman demonstrated it to me briefly, and flew and controlled it effortlessly - I dare say he had practiced quite a bit. I've crashed it several times already, but so far it survives (I've fractured a few blades, but it does come with spares). Great fun.

In case you're interested: It has two rotors rotating in opposite directions (hence rendering unnecessary the tail rotor, which has to counteract the torque generated in a conventional helicopter with one main rotor (the Sikorsky Layout)). The remote control has 4 channels: You control altitude (up/down) and yaw (turn left/right) with the left stick, and pitch (forward/back) and roll (move left/right) with the right stick. So, the left stick combines collective and anti-torque control, while the right stick corresponds to the cyclic control. It's harder than it sounds...

Oh, and merry Christmas!
Or, as quiche eaters say (no offence, Achim):
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday(tm), practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

Furthermore, I wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual orientation of the wishes.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

2006-12-21

HK Visum arrived

Got my visum for HK. Also checked tickets, move, etc. All set to go, modulo packing and actually buying tickets.

2006-12-15

Sightseeing flight in HKML

Called Reshma, chief flying instructor from the Kenya School of Flying. They have their main offices in Nairobi, but train a lot in HKML (Malindi) on the coast - less traffic, and better aircraft performance (because it is sea level, while Nairobi airports are at 5500 feet elevation). She had a Cessna 152 available, so off we went. Unfortunately, general aviation is quite expensive in Kenya, so I flew only one hour.

Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama arrived in Malindi on his first voyage 1499, and set off from here to India with the help of Arab navigators. He erected the pillar below. Chinese explorer 郑和 (Zhèng Hé) (the one with this insane armada of ships) arrived here some 80 years earlier, around 1418.

North of Malindi:

Watamu, south of Malindi. Truly great diving!

Approach to HKML RW 35 (here's a movie of the landing).

Back.

2006-12-10

End of Trip: FAKD - FAGC

Flew with Cliff from Klerksdorp to Grand Central, Johannesburg.

Off we go.


Last Leg.


Cleaning up...


Bye, ZS-NXW! Thanks to everyone that helped - Stefan, Lee, Cliff, Ashok, Martin, Meka, Willie, Felix, Andy, Klara, Heinz, Dmitry, Almu, Margret, Tobi!

2006-12-08

Back to South Africa: FYKT-FAUP-FAKD

Clearing customs and immigrations in FYKT (Keetmanshoop, Namibia) and FAUP (Upington, South Africa) was no problem (in Keetmanshoop, the lady at customs and immigrations still remembered me - there is not so much traffic, really).

I had a very nice tailwind (here's a video, 11MB) on the flight to the South-East, so instead of going direct to FAUP, I diverted to the Augrabies waterfalls (just a few miles west).

Augrabies Falls, Orange River. The Khoi (Hottentots) called it "Aukoerebis", place of great noise.



Intersection take off from Upington - it is a very long runway...


Waypoint FASS: Sishen. "Jo'burg West Info, Zulu-Sierra-November-Xray-Whiskey over Sishen 1412, expect next Schweizer Reneke 1510."


Rainbow - the picture does not do justice to what I saw.


I arrived well in Klerksdorp after 5.3h flight that day (FYKT-FAUP 2.3, FAUP-FAKD 3.0), and Cliff picked me up at the airport. He invited me to his company's christmas party at a beautiful lake - a great sunset, BBQ (steak!), cold beer, and fantastic company - what more can you ask for?


Tequila.

FYWE-Olifantwater-FYKT

So, the aircraft was repaired this morning, so I set off to Olifantwater (finally met Ralph, Christian, Ecki), and further on to FYKT (Keetmanshoop, Namibia) - time was getting tight.

Climbing out of FYWE (Windhoek Eros, Namibia) and circling SE of the field to gain altitude - there's a ridge around the southern half of Windhoek.


Flying over the ridge south of Windhoek.


Arrived in Olifantwater! ZS-NXW, Ralph, Fab, Ecki.


A quick break in the swimmingpool/water reservoir before lunch:


Ecki, Ralph, Christian, and Springbockbraten - the gazelle was shot on the farm, and prepared by Ecki and Christian.


Farm life...


And back to the plane and off.


On left downwind leg to FYKT (Keetmanshoop).

2006-12-07

Back to Windhoek for repairs: FYOA-FYWE

The glas fibre cable between Ondangwa and Windhoek was cut. There was no phone, no mobile phone, no internet, and my satellite phone was out of batteries. Anyway, there was no aircraft mechanic in Namibia except in Windhoek (the friendly guy I had been recommended at Ondangwa airport itself as an expert turned out to be air traffic control, manning the tower on occasion.) Hence, I stayed another day, and after (finally) coordinating (somewhat) with Willie from the flight school and the repair facilities in Windhoek, flew back there - this time not direct (that would have led me directly over the Etosha pan), but nice and cozy along the roads. 3.8 hours later I arrived in Windhoek Eros, and had the aircraft repaired.

Lamentably, this thwarted my original plan to fly east, along the Caprivi Strip and the Okavango delta, via Botswana back to Johannesburg. Hence, I shall have to return at some point - not a big sacrifice, really.

Fröhlicher Nikolaus.

2006-12-05

To Epupa Falls:
That's the plan. Engine problems:
Stuck in Ondangwa

In Namutoni, Klaus and Gerhard suggested I visit Epupa falls next. It is at the northern end of Namibia on the Kunene river between Namibia and Angola. Klaus and Gerhard were departing to FYTM (Tsumeb) to the east, I decided to fly to Epupa Falls via a fuel stop in FYOA (Ondangwa) to the west. That was the plan.

Some wild animal, eating. Beautiful creature.



On the road between Tsumeb and Ondangwa.



So, now I had arrived in FYOA Ondangwa, and had ZS-NXW filled up.

During the pre-departure run-up check, I noticed a unusually large drop in engine RPM on the left magneto, and a rough, unround engine - probably a spark plug problem. Even letting the engine run a few minutes at full RPM and very lean mixture did not fix the problem (if the spark plugs are just fouled up with carbon deposits, this procedure burns them away), in other words, I had an engine problem. I decided that it would be unwise to fly to a very remote airstrip over mountains and waterfalls with only 7 out of 8 spark plugs working: Stuck in Ondangwa (about 30 000 inhabitants, mostly in huts along the highway). Well, I spent two pleasant days here in a nice hotel, at the pool, in the bars, and nearly finished reading James Clavell's "Noble House" (1370 pages).

This sticker in the airport's bathroom cheered me up a bit: Other pilots on interesting flights must have come through.

2006-12-04

To the Etosha Pan, Namutoni: FYWE-FYMO

The Etosha ("Great White Place") Pan is a large salt pan and nature reserve in the Kalahari in Namibia's north. There are three large lodges on its southern edge, each with a water hole (to observe wild life) and, incidentally, a runway. However, since it is a nature reserve, I did not receive landing permission, so I chose to fly to FYMO (Mokuti Lodge) at its eastern edge.

Here's a train hangar in Windhoek, taken when I departed FYWE (Eros).

En route. Alles, was ich sehe, erinnert mich an sie.

Etosha Pan.

Just landed at FYMO (Mokuti Lodge, Etosha Pan, Namibia). While approaching, I self-announced on the radio, and asked the people from the lodge to come pick me up. Another aircraft appeared on the frequency, also on the way in, and we chatted a bit - I asked them to close my flight plan, and told them that the wind was now favoring the other runway (that is, the same runway from the other end).

The crew were Germans: Gerhard working as a Captain for Lufthansa with some 18000 hours - about 100 times as many as I had. Klaus, also with Lufthansa, flew just for fun.



Klaus and Gerhard also wanted to land in Etosha National Park itself, at Namutoni Lodge, but didn't receive permission either. However, after we had already checked in with the Mokuti lodge, it occurred to us that we could get there by car (they are not allowed in the park after sunset, due to the animals, but it was still early enough), and after a few phone calls Philip from Namutoni had come to pick us up, and soon we drove through Etosha park.

Some wild animal, eating.

Some wild animal, eating.

Some wild animal, eating.


It was a good choice. In Namutoni, there is this old white fort, built by Germans in 1904. We convened on the top of its tower, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. ("Beautiful sunset" here is British English; an approximate American translation would be "STUNNING, WORLD FAMOUS, UTTERLY MESMERIZING SUNSET WITH OVERWHELMING, COMMANDING, STAGGERING PANORAMIC VIEWS." (or, in college English, "like, you know, oh my god [seconds of silence, rolling eyes] totally awesome, you know, just _so_ tight."))





Some wild animal, eating.

Dinner was excellent. The beverage and food manager, Philip, joined us after dinner and told us many interesting stories from his travels around the world (how he came to prepare Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in a Café in Heidelberg, for example). It was a great day and fun evening.

2006-12-03

Swakopmund

Today Ashok took me on a tour to Swakopmund on Namibia's coast with its famous dunes, some 4 hours drive west of Windhoek (we didn't fly for fear of deteriorating weather conditions on the coast. In fact, the dunes are not dead, but teeming with life that extracts water from the fog that comes up to 50km inland, and prevails on the coast some 180 days of the year.)



Below, the Martin Luther locomotive. It is a bad picture, but the story is nice: This steam tractor (it is often called locomotive, but does not run on tracks) was imported from Germany in 1896 by a German lieutenant, Edmund Troost. Transport between Swakopmund and Windhoek through the Namibian desert was by arduous oxen trek previously. Having overcome many initial difficulties, Troost made a few successful trips, but after a flood of the Swakopriver, the machine got stuck where it is now (apparently the cattle blew up for lack of water, maybe it was drunk driving). So, why "Martin Luther locomotive"? Well, at Martin Luther's trial for heresy at the Diet of Worms in 1521, he is said to have concluded his defence with the words: "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen." (Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen).

In Swakopmund, we went to see the old trainstation, now a hotel, and Ashok showed me the Desert Express - a wonderful train designed in Namibia with an African feel to it, lots of wood. It runs as a scheduled passenger train, but can also be hired for corporate functions.




Das alte Amtsgericht (old magistrates's court) in Swakopmund.


Note something unusual about the tall palm in the middle? It is actually a concealed radio mast.


Next: Dunes.



Fab preaching the virtues of free trade, good food, advanced banking systems and ethical, wholesome secular humanism to the dunes. They were moved.



Palm drive, Swakopmund. Just like Stanford.