The story of the phoenix bird that loves fire came to mind today.
For the first time this year, we were able to fly - circuits and very local, but operational. Safety procedures are essential when you have been on the ground for an extended period, as has happened this year.
Our in house regulation is that 'if you have not flown for 28 days you…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on January 26, 2011 at 7:25am —
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Kpong Airfield, Ghana, West Africa December 2010
Our year at Kpong Airfield….
Another year has sped by,…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on December 29, 2010 at 6:30pm —
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What a weekend... after having taken two STOL CH 701's around the country just two weeks ago, we then ran an education day - and an air show weekend!!! Errrr not like Sun'n Fun nor like Oshkosh... more like.... well, I guess you will have to read on...
We live, work and operate in…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on November 15, 2010 at 2:00pm —
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As we progress with our supply drop preparedness in Ghana, we carried out a series of drops this weekend, witnessed by our Civil Aviation Authority.
The dropzone was identified using 6 tyres on a roughly 12m x 12m target. The approach to the drop zone was over the hangar at Kpong airfield, and the target around 40m away from the hangar, simulating a drop to a school playing field or park. 9 cannisters were dropped. 4 x 1kg sand non chuted, 4 x 1kg sand chuted…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on October 25, 2010 at 4:30am —
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As you know we have been working on aerial video mounts and aerial drops. Now, with current flood risks rising, we are looking at combining the adaptations to our aircraft. Yesterday we cut a great big hole in the plane. We did not do this lightly. Much consultation took place.
The original idea had been to use our existing vertical shot video mount and cut a round drop chute for the supply cannister system. However, the need to shoot large areas of land from low levels…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on October 14, 2010 at 5:30am —
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It just has to be done. As we try to raise awareness of the ability laden CH7xx and CH8xx range of aircraft for humanitarian aviation logistics, it is now time to undertake a mission that appears to have never been done before.
On November the 1st to 3rd Patricia Mawuli, the 22 year old girl from the bush in Africa who has learned to build and fly airplanes, will take 9G-ZAF, the Medicine on the Move CH701 around Ghana to prove the metal of the T6 aircraft. For a low hours…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on October 11, 2010 at 1:41am —
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Clay Hollenback (
http://www.zenith.aero/profile/ClayEHollenback) underwent surgery this week, and is not able to work on his CH750 for a up to eight weeks. I am sure that he could do with some get well messages - since he is probably feeling sorry himself, sitting there holding a handful of rivets, gazing out of the window, begging his family to purchase a flying magazine from the local store....
Clay is a great…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 25, 2010 at 5:30am —
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Flying VFR is wonderful, we get to see the real world, and we get to enjoy sights that make us smile. When I get asked why I never pursued a career as an airline pilot I have a simple response 'why be a bus driver when you can be a racing car driver!'
I know that the speeds of our aircraft are often around 20% of that of the big birds, but our pleasure and grin factors are much greater thanks to the environment in which we fly - and we do fly - hands on, looking out the…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 19, 2010 at 6:00am —
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After my recent mention of Angelina Joli, now I can tell you about my other life, being a pilot in a real life Avatar movie... Zoe Saldana is not, however, present in our part of the planet 'Pandora' - but the Home Trees certainly are.
Today I flew into the newest aerodrome in Ghana, at Mim. It is nestled in a Cashew Plantation between belts of rain forest. The area is very beautiful, surrounded by endless Cashew trees with their unique hues. Flying in to 'officially' be…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 2, 2010 at 4:30pm —
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This is a very pertinent question. Those who have seen SALT will know that Angelina Joli also uses sanitary towels for gunshot wounds - but these ones are for the more traditional use.… Continue
Added by Jonathan Porter on August 28, 2010 at 1:30am —
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Working in aviation in the more rural parts of West Africa we often come across interesting issues that are generally not thought about. One of those challenges is how young women handle the challenges of menstruation and schooling in not so easy to reach communities.
The BBC has over the past few years highlighted issues related to girls in education and their menstruation challenges.(…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on August 5, 2010 at 4:30pm —
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Do you remember training for engine failures - PFLs (Practice Forced Landings)? Well, a transit pilot flying over our territory had a real one - with smoke in the cockpit, losing oil pressure and a rough running engine that led him to choose to land on the edge of the Volta Lake, a LONG way from any nearby access roads - he was flying a C206 with a big ol' Continental 300Hp heart up front...and was lucky not to be ten minutes more into the gallery forest...…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on August 2, 2010 at 7:00pm —
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I have often been asked what is so special about flying in West Africa and, 'If I could have a cent for every time I was asked that I would be a millionaire'. Well, I may be far from a monetary millionaire (as all of those I owe money to know I am not), but I am very rich in my life and its experiences.
One of those experiences is Lydia, a young girl with a deformity caused by the lack of education and a absence of tube of antiseptic cream. When Lydia was three years old…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on July 4, 2010 at 1:30am —
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This week, 21 year old Ghanaian pilot, Patricia Mawuli Nyekodzi, who builds and maintains the Zenith aircraft for Medicine on the Move, is training ready to start flying doctors and nurses into the remote bush strips as they get approvals in Ghana.
In the picture above she sets up 9G-ZAF for finals to Kpong Airfield - we start work on the 500m strip, then work on the cross-wind runway at 300m, then we have our own 200m strip at the Rocky Farm site a couple of…
Added by Jonathan Porter on June 9, 2010 at 3:32am —
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Today is the 11th April 2010 - more than 20 years since that first infectious flight in a C150 at Sywell Aerodrome in the UK. I have flown more than 40 types, over cities, countryside, desert, lakes, sea, mountains, forests, rain forests and low level over more hostile terrain than I care to think about. But today was special.
CH701 9G-ZAF, or Alpha Foxtrot was built for the Medicine on the Move flying doctors and nurses project, and she is beautifully…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on April 11, 2010 at 10:44am —
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As we finalise the build of the MoM 701, one of the staff went to pick some parts and got a surprise...
She took hold of a lovely Royal Python... or did it take hold of her? Either way she exited the workshop and Matthew, our resident amateur Herpetologist, came in and carefully caught the snake and brought it out to the delight of the young ladies learning to build aircraft.
It disrupted build for a while - but as you can see it did provide some…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on February 12, 2010 at 2:35pm —
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On Saturday (2 May 2009) evening Bill from Techiman, a school headmaster, and I flew down to look at the Dare to Dream football stadium and the Volta Prairie rice plantation and their new runways between Aveyime and Battor along the river Volta in Ghana, West Africa. We took enough fuel for a diversion to Accra International Airport - because the weather looked a little unpredictable - however...after taking the shots we wanted we turned the plane and saw this....…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on May 3, 2009 at 2:00pm —
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This has been a great week! Our trainee girls from Ghana are really geting into building planes BIG time.
Patricia has been with us nearly 2 years, Jennifer nearly 1 year and Sandra just a couple of months - but they really are a great team.
We have taught them about general engineering, tube and cloth construction and of course the wonderful world of Aluminium (British spelling to be correct)!!! All of them are learning to fly, and we really enjoy the workshop together.…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on April 23, 2009 at 4:00pm —
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Well, January has not been good for flying. The Harmattan (when dust from the Sahara desert blows down over sub-Saharan West Africa) has been unkind. The dust in the air is so thick that you can taste it in every mouthful. Visibility below 3km for most of the month so far and only a couple of flyable days some days visibility down to hundreds of meters. Not good for operations but when you cannot see the mountain at the end of the runway.... it is best to consider that as a day when it is…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on January 29, 2009 at 4:00am —
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Operating in the Tropics we seem to have many extra challenges compared to more temperate regions - a sort of war against natures natural desire to ensure entropy wins and gravity sucks! Getting around gravity is easy, thanks to Zenith aircraft and their desire to break free from the bonds of the earth - but there are other challenges that Zenith hasn't yet thought of... Here are just some of them - and how we get around them, where possible... (perhaps you have some advice or other challenges…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on January 13, 2009 at 3:28am —
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