Here’s a look at a typical day of flying in the Kodiak, as told by MAF Pilot Dave Forney in Kalimantan, Indonesia. (Adapted from Dave’s blog, http://theforneyflyer.blogspot.com/)
I started the day by flying passengers to Malinau where I added fuel and picked up another load of village passengers to Mahak Baru.
Upon arriving in Mahak Baru, I removed all eight aft seats and reconfigured the plane for cargo loading. There are about 30 to 40 loads of cargo standing by, ready to go to the nearby village of Long Sule (less than 10 minutes by air, but about 3 or 4 days hike away). Long Sule relies totally on the airplane for outside supplies.
The first load to Long Sule included four full drums of gasoline (they’ll use it for their small motorized canoes, chainsaws, etc.) and some additional odds and ends in the pod.
The second load was mostly food staples. That’s a 110 lb. sack of sugar they’re carrying from the pod.
There was also rice, noodles, eggs, cooking oil, and lots of other things. All said, approximately 1,750 lbs. of food supplies were delivered in the second load!
The third load was mostly cement and building supplies. Again, about 1,750 lbs. worth!
After reconfiguring the plane back to the passenger setup, and adding more fuel, I once again loaded up with passengers for Malinau around 2:00 in the afternoon. By this time in the day there are often large tropical thunderstorms developing, so I’m keeping an eye on the weather.
In Malinau there was a medevac patient waiting to go to Tarakan. After adding a bit more fuel, and loading up the new passengers, we were landing in Tarakan 25 minutes later where an ambulance was waiting to take the patient to the hospital.
Find out how you can help send 2 new KODIAKs to Indonesia: www.maf.org/kodiak
