August 8, 2009 - WAFRIC Conference in Nairobi

Its been a while since I had the distinct pleasure of sharing my adventures with you. Well, am back! Last month I was invited to speak at the first Women Aviators in Africa(WAFRIC) conference which was held at the Panafric hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. Just a brief introduction of WAFRIC; WAFRIC is the brain-child of Kajuju Laiboni, a Kenyan lady who is working on her fixed wing pilots license in Sweden. She was inpired to start this organization to promote aviation and its various disciplines as a viable career for women.

August 8, 2009 Attendees of the First Women Aviators in Africa conference

I will quote from www.wafric.org since I think they say it best:
"Women Aviators in Africa (“WAFRIC”) was established in 2008 and is registered as a non-profit organisation. The main purpose of the organisation is to contribute to the transformation of Aviation industry in Africa, through the empowerment of women. Our aim is to have more women pilots, engineers, technicians, instructors, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, meteorologists, aviation writers, aviation lawyers, spotters, and enthusiasts, or women starting to consider those careers."

Kajuju Laiboni, the founder of WAFRIC

As with many firsts, the WAFRIC conference theme was about women who were "first" in their aviation field. We heard inspiring speeches from Mrs. Chocho the first female Air Traffic Controller in Kenya, Puleng Cadribo a first officer at South African Airways, there was a lady speaker from the Meteorology department as well as speakers from Women aviation organizations like Amy Laboda from Women in Aviation International. There were Air Navigation Services lady Engineers from Ghana and Air Traffic Controllers from Ghana, there was a lady airport manager from California and a lady Airport Engineer and designer from the US as well. It was indeed a wonderful group of very skilled talented aviators in various fields. We did miss the presence of the first lady Aircraft Engineer from Tanzania who did not make it but was indeed able to pass her message to all of us. Mr. Seda, the Chief of Air Traffic Control Services in Kenya represented the few men in the crowd and gave a wonderful review of the ATC services systems and operations, with an encouraging word to the youth to take up the challenge and join the industry.

Puleng Cadribo from SAA speaking from the heart about her experience a First Officer. Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Speaking about my past, my journey and the importance of confidence, motivation and passion to achieve one's dream.
Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

On a personal note, I was so excited and honored that my long time friend, fellow helicopter pilot and mentor Stacy Sheard, who is now a test pilot at Sikosky Aircraft, was able to attend the conference all the way from Pennsylvania! Spending time together with her reminded me of the camaraderie I missed from our days back at Van Nuys airport. It was interesting to discover how much a support system of fellow female pilots who have been through, or are going through, similar experiences in different places can spur up once confidence. The revelation that what I have been through is not an "africa-specific", "kenya-specific", "airport-specific", "maggie-specific" experience but one that many before me have suffered, persevered and overcome successfully.

Stacy & I - Van nuys Airport, USA 2006 & Wilson Airport, Kenya 2009

I was truly inspired by the spirit of the conference, I was personally challenged and encouraged by the speakers and the attendees, especially several orphans who were aspiring to be pilots, aviation lawyers, engineers and air traffic controllers. WAFRIC sponsored them to a plane ride at the Kenya school of Flying at Wilson Airport. These less fortunate but brilliant youth were so inspired by this experience that they each gave a speech at the WAFRIC conference telling of their flight and they hope for the future. I know that somehow, with their spirit and drive to succeed, they will make it!

Some delegates with the students from the orphanage after their airplane ride at Kenya school of Flying.
Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard


All decked out for dinner - representatives from South Africa, Kenya, USA and Ghana. Photos courtesy of Stacy Sheard

The event ended on a high note with a dinner by the poolside at Panafric hotel, some attendees also took this opportunity to visit the wildlife parks and see a bit of Kenya. It was indeed a harrowing experience for some of these delegates who had never been on a pot holed highway with traffic weaving in and and out of lanes, the matatu(public transport) minibuses menace in the city- well, you have to see it to believe it! All in all, they were happy to experience something new.

This should be the new Sikosky Advert! love it!! Photos courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Mother elephant and two babies... how cute! Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

A lioness in the savannah. Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Mt. Kilimanjaro at dawn with hot air balloon floating by. Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Amboseli National Park Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Thank you so much all who attended this years conference, it was a huge success and we are looking forward to next years WAFRIC conference, due to be held in Johannesburg on 8th August 2010. You are all invited, it will be a wonderful experience - this time we hosted 50-60 delegates. Blue skies!!

The beautiful conference hall at Panafric Hotel. Photo Courtesy of Stacy Sheard

Bringing the Maersk Alabama to Port.

On Standby at the Port of Mombasa.

Over Easter weekend, I was called out for a really cool assignment. The Maersk Alabama was coming into port in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa without their captured Captain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqP8uGbxo3s

This is a clip from Associated Press, its only 10 seconds of actual footage from our helicopter. We were using FLIR camera to record the ship coming in under cover of darkness. There was a large media presence and as you can see from the footage, one of the Maersk crew members was not happy to see the media.

The media.

Thankfully, the Captain has been saved and is back with his family and it was indeed a happy ending. I am glad that the world is taking measures against these pirates, they are getting a little too bold.

Flying below Sea Level.

The Afar Triangle is located on the northern part of Africa and encompasses areas of Eritrea, Djibouti and Nothern Ethiopia. It is also referred to as the Afar Depression or Danakil Depression because this is where 3 tectonic plates meet each other. One is from the Red Sea, the other from the Gulf of Eden and the third is the Great Rift Valley. According to scientists, the plates are pulling apart at 1-2centimeters per year as a result of earthquakes therefore the triangle is sinking continually and over time it will become part of the Red Sea.

From Wikipedia

Erta Ale, the most active volcano in the Afar Depression.

This is the region where I spent most of March flying geologists for research purposes. The Afar region has been rocked by violence and cross border hostility between the Ethiopians and Eritreans. About 4 to 5 years ago, it would have been impossible to venture into these parts. There have been vehicles hijacked and about 2 years ago there was a kidnapping incident. We were no taking any chances and both the geologists and the flight crew were under strict restrictions including armed escort and Airforce oversight. Our flights were carefully monitored and restricted to specific areas as there still exists a No Fly zone about 15-20 miles on both sides of the Eritrean-Ethiopian border.

We were based in the second largest city in Ethiopia called Mekele. I found this town very charming and felt at home just walking around from day one. This city is the capital of the Tigray Region which extends westwards from the Danakil encompassing a very historic town called Axum. There are many ancient stone churches and monoliths in Axum as well as palaces and monastries dating back many centuries.





I can honestly say that out of all the flying I have done so far(which is not a lot), this was certainly the most challenging. The main reason I say that is because we were flying in two different climates on the same day, we had many critical take offs and landings in hot and dusty environments and then there were the human dynamics that came into play with every move we made. As far as the climate, we took off from 7500ft, 16C(61F)at 6am and within 45 minutes we were in the depression at 200ft below sea level 28C(85F)at 0645! By 1000 temperatures were 36C(97F)and at 1300 we were done for the day as temperatures reached 45C(113F). I can only imagine what the temperatures reached at 1500- several people said they had experienced 51C(123F) and lived to tell the tale.

"Danakil Hilton - Bring your own bed while the shade lasts.

At the end of the day, grateful to leave 45C, I pulled best climb speed and headed for 8500ft for a cool 16C again. The cruise back to Mekele was always a pleasure and the temperate climate there was very much to my liking. In Mekele, I visited the Tigray War Museum which highlights the rebellion of the 1980s against military rule and the subsequent victory and installation of the current president. I also visited the Castle of Yohannes IV, a famous King in the 16th Century.

Hamedela is one of the lowest settlements in the world at 309ft below sea level.
Recording 44C at 1054UTC (1354 local)

Hamadela Militia with his eye on the Eritrean border.

We typically made about 2-15 take offs and landings per day in this huge dust bowl. There were many approaches thrown away but it had to be that way in the interest of safety. It became easier to pick Landing Zones(LZ)as we got accustomed to the terrain. I underwent very specific training regarding dust landings on rocky ground and also on sandy ground. Once the LZ and escape route were identified, then there was the technique to make a safe landing and even more important, as my instructor always told me, "Land to take off". A safe landing might result in an unsafe take off!


The third but important element we were dealing with was the human interface. We didn't speak the language and in fact I discovered that whereas Ethiopians speak Amharic as a national language with English as a second language, the people of the Afar region speak "Afar" and are mostly of the Islamic religion. Our party included a translator and local guide who was indispensable when it came to communicating with the Afar people. The region is always ready for war especially with the on going tension with Eritrea. The men carry AK47s even as they herd their camels in the area.

Weapons' Training - Making an AK47 safe.

Thoughts going on in my head....."Just stand there and smile - he has a gun... do you know holding hands means you are officially married? should I tell him I don't know how to milk camels now or later, wouldn't want to piss him off- hey buddy, you may have the gun but I wear the pants around here!!!"

Overall, the most important things I learned, which I think are applicable to life in general as well. Situational Awareness- Always know what is going on around you and adjust to the changes... Decision Making - After assessing the situation, decide your course of action... Escape- keep your decision and go for it but always observe the situation in case of changes that might require a decision to escape(makes sense?) Finally, Enjoy!! One life to live- Enjoy!!

Because the ground is solid in the Danakil, people are buried above ground, seated, facing Mecca(Islamic religion). As you can see, my LZ is perfect but I dispute all allegations that helicopters make enough noise to wake the dead.

Jan 2009 - SUDAN

Cruising the Nile.

Happy New Year to all!! I hope that 2009 is shaping up to be as exciting a year as it is for me. I have the wonderful feeling that this is going to be a wonderful year! I guess in December 2009 we will all be able to look back and see why this year is so special.

I just completed a very exciting charter up and down the Nile River for geological survey. The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world and one of a few that flow north(I think the Amazon also flows North??) I don't have all the facts but indeed I have been quite fascinated by this great river. When I was in Uganda, I crisscrossed Lake Victoria many times and came to respect it as the source of the Nile. Now I have come to see the rest of the Nile in Southern Sudan and hope to one day see the end of this great amazing river into Egypt and then the ocean.

The geologists had coordinates that they needed to visit and my job was to land closest to these as possible. We also had a team of de-miners. These are guys who have studied and mastered the art of research, location of landmines, identifying their presence and removing them undetonated and disposing them. Southern Sudan has been rocked by wars over the years and the remnants of burnt villages and desolate pastures haunted our path up and down from Juba to Nemule the border town with Uganda.





It was a little unnerving to not only look for a suitable landing spot but first to let the land mine experts deduce if there were indeed some danger areas we couldn't land or walk though. The other concern was bandits and outlaws who might exist in the shadows of the thick foliage on the banks of the Nile. Our reconnaissance was therefore a little more involved that I learned back in flight school. I can say that I gained a great deal of knowledge on flying in hostile or potentially hostile environments, what to watch out for and also how an amateur can pick out safe LZs in a potential land mine area. For example, any inhibited area, land closest to village, if you see any game or cattle, away from roads and paths where land mines could have been buried as ambushes. It's really not a topic that I was eager to embrace but I realized that this knowledge may come in handy some day, some place.

All in all, it was great fun and quite challenging. I am certainly looking forward to a lot more bush flying this year.

Enjoy!!

Happy Holidays!

It has been a while since my last post... sorry for the silence which is partially Facebook induced as most of my friends are on there as well.

Just a look back at the year that has been and is about to end. I would say I have had the best time of my flying career ever! It is quite a short flying career, just starting but very promising. I am happy to have returned to Kenya, besides the flying, I have spent so much more time with family and friends.

It is very satisfying to say that I did it! I have achieved my dream and goals which was to become a helicopter pilot and fly in Africa. So? what next? The thing about achieving dreams and aspirations is that you have to set new goals and aspire for new dreams. In the meantime, I am revelling in this most amazing experience of my life and the dream goes on....

Stiftung Solarenergie Ethiopia

July 31st: CLINTON FOUNDATION FLIGHT


Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea were visiting one of the projects they support under the Clinton Foundation called Stiftung Solarenergie. This is an amazing project which has provided equipment and know-how to enable the use of solar power in every home in a village called Rema in Ethiopia. Also they have a school there. You can read more about this project at this link http://www.sonne-stiften.de/index.php?sessionLang=en&pageID=start_en

I was flying co-pilot for this trip in the BK117 Twin engine helicopter. But we also flew an Astar there for the security and press. Weather was our major drawback as it was stormy and visibility was quite low. I was quite glad to fly the BK with it's double sets of IFR instrumentation and autopilot.


Students from the Solar energy School in Rema Ethiopia.

Its really nice to see that some good is being done to help develop the most remote places. I was very impressed to see the how the community has benefited and the positive environmental impact of using renewable energy.

My First S&R Flight

Its been a while since I wrote, part of this is due to a very busy schedule with family and also working and flying hard. I can't complain, as a matter of fact it's so exciting to get a calls, gear up and go flying!

We got a call about 4 pm one afternoon that an aircraft had gone down about 40 miles W of Nairobi. Everett Aviation is the official Search and Rescue(S&R) helicopter service for the Civil Aviation and Accident investigation dept here in Kenya. I went with another pilot who is NVG(Night Vision Goggles) qualified as we would be returning in the night. On a night with no celestial illumination in rural areas, even a clear night is truly IFR with no horizon at all! It was important to take the precaution.

After the investigators arrived, we took off and headed in the direction of the accident. I had never been to anything like this and my mind was running amok with what to expect. Reports said that it was a Cessna 210 enroute to a town west of Nairobi pilot with 3 passengers. This is a relatively well equipped aircraft with autopilot and quite capable of dealing with weather as it is instrument flight rules rated. There was heavy speculation on what had gone wrong though none of the investigators had been on the scene yet. There were no survivors reported.

Kenya is well endowed with a rich variety of landscapes. Our country has high snow covered peaks, white sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean as well as the Great rift valley with sheer walls that drop down hundreds of feet. We were headed for one of these mighty rift valley walls called the Mau Escarpment. Nairobi sits at 5500ft and we had to climb to 10000ft to clear the escarpment! After a couple of orbits we found the wreckage on the side of a hill. Finding a suitable landing area was quite tricky in such a hilly, forested area not to mention the high altitude. I made an approach to a road on top of the hill and as soon as we landed, here came the lookie loos!

The mood was sombre, as the investigators headed down the steep slippery slope down to the wreckage... I was standing on top of this majestic hill looking down below in the distance, I could see large portions of what appeared to be the wings of the C210 stuck in between two tall eucalyptus trees(the plane passed in between them). Then I saw the house built on the hillside with a portion of its roof torn off. Then finally I saw the tail of the aircraft sticking out of the side of the hill. Indeed there were no survivors, the pilot, a very high profile Minister in Kenya government and Assistant Minister and a body guard.

As night was falling, it was getting more difficult for the investigators to do their work therefore they decided to call it a night and return the following morning. Our flight was quiet and uneventful. I couldn't hide my amazement at how cool NVGs are... you can actually see at night!! When we landed, the media were upon us especially because the passengers were very high profile government officials. There was a group of mourners outside the office wailing and demanding answers. The bitter truth was that there was nothing anyone could do, there were no answers, it was over.

I had to sleep that night because I had an early morning but it was difficult. I couldn't spend the night seeing images and thinking about what could have happened. Life had to continue, the sun would surely rise the next day whether we were there to see it or not.

A long time ago when I started flying in Rialto, I spoke to a Mercy Air EMS pilot about what its like to arrive at a "bad" scene. He told me - "you must fly the aircraft or you will become a scene too" He said that a pilot had to detach from all the hysterics of mourners, nurses, paramedics, children clinging to life, ugly accidents, badgering reporters, heroics and anything that goes through a persons brain when faced with these naturally alarming situations. I knew he was speaking from experience but at the time I couldn't understand. As he turned and walked away I could almost hear the sounds robocop makes when he walks.

Years have passed and now I am faced with a "scene". I now understand what that EMS pilot was talking about. I can also say I learned a great deal about flying and about life from this "scene". Investigations are still underway to find out what caused the accident, there are many explanations and speculations but I won't get into that. I will let you know what the findings are when they release the report.

My condolences go to the family and friends of the four on board the aircraft. May they Rest in Peace.

I LOVE MY JOB!

and away...

Getting out...

Confined area - getting in...

Sunset & heli in one shot! gotta love this job!

Photos from filming trip in Tanzania...

Photos taken by Michel Laplace Toulouse. www.africanlatitude.com

Apartheid in South Africa...again?

Its sad that all the seemingly stable countries with booming economies are turning violent this year. The strange fact about the violence in South Africa is that whereas before apartheid they were complaining about racial discrimination and oppression due to color and race, now they are fighting amongst themselves to restore the same regime... I say that because we have zulu tribe beating and killing anyone who is an outsider from another african country and wanting them to leave south Africa! Typically the class of uneducated slum dwellers who have nothing to loose has grown and can develop a volatile situation faster than the police can stop them.

Its a sad state of affairs and though it looks like its contained in small pockets of the region, it will affect the country and economy for a long time to come... we are still not back to our original economic status here in Kenya though there is no violence at all.

I hope they can stop this dangerous trend and uproot the rioters - let there be PEACE...