Flying in Papua - Cessna Caravan Landing on Mountain Strip

This video shows a landing into Sinak. A mountain strip which is pretty rough. We usually flew rice in there from time to time. As we arrived people from the village came running as can be seen at the end of the clip. People there can get pretty hungry and it has happened that violence has erupted over the rice bags. This strip can be tricky due to weather and wind. West Papua has some of the most challenging and dangerous flying on the planet. Its high mountainous terrain and unpredictable weather as well as remote strips make for very intense flying. Even the slightest off course deviation could mean smacking into a mountain. This type of flying can kill those that are not ready or comfortable with it. On bad weather days it can become very intense and demanding. My name is Ian Mathers. I am a Canadian professional pilot and C208B Caravan captain that has flown airplanes and ridden motorcycles around the world. I flew for Susi Air as a Caravan pilot in Sumatra and West Papua, Indonesia in 2007. The operations included part 135 charter, cargo and medevac. More at www.worldtrip.ca featuring thousands of pictures and videos from around the planet. You can also check out my other YouTube videos through my profile airbornebaby

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• cessna
• caravan
• flying
• aviation
• aircraft
• airplane
• airport
• strip
• papua
• indonesia
• asia
• susi
• air
• c208
• mountain
• pilot
• landin

[Peacekeeper2403]

@lilflyboy262 Needless to say I was scared out of my mind flying that last go around. I ended up flying 3 hours a flight of 1 hour 40 min doing go around alone. The sim doesn't have any ATC request for priority landings. We all fly like we have perfect conditions and infinite fuel. So if I end up with a dead engine I have fly pattern like every other AI aircraft.

[Peacekeeper2403]

@lilflyboy262 I can only imagine, I only fly Sims, hopefully one day the real thing. Even so I know my area is busy as hell too, and the sim provides an idea of the amount of chatter over the frequencies under heavy traffic conditions. I flew a 737 with half required fuel burn in flight on each wing and twice the total in middle. Traffic was so heavy in the airport near here under simulation I landed with 235 lbs of fuel left from 35,100lbs. FF in pattern was 3.2lbs/s or less then 2 mins fuel.

[lilflyboy262]

@Peacekeeper2403 Spot on. I think you can get the ones that detect any incoming transmissions, but they would be a pain in the ass in busy areas like where I am.

[Peacekeeper2403]

@lilflyboy262 Otherwise the CD player system has a built in cut off when it detects anything coming in through the active COM.

[Peacekeeper2403]

@lilflyboy262 See there we go. Great example. Using the COM 4 channel with a volume control on it for incoming transmissions. I would imagine the system works similar to that of when you use the both option on your COM stack to listen to two frequencies while maintaining communication with one of the two.

[lilflyboy262]

@Peacekeeper2403

We have a CD player in one of our Caravans, Works off of COM 4. It cuts out everytime you press the PTT button :)

[johnstumph]

@4333590 ok here is the scoop on this runway. Obsticals, None. Length 650m/2133' Width 30m/98' 10% slope with no ungulations.course gravel over clay. Poor maintenance, if any. Touch down at 6800' MSL and park at 6980' GPS position is S 03 49.33 E 137 50.47 An abort on landing is to the right just abeam the hill to the right. Takeoff 25-50 m into the take off roll. if unable to stop continue off the end. "Key Point" 7200' MSL over the ridge on final. Runway direction, 260 degrees.

[davidgeorge31]

@johnstumph Yeah yeah!!!

[Peacekeeper2403]

@Chuky13XD

I worked for a little while in an avionics sales and repair station and they do sell CD players, Changers, and DVD players for GA aircraft. Only difference is some airplanes need the audio for either music or movies to pass through the headset system so these units have interrupters for incoming radio communications from the Com 1 and Com 2 Stacks in case the pilot is hearing music and needs to communicate I'm guessing lol.

[Chuky13XD]

How cool would it be to have a stereo in these planes!