Flight Diary
29th December
Flight to Moorabbin, Melbourne
The flight to Melbourne was quick, with strong
tailwinds pushing ground speed up to 200 kts (230 mph) at times.
Australias drought conditions were clearly evident as winds
whipped up dust particles from parched earth into dust haze
at lower levels. It was good to arrive at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne
where the St. Kilda Road Parkview Hotel was offering support to
DWF over the New Year period (for which many thanks!).
28th December
Flight to Broken Hill via William Creek
In the morning a quick visit was made to
the Coober Pedy Hospital to meet Roland Ruff (Ruffy), the Nursing
Unit Manager. Ruffy had been forced to leave his career in Movement
Control in the Australian Army when diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes
in his 20s (there was no choice in the matter) and subsequently
changed to Nursing. It was a fascinating meeting. Ruffy had spent
16 years as a Remote Area Nurse working in outback Australia, working
often with Aborigines. While approximately 6% of Australian population
have diabetes, incidence amongst Aborigines is around 20%. The change
from hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more sedentary western lifestyle
and richer diet has taken its toll over the decades. Many thanks
indeed for the chat and also for your donation to DWF Ruffy!
Takeoff was into the
midday heat with first landing just 60 miles to the east for lunch
at William Creek, a tiny hamlet with a population of just eight!
It is an extremely remote spot with the hamlet centering on a tin-roofed
hotel that sits beside a dirt runway. On opening the aircraft door,
the flies were utterly appalling zillions of them, and pretty
aggressive at that. Ty found them intolerable and swatted frantically
as he made a desperate dash for the hotel.
The William Creek
Hotel has a fascinating and entertaining interior. The walls are
covered with message-adorned shirts plus hundreds of student matriculation
and ID cards donated after many a boozy night by travelers.
It was an enjoyable snack lunch chatting with John Sheedy, the hotel
leaseholder, plus a couple of English tourists. It seemed only too
soon to brave the flies outside and head for Broken Hill. Once again
the flies were numerous and extremely aggressive, with Ty finding
the experience particularly disturbing!
The flight to Broken Hill was clear and
sunny, and en-route DWF enjoyed flying over Flinders Ranges and
Lake Frome and low-flying over Lake Eyre and some picturesque creeks
and scrub-covered hills to the north of Broken Hill. Fortunately
Broken Hill, a prominent silver, lead and zinc mining township of
21,000, had distinctly fewer flies! It was a welcome stop, being
well looked after by Netty Batt at The Grand Guesthouse.
27th December
Flight to Coober Pedy
Ty had been suffering a stomach bug and a
day of rest on 26th was welcome. Douglas made a quick climb of Ayers
Rock early on 27th, enjoying clear views of well over 100 km from
the summit. The path up Ayres Rock is steep in parts with a metal
chain to hang on to in order to avoid a couple of perilous drops
over the side!
It was a sunny and hot day, and after takeoff
a brief detour was made north to Kings Canyon and over valley floors
of Middle Range and the Peterman Hills (foothills of
the MacDonnell Ranges) before turning southeast towards Coober Pedy.
Some Dust Devils were spotted en-route. These occur
when intense thermal heating scoops up air, sand and dust in a twisting
motion,
looking uncannily like small tornadoes. At one stage three could
be seen in a line, each about a kilometer apart, with twisting dust
rising at least 1,000 feet into the air. Needless to say, these
were avoided.
Coober Pedy is a township of 3,500, supplying
70% of the world opals, and from the air hundreds of small pyramidal
spoil heaps could be seen around the town. It is a fascinating place
to visit and intensely hot in the Australian summer. Many homes
and motels use old mine excavations to provide cool underground
rooms as a relief from the intense summer heat.
25th December
Flight to Ayres Rock
Christmas morning was most enjoyable with
Kevin and Sandra plus Melinda and Ty (Santas socks were much
appreciated thanks!).
In Australia, given large distances over
uninhabited desert regions, a VFR flight plan focuses on a SARTIME
- a Search and Rescue Time. If Flightwatch or CENSAR
does not receive cancellation of SARTIME within five minutes of
the allotted time, telephone calls are made and a search party launched
if no contact made. Todays flight was 900 miles to Ayres Rock
over central Australias desert regions the Red
Centre. Takeoff was into blue sky and excellent visibility
but soon clouds began to build, eventually forcing DWF up to 9,500
feet before descending through a gap to retain ground visibility.
Some heavy rain showers were encountered over the Great Victoria
Desert, substantially reducing visibility on occasions before clearing
again 200 miles from Ayres Rock. Wide areas of snaking sand dunes,
some stabilized by sparse vegetation, could be seen stretching into
the distance. Occasionally an outback ranch could be
seen, a few having a dirt runway beside the homestead. After nearly
six hours, DWF joined The Rock sightseeing route at
4,500 feet around the Olgas and Ayres Rock stunning. Ayres
Rock is a massive red sandstone monolith rising 1,000 feet above
the desert landscape and appears on the front of many tourist
brochures for Australia. The Rock has Aboriginal spiritual
significance and glows fiery red at sunrise and sunset.
22nd 25th December
Perth
It was a real pleasure to stay with Kevin
and Sandra, friends from Edinburgh University. On 23rd Air BP very
kindly sponsored fuel and Douglas met with Claude Meunier who runs
www.earthrounders.com
a website that chronicles past, ongoing and future round-the-world
flights in light piston engine aircraft. Claude was a wealth of
information and enthusiasm, and also a
pleasure to meet.
22nd December
Flight from Shark Bay to Jandakot, Perth,
Early in the morning at Monkey Mia
Resort, two female dolphins, each with a year-old baby dolphin,
came into shallow water outside the Monkey Mia Resort and swam around
quietly, patiently waiting to be fed. It takes a long time for the
Resort staff to train the dolphins for feeding, taking care to maintain
a balance of hand feeding and surviving in the wild. The staff gave
a fascinating commentary on the dolphins. There was an estimated
local population of 600 dolphins of which 70% showed signs of being
attacked by sharks.
Take-off for Perth was at midday and the
first 20 minutes were spent at low-level heading south over Shark
Bay. Another shark was spotted in such a shallow area that its tail
whipped up sand while scurrying off to deeper water. The coastline
was followed southwards for the rest of the 400-mile journey. There
was a cool southwesterly onshore breeze blowing for the first 200
miles after which the temperature dramatically shot up from 26 degrees
C to 40 degrees. The hot air was a strong offshore wind sourced
over inland desert areas, and where this wind met the cool onshore
breeze just off the coastline, severe clear-air turbulence was experienced.
Some experimenting with this phenomenon was carried out, and at
one stage, a change of just 300 feet altitude resulted in a 10-degree
temperature change - quite amazing. The offshore breeze had also
whipped up dust particles into the lower atmosphere and the resultant
dust haze reduced forward visibility quite substantially
from time to time. Visibility improved towards Perth, however, where
a visual corridor was followed along the shoreline to
Freemantle before turning east to land at Jandakot Airport.
21st December
Flight to Shark Bay, Sharks, Dolphins
and Manta Rays
Australia is known for tremendous coral reefs
and fish-life and the flight to Shark Bay certainly unveiled some
incredible sights. Prior to takeoff, Air BP very kindly sponsored
fuel at Port Hedland, for which many thanks indeed! It was refreshing
to be flying VFR (visual flight rules) again, this time at low-level
for 500 miles along the coastline to Carnarvon to refuel and then
on to Shark Bay. West of Port Hedland, DWF passed over mangroves
and endless miles of unspoiled (and rarely visited) beaches, one
of which had some kangaroos sitting quietly. (One felt quite sorry
for them
given Australias current drought conditions it was
difficult to see how they could survive.) Just north of Carnarvon,
DWF flew low over Lake MacLeod, a large salt-pan which can only
be described as extremely inhospitable land. After refueling at
Carnarvon, it was a short 60-mile flight to Shark Bay where DWF
flew along the beaches near Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. The water
was crystal clear and in shallow sections, two Tiger sharks, several
dolphins and schools of Manta Rays were spotted. One shark was particularly
large and being within the vicinity of the Resort itself, it was
an easy resolution to swim close to the shore that afternoon. (According
to the Airport Bus driver, food supply is plentiful for the sharks,
including old or ill dugongs and dolphins, and nobody had ever been
attacked in the resorts 30-year history.)
20th December
Flight to Port Hedland, Australia
It was extremely hot and humid prior to takeoff
at Denpasar Bali
International Airport for the 725 nautical mile straight-line flight
over water to Port Hedland, Australia. Long-range HF radio communication
was required given the long distances from land but prevailing atmospheric
conditions only allowed successful communication a handful of times
(HF communication relies on radio waves bouncing off the atmosphere
and conditions can sometimes result in weak or unsuccessful signal-carry).
Fortunately, Malaysian Airlines Flight 133 relayed a position report
half way across. On cutting engines on arrival at Port Hedland the
Quarantine officer handed a can of insecticide spray through the
pilots side-window and instructed DWF crew to spray inside
before opening the doors. Customs arrival formalities were efficient
and immediately after a visit was made to see Keith at Golden Eagle
Airlines who had earlier advised on Australian
visual chart requirements - many thanks for your advice Keith, and
for taking custody of visual charts prior to arrival.
Diabetes in Indonesia Some sobering statistics
In some countries people can find it difficult
to afford diabetes
medication. Indonesia is one of these. Some sobering statistics
were gleaned from a fascinating meeting with Dr. Dwi Sutenagara,
the President of the Indonesian Diabetes Association, at Salang
Hospital on 18th December.
Total population in Indonesia stands at 220 million
and somewhere between 6 million and 10 million have diabetes. To
help these millions who are spread over hundreds of islands, there
are only 50 Diabetologists and 1,000 Diabetes Educators. There is
no government healthcare system and many find it difficult to afford
diabetes medication, particularly insulin, and hypertensive medication
for those with Type 2 Diabetes plus high blood pressure. The Indonesian
minimum monthly wage is 300,000 Rupiah (approx. US$35) and monthly
insulin costs total 100,000 while a blood testing meter alone costs
1 million RP. If medication costs are a problem, families will try
to help out, but with costs up to one third of a households
income, this can be seriously limiting. Many doctors surgeries
donate medicine but people cannot rely on this.
Blood testing for many is just too expensive.
These people rely on visiting a clinic or surgery twice a month
for blood tests. Such frequency for those with Type 1 Diabetes is
a fraction of the broadly recommended four tests per day, and this
has an impact on blood sugar control and consequently long-term
health implications.
15th - 20th December
Bali
On arrival, part of Kuta Beach area was amazingly
busy with locals attending an Indonesian pop concert. However, over
the next few days, the aftermath of the appalling bomb blast was
only too evident. Tourist numbers were less than 15% of normal levels,
as many as 50% of local hotel employees had been laid off, some
smaller hotels were closed, restaurants were empty, and in the evenings,
several (normally) popular bar and nightclub areas were deserted.
Many companies are going out of business, and some beach vendors
were quite desperate, selling goods at a fraction of normal prices
just to gain enough cash for living expenses.
DWF was staying in thatched bungalows at the Legian
Beach Hotel, set in beautiful tropical gardens beside the beach.
Overall the atmosphere was subdued at less than 20% occupancy. However,
on talking with a number of people, tourist numbers to Bali were
increasing again. Holland had rescinded its travel advisory against
Bali in November while Germany had recently withdrawn its own advisory.
Notably, many flights from Asian
cities over the New Year holiday season were fully booked. Hopefully
Bali, a stunning tropical island, will recover before long.
The next three weeks will
be spent flying into and around Australia. It may be difficult to
gain access to the internet for the first few days - more news will
follow as soon as possible!
15th December
Flight to Bali
On arrival at Jakarta Halim Airport in the
morning, interviews with Kompass (newspaper) and Angkasa aviation
magazine were conducted in the VIP lounge. On explaining the USA
regulatory blood testing requirements, Donna and D. N. Yusuf, of
Angkasa keenly requested a blood test of their own out of interest.
It was good to find the results showed 4.0 and 4.8 mml/l respectively
- normal readings. Dudi Sudibo, Chief Editor of Angkasa and senior
editor of Kompass, proved to be a well traveled aviation journalist
(and enthusiast). Many thanks go to Chepy Nasution for arranging
these interviews. It was a pleasure to meet Chepy, a local flyer
and part of a well-connected brotherhood of Asian-based
flying enthusiasts.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in
the world with over 200 million inhabitants, and after take-off,
the island of Java below displayed dozens of tightly packed towns
and villages surrounded by flooded rice paddies. Off to the south,
volcano complex summits as high as 11,000 feet occasionally peeked
through thunderclouds. DWFs flight-path deviated around only
a few mushrooming thunderclouds, and at one stage it was
tremendous fun to wheel by a towering cumulus cloud, literally close
enough to dip the left wingtip in (and pleasure at the fact that
it no damage would be done!).
Over Bali a huge thunderstorm covered the islands
central volcanoes but DWF was able to skirt along the southwest
coastline for a visual approach into Denpasar Bali International
Airport. Prior to turning west for landing, the flight-path passed
by Kuta, the scene of the tragic bomb blast of October 12th.
Four days are anticipated in Bali during
which meetings with the Indonesian Diabetes Association are to be
arranged. More news to follow...
14th December
Flight to Jakarta
It was a frustrating start. An extremely
unfortunate misunderstanding with Air Traffic Control (ATC) led
to an hours delay in negotiating a spiral climb over Seletar
to 11,000 feet and tracking immediately south in order to avoid
flying over Malaysia. It subsequently transpired that a Malaysian
clearance was not required at all! A flight plan was
duly filed for a normal exit via al Malaysian navigation beacon
to the east, and route clearance was promptly given for this after
starting engines. When takeoff clearance was given on the runway,
however, instructions were suddenly amended to make a spiral climb
overhead to 5,000 feet! Thus ensued a most enjoyable few minutes
of busy flying, entering cloud at 2,000 feet and having to use the
GPS moving map display in order to remain within Seletars
tight airspace (avoiding airspace of two military air bases nearby).
It was appreciated that ATC had accommodated original negotiations
even though it had not been necessary.
The next three hours to Jakarta continued to be
most enjoyable. By late morning some huge thunderclouds had built
up en-route and the aircrafts weather radar was used to avoid
some embedded storms. It was impossible, however, to avoid a number
of turbulent clouds with heavy rain. One such rain-shower was so
intense that it stripped off part of the Diabetes World Flight
decal on the right side of the aircrafts nose.
Some noticeable haze over Jakarta, Indonesias
capital city, reduced visibility to around 5,000 meters but with
the help of the GPS moving map display and radar vectors to downwind
Runway 06, a visual approach was made. Jakarta Halim International
Airport is a quiet and pleasant airfield and has an extensive variety
of interesting old aircraft parked around the airfield. PT Suba
Air Perdana did an excellent job of ground handling - many thanks
Mr. Suganda.
Many thanks also go to Air BP who sponsored
fuel at Seletar, Singapore very much appreciated!
10th -14th December
Singapore
There have been a couple of coincidences
while carrying out DWF, but Singapore was really quite incredible.
A press conference on 11th December had been arranged
to launch Accu-Chek Compact blood testing meters which have been
used by Douglas with Roche Diagnostics support since the US.
It was a pleasure to participate in this launch given Accu-Chek
Compact meters ease of use with their revolutionary
self-contained test strips plus fast and reliable results. Three
panelists were to speak; Dr. Kevin Tan, Honorary Secretary of the
Diabetes Association of Singapore, Christopher Parker, Marketing
Director of Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, and Douglas.
Edelman, the Public Relations consultant for Roche Diagnostics,
had arranged the press conference. The incredible coincidence is
that the Edelman Director, Marketing and Healthcare Southeast
Asia, based in Singapore and advising Roche Diagnostics, is Douglas
ex-wife, Christine Jones. It was difficult not to pinch oneself
at the whole situation as Christine introduced the three speakers
on 11th December. As agreed, it really was quite weird
to meet up for the first time in nine years in this setting. It
was also extremely good to meet up with Christine after the conference.
It really is a small world!
Much was learned about Diabetes in Singapore during
the press conference. Over 11% of Singapores population of
4 million have diabetes, yet only 20% of those diagnosed carry out
regular blood testing for blood sugar control. This is an extremely
alarming situation and results in a large proportion classified
as having poor control. Part of the reluctance to test
is the issue of cost, with Singapores healthcare and insurance
companies not
covering medication or blood testing equipment (unlike the UK where
medication and test strips are free, and the US where insurance
policies may cover the cost). It was good to be able to publicize
this situation and try to promote greater use of blood test meters.
Poor blood sugar control can lead to expensive and tragic health
complications later in life - it is so worth investing
in ones future by testing blood sugars regularly and frequently.
For the visit to Singapore, many thanks go to
Christine, Cheryl and Ray of Edelman in helping co-ordinate arrival
in Singapore (thanks also to Mr. Yong Kok Hwee of the Civil Aviation
Authority of Singapore). Many thanks also go to Christopher, Lilian
and Sebastian of Roche Diagnostics for their valued support while
in Singapore and donations to DWFs fund raising - very much
appreciated.
Overall the three days in Singapore were an enjoyable
blur of activity. Onward flight organization was carried out and
several friends and ex-business colleagues were met (thanks for
lunch, David, and also Kelvin and Suzanne for dinner!). It was also
very good to meet up with Lisa and Mike Frost. Lisa has done a great
job in designing and managing this DWF website (via www.koolfish.com)
for which many thanks!
Finally on 13th December a presentation
to the Diabetes Association of Singapore (DSS) was made, a most
enjoyable two hours of discussion and questions. Dr. Tan Hwee Huan,
the President of the DSS, was present, plus Michael Toffs, a Singapore
Airlines Boeing 777 pilot who had just lost his flying career after
being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in July. (At this time there
is no possibility of flying in Singapore with Type 1 Diabetes,
even for private flying). DWF very much looks forward to remaining
in touch with members of the DSS and meeting up again in 2003.
10th December
Flight from Phuket to Singapore
This was a tremendous flight over beautiful
tropical islands and vast Malaysian rubber plantations. On takeoff,
limestone cliffs could be seen rising 1,000 feet out of the water
to the east of Phuket (one of which was used in the Bond movie "The
Man with the Golden Gun"). After turning south, DWF passed
by the resort-island of Koh Pii Pii (which was also used for filming,
this time for "The Beach" in 1999) and then crossed the
island of Koh Tarutao, a national park with stunning tree-covered
mountains. (Koh Tarutao was also renowned as an open WWII prison
run by the Japanese, whose inmates, short of food, took up piracy
in order to survive.) Once over the Malaysian border, DWF crossed
Langkawi and Penang Islands before heading inland direct to Singapore.
By mid afternoon large thunderclouds had built up over the mainland
resulting in a few course deviations to avoid dangerous turbulence.
In between the clouds, and from 11,000 feet, huge areas of rubber
tree plantations could be seen (Malaysia is the world's largest
producer of rubber resin).
Approaching Singapore, Air Traffic Control gave
vectors through broken clouds towards Seletar, an ex-military base
on the north side of the island. Singapore has four airfields in
close proximity to each other, and with one military airfield with
similar runway orientation just three miles from Seletar, some navigational
care is required in poor visibility or nighttime. However visibility
was good below cloud level, and on base-leg for Runway 03 it was
possible to drink in the views of Singapore's Business District
skyline - stunning!
Seletar is used specifically for private
aircraft, and has customs and immigration offices available as you
enter the terminal building. Arrival formalities therefore only
took 20 minutes - if only all airports could be this efficient!!
8th December
Flight from Bangphra to Phuket
While preparing the aircraft for
the flight to Phuket, interviews were held with Channel 11 tv -many
thanks indeed go to Karuna for co-ordinating this coverage. After
takeoff a quick pass was made over the airfield after which clear
and smooth conditions prevailed for the first hour. Approaching
Surat Thani, however, huge thunderclouds loomed ahead with towering
cumulus clouds in between resulting in some sporting turbulence.
On turning right overhead Surat Thani Airport towards Phuket, it
was quite amazing (and welcome) to see that the flight path squeezed
in between some of the threatening thunderclouds.
Phuket Island itself was basking in sunshine
where a visual approach was made into the airport. DWF was staying
at the new JW Marriott Hotel which is located on a stunning and
tranquil 17 km beach near the airport. Many thanks again go to Bill
Heinecke and Marriott for supporting DWF while in Thailand.
Two weeks in Thailand
.23 November - 8th
December
Thailand was a meaningful stop, being home
base for Douglas since 1996, and where the initial idea for DWF
was first sown two and a half years ago. The two-week stop also
gave Ty a welcome opportunity to fly back to Florida and see Maria
who had been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes while DWF was in Malta.
Much onward planning and organization were carried
out and it was great to catch up with friends and old business colleagues.
One day was spent at the Bangkok General Hospital carrying out medical
examinations to renew both US and Australian flying medical certificates.
Dr. Sutuspun Kajornboon (Dr. Kay) as ever was very helpful. For
a person with Type 1 Diabetes to renew flying medical certificates,
extra medical reports must be obtained every three months, including
blood tests to measure average three-month sugar control (HbA1c),
cholesterol, kidney and liver functions etc., Good control of diabetes
and absence of end-organ damage must be demonstrated.
It was particularly encouraging to find the HbA1c
reading on 26th November was 5.7%, within the range of a normal
person without diabetes (4.3% - 5.8%). (Target control for people
with diabetes is 6.5% or 7.0%, depending on local guidelines.) In
addition, no end-organ complications were found. Over the past two
months of DWF flying, the combination of regular exercise, measured
dietary intake, and importantly, frequent blood testing had contributed
to the result. (Overall it is extremely important to strive for
good control as this can significantly reduce the risk of life-threatening
health complications later in life.)
At Bangphra Airfield, a "100-hour check"
was carried out on N30TB, the DWF aircraft. After completion, a
test flight was made with Tom Claytor acting as safety pilot. It
was very good to fly with Tom who had helped inspire the original
idea for DWF and who has subsequently been a tremendous advisor.
It was also immense fun to be flying in one's own twin-engine plane
around the local area with its rolling hills plus Sri Racha and
Chon Buri Flying Club airfields to fly by.
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