I flew in a surgeon and his assistant along with some of their supplies. This flight was one of the most challenging that I have ever made considering my unfamiliarity with the terrain, geography, language and procedures. There were mountain peaks up around the 8,700ft level along our route and the minimum IFR altitude was around 14,000ft, too high for us so we went around the peaks VFR. Even if we wanted to go IFR, it would not really have been possible due to the lack of proper air traffic control infrastructure in Haiti. 4 of us took off around the same time and we all passed near to Port-au-Prince. I checked in with Port-au-Prince as required. After I got a response, I asked her a simple question. My question in addition to our 4 aircraft totally overwhelmed the controller... she decided to deal with it by simply ignoring all of my future calls to her. I decided on future flights to monitor the frequency but not bother to call in unless I really had to.
So... on this flight and most others I ended up several thousand feet high less than 10 miles out. here is a great picture of GKNT's panel in one of the descents. Note the 1,800ft/min descent just below red-line on the airspeed indicator just coming through 7,000ft on my way down to 400ft. (Yes, the air was smooth and yes, I took my time slowing the engine down from cruise power). I still needed a 360 before joining downwind to make it to circuit altitude.
Back on the ground in Jacmel...
Jochen, Jordan and Tomo had raise donations to fund their trip and wanted to get to the hospital to get some pictures for their donors. Unfortunately, they needed to get back to the US and due to our delays (i.e. more bureaucracy) leaving Santiago, they did not have enough time. I offered to go and get some pictures for them
Here I am with some of the Medical crew on the way to the hospital hanging on in the back of an open truck...I definitely had one of those "What the H*ll am I doing here?" moments.
Here are some pictures of the hospital.
I was told that on the previous day, one of the surgeons did an emergency appendectomy minutes after arriving.
It took me almost 5 minutes to get the engine started on the ground in Jacmel. I had to flood it again to get it going. It's hard enough when nobody's watching but when the "tower" is right beside you and you have 2 passenger and it is 30C+ outside (and much hotter in the plane) AND you are in the middle of nowhere far from home...it's a REAL challenge.
On my return trip I carried a nurse and another aid who needed to catch a flight out of Santiago that evening. Back in Santiago, I hooked up with Go Ministries who are based there and have been working in Haiti for the past 10 years. Only recently, they have started using airplanes to move supplies. The nurse that I flew back told me that it took them almost 14 hours by road to get into Jacmel from Santiago (vs. just over an hour in GKNT).
Go Ministries "warehouse"
Go Ministries was extremely organized and had small apartments and dorms for their missionaries. They feed me and put me up in one of their dorms (THANKS!). That night, I was the only one there, although there is a room for 24... unfortunately that meant, I fed all of the mosquitoes as well.
While the dorm was greatly appreciated it was not on the quietest street. The day ended as it started...another night without enough sleep.
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