Photo Journal: MAF Tarakan

The MAF hangar and admin. building at Tarakan airport, E. Kalimantan, Indonesia

Three and a half weeks ago, we arrived in Tarakan, Indonesia, a small island off the east coast of Borneo.  Kota Tarakan (the City of Tarakan), with a population of approximately 290,0000, is the largest city for over 300 miles.  It is well-equipped with a large seaport, hospitals, schools, and an airport with scheduled airline service, making it a good location for MAF to base their operation serving the isolated people of northern Borneo.  Over the past few weeks we've been enjoying the challenge of adapting to life in Tarakan.  Day to day life here is obviously a far cry from what we know in Spokane.  Nothing comes easily and everything from how you flush the toilet to which side of the street you drive on is different or completely opposite from what we're used to.  We're thankful for the few Indonesian words and phrases we do know (and we're inevitably adding to that precious vocabulary), but language is obviously a huge barrier.  That said, it's been an adventure and a whole lot of fun.

Jodie has already posted some about her life here in Tarakan, so I figured I'd throw in a few pictures of what I've been up to out at the hangar, and beyond, over the past few weeks.

My trusty steed has faithfully transported me to and from the hangar without incident.  It's proven to be quite nimble and adept at zipping between the trucks, taxis, bicycles, pedestrians and swarms of other scooters that haphazardly clutter the narrow streets of Tarakan.  There don't seem to be any real rules of the road around here.  People do tend to stick to the left side of the road, as long as it's convenient, but right-of-way rules?  That sounds complicated.  Who has time for that?  Just swim with the fishies.  For all you mother-types who may be reading this, don't worry, Jodie and Connor don't ride the Hawg with me.  MAF has graciously provided an air-conditioned Toyota for our family transportation needs which is probably much safer, if significantly clumsier in traffic.

Coincidentally, our time in Indonesia has fallen precisely over the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  We arrived shortly before it began, and we will leave just a couple days after it ends.  Indonesia is the fourth largest country by population and the largest Islamic country by population.  Throughout the day and night, their chanting prayers can be heard blaring through a loudspeaker at a mosque near you.  What a sad reality to live in, to think that you have to do so much, to live so right and pray so perfectly for God to hear your prayers.  Their incessant prayers serve as a continual reminder that we, as the Church, have our work cut out for us to be busy about our Father's business until our Lord's return.

Departing Tarakan's runway 24 for a day of serving the people of the Borneo interior.

As in any tropical environment, weather is always a big factor and must be continually dealt with and evaluated throughout the day.  Convective activity can develop quickly, commanding a healthy respect from the pilot.  Airplanes don't tend to fare too well in thunderstorms.

First stop: Long Nawang

We dropped off a plane load of supplies and teachers for an AWANA training event in Long Bawang.  Much of MAF's flying in Borneo is in support of the local church's training and evangelistic efforts.  None of this kind of activity would be possible without MAF's operations in this region.

Every good flight department is backed by a talented, efficient and professional maintenance department, and MAF-Tarakan is no exception.  I've had the opportunity over the past few weeks to work alongside these guys.  It's been great to jump in and be a part of maintaining an aircraft in the kind of operating environment the Kodiak was designed for.  The Kodiak pictured above, PK-MEB ("Bravo") is the highest time Kodiak in the world, with nearly 2,500 flight hours accrued in the last three years.  That's approximately 70 hours a month of actual airborne time, plying the skies above remote jungle airstrips in the Borneo interior serving people, showing compassion, and building Christ's church.  

"Bravo" is undergoing a phase inspection.  In this picture you can see that the right exhaust stack has been removed, allowing access through the exhaust duct to the back side of the power turbine.  This allows us to perform a borescope inspection of the back side of the engine, the aircraft equivalent to a colonoscopy.  Kinda nice that doctors don't insist on subjecting us to these sorts of procedures every 200 operational hours.  It's rough being an airplane.

The crew door windows on "Bravo" were in need of replacement, so we brought a couple of new windows with us from the States, along with the router (pictured) needed to remove the old windows.

The righthand crew door mounted in place with the new window freshly installed.

This is a quick glance at some of what I've been up to over the past few weeks here in Tarakan.  More to come...