The last leg over to 
Australia was the shortest of all our sectors
crossing the Pacific. As I mentioned earlier our plan was to fly from Majuro
and all the way to Cairns, but this didn’t work out because of our technical
delay and the weather forcing us to divert. In the end we were happy with this.
We had already had two 14 hour days and I didn’t mind at all to end the whole
ferry flight with a shorter leg. With the forecasted winds it would only take
us 6.5 hours to reach Cairns and there was no weather along our route. We wanted
to arrive early, as we would have to do custom and immigration there before flying
the planes the short 15 minute leg over to Mareeba where they will all be
inspected and prepared for Papua New Guinea. We got up at the same time as the
other days and arrived at the airport around 5:00am. When doing my preflight
and setting up my gear I realized I had left my iPad in the hotel room! Annoyed
with myself I ran over to the terminal and there was trusty old taxi driver
James, ready to step on it to get me to the hotel and back. James delivered and
I was back at the airport at 6:00am again. Fortunately it was a short flight
this day and this small delay wouldn’t hurt us much. But still annoying. This is why we carry a spare iPad. If I only had one of them and would have lost it I would have had no charts.
As Australian authorities require all inbound international
aircraft to be fumigated I sprayed the cabin and cockpit before startup.
Luckily it was not the standard can of Doom that we use in Uganda, but a more
pleasant-smelling type of bug-killing spray. They say it is harmless to humans,
but it does kill bugs. I departed runway 24 from Honiara and climbed up along
the hills on the east side before crossing over the island to intercept the
airway to Cairns. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed the beautiful forests
passing under me before leaving the white beaches of Guadalcanal behind and intercepting
the airway to Cairns. Below is the Lunga River where the battle of Tenaru took place.
We were soon handed over to Brisbane center again. I
leveled off at FL 120 and didn’t hit a cloud all the way to Cairns. Halfway I
spotted the first ship on the whole ferry flight, a big tanker headed in the
direction of Sydney. I had been looking for ships along the whole way since
leaving California but hadn’t seen a single one until now, so that was fun.
Before starting my descent I had to fumigate the cabin with
another type of insecticide spray. I sprayed every crack and cavity with the nicely scented poison so not a
single Micronesian, Melanisian or Polynesian bug would make it alive onto
Australian soil.
I got in touch with Brisbane Control on VHF a surprisingly
180nm off the coast and soon after I was under radar control. Passing over the
Great Barrier Reef I was radar vectored onto the ILS of RWY 15 and touched down
on Cairns International Airport 12:10 local time.
Two of my MAF colleagues in Australia, Simon and Peter,
marshalled me in to a parking bay where the airplane was inspected by the
immigration authorities. I was not to open the doors until I had shown my spray
bottles. I was then given the thumbs up and could jump out of the plane. I had safely completed my first single-engine solo-crossing over the Pacific Ocean. Quite a
feeling!
So far we had had no paper issues or bureaucratic challenges
at any of our stops on the way. But to my surprise, I found Australia to be rather bureaucratic.
Don’t get me wrong, every airport official was very kind, helpful and
professional, but I was surprised by the extra paperwork and the strict
security. Fumigation certificate, impending arrival report, actual arrival
report etc are documents I have never heard of. That being said, they were very
helpful and flexible when we were lacking some documents and helped us produce
them on the spot. I did find it rather comical to have to fill out a fumigation
certificate, then hand it to the customs official just to be told that he just
had to see that I have one and then returned it back to me. Returning to our
aircraft again we had to go through a security screening stricter than the one
in Tel Aviv, which took us another 20 minutes. Anyway, everyone was very kind
and professional and we had plenty of time. “No worries, mate”. Australians are
sweet and helpful people.
Out at our aircraft again, Simon and Peter gave us a
briefing on how to depart VFR for the short flight over to Mareeba where the
MAF maintenance and training facilities are located. I departed RWY 15 again
and made a right turn around the little hill next to the runway and climbed up
Stoney Creek before being released from Cairns departure and over to the
Mareeba CTAF frequency. At 14:30 local time I landed in Mareeba, where the MAF
team were welcoming us and celebrating the arrival of two more caravans for the
Papua New Guinea program. Our ferry flight had come to an end with no major
issues along the way.
It definitely
could have been an easier flight as we got our share of bad weather and strong
winds to battle with. However, these challenges also made the flight very
interesting. Crossing half the continental US and the whole Pacific in February
solo in a non-pressurized single engine aircraft can be a demanding task, and I
got to put into practice everything I have learned from my Private Pilot
License to my Airline Pilot License and every little bit of experience I have
gained throughout my years as a pilot. Before the flight I was wondering how I
would cope with sitting so long in the cockpit, and if I would be bored at any
point, but there was always some task to do like transferring fuel, report
position to ATC, get weather updates from our flight followers, calculate the
ever changing point of no return, record the engine instruments, deviate around
weather etc. I was not bored a single moment. Getting up early to depart before sunrise, battling weather in
instrument conditions for hours, and then landing at night 15 hours later is
definitely fatiguing and we noticed that after arriving at the hotels. Having
that one day in between every long day was therefore absolutely necessary. I was blessed with good night’s sleep at every stop and felt rested and ready for every sector.
I am so glad I
got the opportunity to do this flight. Delivering another aircraft to our
program in Papua New Guinea was a true privilege and the whole ferry flight
operation had a bigger purpose than just delivering an aircraft, namely to see
the isolated people of Papua New Guinea transformed physically and spiritually
in Christ’s name.
When MAF bought these Caravans last year, Nadia
immediately said to me “Eivind, you have a US license and should ask if you can
fly one of them over. It would be such an amazing opportunity and experience”. So I put my name in the basket and when it all came together, my
mother-in-law Anneli came down from Israel to be with Nadia, who is 20 weeks pregnant
with our third child, and our two girls the time I was away. Thank you so much
Nadia and Anneli for supporting me and making it possible for me to take part
in this.
Flight summary:
Total flight time from Wichita to Mareeba: 57
hours.
Total distance: 7,437nm / 13,773km.
Flying for Christ 