The
main ramp at Tbisili. It looks nice and warm now, but wait until
the cold November winds arrive!! Note the symbolic
"dinosaur" peeking over the top of the terminal building! (Actually that
is the "new" control tower- and they get better!)
Our days generally start at sunrise (in other words, we see the
sunrise at the airport!). There have been some real beauties during
this past week. After there were reports of local soldiers becoming
ill due to Plutonium buried at a local military facility, we began to wonder
if the sunrises were so colorful because. . . . . .
Our King Air 200 has been equipped with a cargo pod on the
belly of the aircraft (which only knocks about 5 knots off the cruise speed,
so we typically get speeds around 460 kilometers per hour true depending
on the altitude). We also have the Raisebek "Strakes" under the tail,
so the yaw damper does not have to be on until 25,000 feet instead of 17,000.
(Which means that if the yaw damper fails you don't have to limit your
altitude. No one is shooting at us here in Georgia, but in Angola
17,000 feet was MUCH too low for safety from Stinger missiles.) Thirteen
seats, dual air conditioning, high float (bigger than stock) main and nose
tires help with the potholes in the runways and taxiways, and 1,700 horsepower
make this airplane really launch! We have equipped the aircraft with
two Garmin 155 IFR certified satellite receivers and a King 950 HF radio
(great for listening to BBC news at 9:00 in the morning). This airplane
has almost 12,000 flight hours on it, but has been so well maintained that
it really looks almost like new! Both Pratt and Whitney PT6-41
engines are 500 hours out of a complete overhaul, and they run cool and
STRONG!
Parts room.
Passenger waiting area.
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