Merry christmas and happy new year !

For me, the second year in a raw in Papua for christmas and new year :)

Papua crash...

We unfortunately just had a couple weeks ago our first crash in Papua...

Two of my friends died there, both were amongst the best pilots I've met and fly with and very good friends too.

We're all going to miss Dave and Tomas deeply.

Below is me and Tomas on a Tarakan tour a few weeks ago... Farewell my friend !

Papua

I recently upgraded as Papua captain, its great flying here, real bush flying, as you can figure out from some of the pictures below...

Left : New Papua captain, been just issued my rifle...

Right : Papua, challenging mountain strips, kids carrying machetes and mud... Lots of mud !

Weird bug on the throttle lever. Probably can project acid or some nasty stuff, better not touch...

I recently bought myself a GoPro camera... Here are the results of first shots (a bit of editing on the pictures )

Left : Waiting for my schedule in Samarinda...

Right : The bull, the pilot and his ride. Data Dawai.

Still in Data Dawai.

VIP protection detail in Tarakan... Probably a Russian made Mi-17. I like !

Plane Wash :)

Malinau, Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia

So... In the last few weeks, since my last base Medan, lots of things happened : I upgraded to the left seat of the C208. I had a week conversion course to captain in Pangandaran (west Java), where our company training center is located. Now I'm beginning first flights with passengers in my new base Balikpapan (East Borneo).

Below are a few of the pictures I took last few weeks...

Left and Right : Susi Air Piaggio Avanti in Pangandaran Nusawiru airport.

Left and Right : En route Pangandaran to Jakarta...

Left : Taking off from Pangandaran "beach strip".

Right : Company restaurant in Pangandaran.

Left and Right : Aerial views in the vicinity of Pangandaran Nusawiru Airport.

Left : My days as cojo are over, now you can call me "captain" loool.

Right : PK-VVH, the VIP config C208 in Nusawiru. Like out of a comic book :)

Some extra picts from this morning ...

I'm now back where it all started, my first base as copilot and my last as well... : Medan.

Here are the result of a day of flying (never without my camera) :

"Otto" best pilot of the three ... Glass cockpit, its shiny, we like it !

She's seen better days ... PK-BVA's butt, she knows she's hot !

Night Vision Google Ops ... Early Departure ...

This blog is not dead... Well it is almost I admit. Posting is a lot of work for a lazy pilot. Sorry.

So I post here and now a few pictures just so that I can repeat myself : " this blog isn't dead".

Pictures below were taken during my last Papua tour about a month and a half ago :

Ilaga (Papua) local dudes posing for me. Sister and brother or ... ?

Refueling (Kupang, Timor) Still refueling, same place.

Another Ilaga dude...

And some picts from my last one month holidays in France (ending now, I'm taking off from Paris tomorrow afternoon):

Capitainerie St-Tropez. Balise entree port St-Tropez.

Yachts in St-Tropez... Winchs on a yacht.

Yachts in St-Tropez.

Hope you enjoy these picts, using my brand new camera and learning to use photoshop, I'm proud of some of those picts :D lol