Subscribe Past Issues Tra Rominger.info - May 2018 No Pictures? Click here Providing Disaster Response - Passing the CPL Test - Hosting Friends Dreams Come True In a Nutshell Disaster Response: Andrea travels in March to Papua New Guinea after the devastating earthquake. She coordinates flying humanitarian aid as part of the MAF disaster response team. Pilot Training: End of March, Joël successfully landed his commercial pilot licence and thereby finished the first chapter of his training. // Until the end of June, he will complete his instrument rating and then specific field preparation courses will follow until mid-september. Friends: A befriended Swiss couple inserted a few days stopover in Mareeba during their world tour. // BBQs and gameplay evenings bring life into our unit. Andrea was able to come along a relief flight with her camera in Papua New Guinea. This snapshot made it to the front page of MAF Canada's "Flying for life" magazine, the MAF news magazine. Andrea: "He who seeks shall find" The search for a suited task for Andrea created itself more difficult than expected in the beginning. Thank God, this year a few doors opened at the same time. She started to work at the front desk of the Flight Training Centre mid-february. End of February, she was accepted into the MAF disaster response call-list and, unexpectedly thereafter was deployed in Papua New Guinea beginning of March. On the side, her heart beats for the reduction of waste, social justice and newly, for the own production of body hygiene articles such as toothpaste, body lotion and Joël: "No pains, no gains" Since our arrival, Joel only flew occasionally, however he often (if not more) stuck his head into theory books. Nine months later, after eight successfully passed theory exams (navigation, air law, human factors, meteorology, aerodynamics, mechanism, performance and instrument rating) he is now looking forward to the purely practical flying part of the training. Besides that, he enjoys the morning freshness when driving by bike to the airport, gazes at field fire clearings in wonder, hits the dance floor with his wife to foxtrot, waltz and rumba and indulges in his
deodorant. To air heart and soul, she likes to go running, do sewing or is othherwise creative. beloved hobby, the study of the weather. Disaster Response in Papua New Guinea (PNG) On 25th February at 3.44am local time, the people from Western PNG were rudely awakened. An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale (compared to the earthquake of 1356 in Basel which measured 6.0-7.1 on the Richter scale) shook the western Highlands. The wooden construction of the houses and the depth of the epicentre at 25 kilometres, fortunately prevented a bigger humanitarian catastrophe. Andrea was asked to come alongside with the MAF disaster response team and support the PNG MAF team with communication during this time of extra work. She was able to go on a relief flight to a remote village where the earthquake turned their water source dirty. Vaughan, MAF Disaster Response Manager and Andrea coordinate many incoming field information from the MAF offices in Mt Hagen. MAF has been in PNG for 67 years now and today has 140 staff, 10 aeroplanes and 9 airport bases. The earthquake caused extensive landslides which in turn polluted rivers and changed their normal path. This, in turn, caused quake dams to be formed and we were scared these would break and then flood villages downstream.
Planning in the morning: Operations Manager and Disaster Response Manager discuss which plane is going where and if they are able to take some relief aid. The GA-8 (Airvan) is being checked and loaded for the next flight. Andrea's first day starts off quite busy: the Twin Otter lands and brings three Medevac patients to Mt Hagen. The small boy hit his head badly when his father run out of the house as the earthquake shook the whole house.
The Twin Otter has a short turn-around: after the Medevacs deboarded (and later brought to the hospital), MAF ground staff loads 1.5 tons water, rice and other relief material to be distributed in the earthquake-stricken areas. This is on approach to Fuma, a remote village in need of Many more villages came to the airstrip to see the plane and water. I could now see the dirty river next to the airstrip. This get water and rice. The people at the airstrip said they were is the water these people use daily for washing and drinking! happy to receive drinking water. The MAF contact person in Fuma told me: "Drinking water is...water to bridge the time until they had clean drinking water our main problem. The river is polluted, where we normally again. Here, local Papua New Guineans line up to unload wash our dishes and ourselves." Therefore, MAF brought... water and rice from the Cessna Caravan.
Commercial Pilot Licence landed: On the 23rd March at 1 pm local time, the expert congratulates Joël with a handshake to his successfully passed flight test - Joël is visibly relieved. Understandably so, as he had to demonstrate the daily inspection, the refueling and the flight planning, before flying the 3.5 hours flight test. With the Cessna 206 including a variable pitch propeller and 300 horsepower, they flew first to the closely located international airport Cairns, continued into the outback and then back to the training area around Mareeba. Joël receives the all-deciding handshake from examiner Marcus Grey. Now, he is a commercial pilot! Besides steep turns, runway inspection and landing, different emergencies, stalls and precise tracking, there was also a lost procedure. There, the examiner covers the pilot's sight and after a while, the pilot has to orient himself and find an airport to land, with only map and land features. After the conclusion of that chapter, Joël will now fly to do his instrument rating. On 2nd Mai he has successfully passed his theory exam, so that now he can concentrate on the practical "blind flying", Someone is definitely happy to collect flight hours over the or instrument flying. beautiful islands off the coast of Cairns. At the Reception in the Flight Training Centre: Since mid-february, Andrea works Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at the reception of the training centre. Her tasks include taking minutes, answering phones, writing emails to interested students and corresponding with HR as well as the management of eight houses and units where the students live. Especially the last part of hospitality is something she likes to do with her whole heart. She loves the many different tasks and in general working with a very practical team of totally 36 aeroplane engineers, pilots and At the reception of the Flight Training Centre, you are administrative staff is a lot of fun! received with a friendly smile and some active help. A games evening with MAF-friends in our small but cosy unit. Time for us two - here in front of a private yacht in Cairns.
Friends from far and near: Two Swiss friends from Bassersdorf ZH have decided to insert a stop on their world tour to see us, much to our joy. Using our apartment as the base, we undertook many trips to different cardinal directions. The couple discovered the dense rainforest, flew over the outback, visited a hippie-village, swam in a crater lake, went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and enjoyed local coffee with a brilliant view. Within MAF Mareeba, there is a lot of coming and going. We enjoy meeting new friends through a Together with our Swiss visitors Melissa and Imanuel, we fun game in our living room. The farewells make us discover the sightseeing spots in the region. In the back, you sad though, but who knows when we see each can see the Barron waterfalls. other again in the small MAF-world... Melissa was able to feed the small Wallabies (Kangaroos) The Barron waterfalls - in the rainy season and during heavy with sweet potatoes - sweet! rains, they are very impressive. What happens until September? This week, Joël What happens after September? The management will start his conversion onto a twin aircraft (with is working hard at the moment to find an ideal two engines). Thereafter, he will get his instrument connection programme for us. The idea ever since training with flights to Cairns, Cooktown, was to go to Arnhemland (Northern Australia). Chillagoe and Townsville. Mid-August, Joël will do However, since the visa situation and the need in his standardisation, a four-weeks training for all the program have changed, this is no longer an new pilots joining MAF to bring them up to the option - very likely so. We therefore stay flexible same standards within the organization. After and hope to be able to say more shortly. We trust that, a week of orientation follows together with that God has a great place and plan for us. Andrea, where all non-flying issues for the work with MAF will be discussed (security, vision, living " We shall be alright!" Like the Aussies often say... in other cultures etc.). ;) The winter or dry-season has arrived in Mareeba and it finally gets a little bit cooler! We are happy to wear sweaters in the evening and feel cosy under our blanket at night. We wish you a great summer and send kind greetings,
PS: We would love to hear you via WhatsappCall or Skype. Please contact us if you have time. From experience, a call between 10am and 1pm Swiss time usually fits well. You can respond to this email to find a date, we are looking forward to hear from you. THANKS // Andrea's disaster response time in PNG, she wanted to do this since quite some time / Joël passed his CPL & instrument rating theory exam / Joy over relationships here and at home PRAYER // Personal relationships in Mareeba / Amazing times with the coming visitors / A good connection programme that fascinates us and where we can use our gifts and talents to work for others Our address Joël & Andrea Rominger 3/13 Tilse Street Mareeba 4880 QLD Australia www.rominger.info Donations MAF Schweiz, Bahnhofstrasse 4, 5000 Aarau Postkonto: 85-541047-1 IBAN: CH10 0900 0000 8554 1047 1 Vermerk: Joël & Andrea Rominger Newsletter unsubscribe.