Air Ops
I had a brief meeting with the chief Air Ops here in Khartoum. His name is Kevin and he's a civilian UN staff member with a background in aviation engineering. It probably doesn't surprise you but they weren't expecting me. However they have been waiting for a Danish staf officer for about a year now. He still has to show up. But since I fit the bill I'll do for the time being.
The UN has 31 air assets to run their operation here in Sudan. Ranging from Mi-8 helos to a boeing 737 and several large Antonov cargo aircraft. They are expecting more helicopters to arrive within the next few months. Surprisingly the civil aviation authority is still in tact in this country so they take care of all the air traffic control related issues. Air ops basically does scheduling of the UN air assets and monitoring their whereabouts. They also co-ordinate the necesary logistics to keep the planes in the air and the pilots happy. You can compare it to a small airline company. Right now Trish ( a British lady with operations experience at Hapag Lloyd) is introducing me into the fabulous world of UN aviation. Since I'll be going to Juba I won't recieve any training here. This is due to thje fact that Khartoum does mainly planning and flight authoristion. At Juba the main task will be co-ordinating with local staff and air crews and forwarding any requests for aircraft to Khartoum. Since the rainy season has just started in the South there will be a run on helicopter transportation because it will be nearly impossible to use the fixed wing aircraft on the dirt strips. Two feet of water on parts of the runway is not uncommon. Another problem is that people want to call in air transport for nearly everyrthing. There have even been requests to use helicopters to blow away the freshly cut grass at landingsites. That's a mighty expensive rake.
Contrary to my earlier report I will probably be leaving for Juba coming saturday. Why not earlier? Most of the Air Ops staff is heading for Juba on saturday anyway. They've planned a barbeque there. Well that suits me just fine. That means I can go to a barbeque Jelle and I were invited to on thursday. BBQ's seem to be THE socialising events amongst the expats here in Sudan. Apart from them there isn't really much else to do but work:(
The UN has 31 air assets to run their operation here in Sudan. Ranging from Mi-8 helos to a boeing 737 and several large Antonov cargo aircraft. They are expecting more helicopters to arrive within the next few months. Surprisingly the civil aviation authority is still in tact in this country so they take care of all the air traffic control related issues. Air ops basically does scheduling of the UN air assets and monitoring their whereabouts. They also co-ordinate the necesary logistics to keep the planes in the air and the pilots happy. You can compare it to a small airline company. Right now Trish ( a British lady with operations experience at Hapag Lloyd) is introducing me into the fabulous world of UN aviation. Since I'll be going to Juba I won't recieve any training here. This is due to thje fact that Khartoum does mainly planning and flight authoristion. At Juba the main task will be co-ordinating with local staff and air crews and forwarding any requests for aircraft to Khartoum. Since the rainy season has just started in the South there will be a run on helicopter transportation because it will be nearly impossible to use the fixed wing aircraft on the dirt strips. Two feet of water on parts of the runway is not uncommon. Another problem is that people want to call in air transport for nearly everyrthing. There have even been requests to use helicopters to blow away the freshly cut grass at landingsites. That's a mighty expensive rake.
Contrary to my earlier report I will probably be leaving for Juba coming saturday. Why not earlier? Most of the Air Ops staff is heading for Juba on saturday anyway. They've planned a barbeque there. Well that suits me just fine. That means I can go to a barbeque Jelle and I were invited to on thursday. BBQ's seem to be THE socialising events amongst the expats here in Sudan. Apart from them there isn't really much else to do but work:(
posted by Jan at Monday, March 13, 2006
1 Comments:
Hey Jan,
Glad to know all is going well and you have arrived safely. The AIST was not the same without you.
What is all this about BBQs huh? If there is that much eating going on I will have to consider joining up.
Take care
Roy
Post a Comment
<< Home