Getting Stuck

Well, here I go. Writing this blog for the second time since the first time it disappeared into cyber space somewhere!

This is a satellite picture of a weather system that is passing through the Philippines. On Thursday and Friday the edges of a developing typhoon passed over Palawan (the long skinny island off to the bottom left). They are predicting that they system will develop into a full typhoon and hit on Monday.

The good news is that the system brings rain, a break from the heat and my hibiscus bushes are blooming like crazy. The not so good news is that it means long days of flying, busy weeks and often getting stuck.

Thursday ended up being a crazy day. We woke up at 4:30 so that Jason could get off to the airport about 5:15. The plane took off just after 6:30 and Jason and Garry were able to deliever the family into the tribe. They stayed part of the morning so that Jason could do some touch and goes on the airstrip in order to finish his check out there. By the time they were through and headed over to the old flight base to fuel up and head back to town, they ran into a wall of clouds. The guys ended up being stuck from about lunch time until 4:00. Jason was able to dodge his way through the clouds enough to fly back to town and landed about 5:00. He and Garry stayed until about 6:00 getting the plane loaded for the next day's flight.

Since the weather delayed Jason from getting home earlier in the day he hadn't had time to do any flight planning for Friday's flight. After a quick dinner and getting the kids to bed, Jason spent about an hour getting his flight plan worked out, calculating weights for cargo, etc. before we turned in for bed early about 9:00.

Friday morning it was up at 4:30 again. It had been raining off and on all night and the satellite pictures made the day look not very promising. After heading out to the airport and waiting a few hours, Jason and Garry decided about 9:00 that it was a no go for the day as it was raining here in town and the tribal locations were reporting rain. Jason and I and Garry and Cynthia headed out for lunch and discussed further details of handing the over the flight progrm to us.

Saturday ended up being a beautiful day. Go figure! After a weather check on the radio at 6:30 in the morning and a clear report from the tribal locations, Jason headed out to the airport to do Friday's flight.

This next week will probably be a crazy week of flying too. We have several flights scheduled, among which are flights for a family that has just finished their national language study and is moving into the tribe for the first time.

The forcast is predicting that the system could develop into a typhoon and hit Palawan this week. That means lots of long days and probably, getting stuck.