Doing some missions work out here for a few weeks. We took a 2 hour flight with SIMAIR (missionary ran charter service) to get to Maradi where we are staying. Plane was a Piper Saratoga. Cruise was at 9,000 feet /130-140 knots. Extremely smooth flight until the gear came down for landing. Weather was perfect but the constant dust in the atmosphere limits visibility pretty badly.Internet is really slow here so I'm not uploading a ton of the pictures.I finally got a real lesson on how setting the mixture works throughout the flight. Pretty interesting. We ran 14 gallons an hour most of the flight.The runway in Maradi is a loose fine rock and there's no terminal. Nice to park and be greeted by two guys in fatigues with AK47's on an open tarmac :). No pictures of them as I didn't plan on getting shot.The ATR-72 you see in the last picture is the UN relief plane currently working in the area. It's there to stay for a while shuttling food and water.

Edited February 6, 201214 yr by bonchie

A fabulous reportage, bonchie. No need for words, except elucidating about that ATR-72. Good Luck and many safe flights for you heroes of the Unreported World.

Great shots!