Papua 2 - Hilltops
For Saturday, October 30, 2021

We continue our flying in Papua, the Indonesian province on the western side of New Guinea. Today we depart from Timika, a commercial and transportation center in the southern lowlands. We climb into the Sudirman Range to land at Kumopa Duma [ICAO-word not allowed/WX74?]. And then we climb vigorously to crest the 12,000 foot ridge and over the high central plateau. Our next landing is at Pogapa [WW68], a substantially-sized village of the Moni people. (For a weekend visitor's view, you can read Kristi Rose's charming 2015 description of Pogapa Village. The first thing you see on final approach is an aircraft wreck. And another arriving plane, a Kodiak, crash-landed on site that weekend. A more recent (2019) visitor indicates that there is now solar-powered internet access!)

Ignoring danger, we turn west along the valley to Bilogai Mbugulo Airport [WACY], a sloped grass field for another hillside village. And then further into the rugged country to Bugalaga [WX53]. The latter is one of the region's more interesting mountainside airstrips. A number of pilots have featured it in their videos and Microsoft/Asobo have chosen it as a "featured airport." Getting to the top of the sharply inclined surface, and then stopping quickly, takes some attention to the management of speed and momentum ... and brakes and reverse thrust. To depart, one lines up on the right heading, locks the tailwheel, notes the lack of vision over the nose, anticipates a swing to the left, pushes forward, quells the heartbeat, and expects that a little adrenaline will handle any surprises.



Then a turn over the mountain ridges and a descent into the large densely-populated agricultural valley surrounding the Paniai (previously Wissel) Lakes. On the shore of Lake Paniai, we land on the long sealed runway at Enarotali [WABT/WABE]. The region was unknown by non-Papuans until a Dutch naval aviator "discovered" it in 1937. In 1938 the Dutch established the town, along with a Christian mission and a government radio post, to assert "control" over the area. This vanished with the Japanese invasion in 1942. The town was reestablished and has grown as the capital of the Paniai Regency. With a constant military presence, it is also a central Indonesian government outpost in the continuing conflict with the separatists.

We continue with a short flight over Lake Paniai to land at Obano [WAOA], a fair-sized village scattered along the lowlands near the lake's southwestern shore. Then northwest over the mountains to the more remote village Monemani Kinman Airstrip [WANL]. Heading southeast, we fly down the valley to Timepa [WACF].

Then we fly further west, through the high ridges to participate in "possibly the shortest commercial flight in the world." We land at Apowo [WX15]...and then about a minute after the subsequent departure, we land at Kegata [WZ38]. For pilots, "the wet grass and scenic runways, dramatically perched on the mountaintops, surely make for quite an experience." Of course, for the villagers the alternative to flying involves an arduous journey through thick jungle and steep mountainsides. That is not the whole story. While there is a fare for the cross-valley flight, many passengers are flying from their own village to the distant market town Nabire. The plane is often so full that not everyone can get aboard. You will want to see former Susi Air pilot Matt Dearden's video of his flying this Kegata-Apowo route.



Our penultimate stop is Idedua (Bonomani) Airstrip [WACV]. " It doesn't get much more dramatic than this. Perched on the edge of a ridge in the Papuan mountains, Idedua doesn't disappoint on crazy places to put a runway. " – Matt Dearden. We end our day by flying down from the mountains to the large coastal town at Nabire [WABI], a commercial and tourism center as well as an air transportation hub. If you want to visit pristine beaches and swim with the friendly whale sharks, this is your chance.

Documentation
The flightplan (new for Papua 2) is accompanied by a compendium of approach/landing videos (from before). This flightplan can be found here. (There are two versions of the digital flightplan. The "spare" one has the airports and a few turning points. The "full" one also includes more guidance and for each sloped runway a short approach line with the airstrips' average altitude indicated. The first is more clear and the second more informative.)

Aircraft
We want to experience the pleasure built into flying through these forested mountain valleys and landing at interesting medium- and high-altitude airports. In reality, almost all these fields are routinely serviced by the C208 Caravan. Many also see the Pilatus Porter, the Kodiak, and the Twin Otter. I'll take the Milviz Porter in the evocative "Big Five" livery of ZS-PCS (which spent its youth tracking poachers in the Kruger National Park). You should, of course, fly what you like.

Additional Scenery

Not all the airports are included in the default. I recommend that you install several addon airports to cover the missing fields and to improve the existing ones. You want Western New Guinea Airports (package), Pogapa, Timika, Apowo, Kegata, Nabire, and Papua New Guinea terrain fixes.  For your convenience, you can download the full package of Central Papua Airfields here. (This package, one that you may have downloaded two weeks ago, includes all this scenery as well as some from the prior Papua 1 flight.)

In addition, you might temporarily turn your "Trees" slider down, perhaps to Medium. While the Papuan mountains are forested, the trees around the airports are far less dense than Black Shark thinks.

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 8:00 am local for October 30, 2021.
While we typically prefer real weather, this time I recommend the "High Clouds" or "Few Clouds" or "Scattered Clouds" preset. This is very much a VFR operation.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, October 30, 2021. 1800 UTC
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Cross-Platform Multiplayer: JoinFS. Latest version is here. (FSX, FSX-SE, and P3D and MSFS2020)
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

 

 

Someone needs to make the villagers tribal festive celebration as seen in this video when the Porter pulls up to the ramp area. 

 

https://youtu.be/t4utwIUKq7I

For those who want to track teammates on LittleNavMap.

Norm pointed us to the Virtual Flight Online Transmitter. This is worth trying out. The Transmitter page (1) describes the program, (2) provides a download link, (3) explains how to run the program and (4) how to configure LittleNavMap to receive the transmission.

For today, you might use your MFS username for both your Callsign and your Pilot Name. Use "AVSIM" in capital letters for your Group Name. In the future, we can set LittleNavMap to filter on that group name to limit what is shown. For now, we'll go with the unfiltered version while everyone is getting used to the tool.

Well said Brother Mike. Every RTWRer should have one. 👍

Some highlights.  

 

https://youtu.be/sf8zPHx3Sao

Great video Buzz.   It was a fun flight.

Nice video Buzz, what did you use to record it?

Excellent!

Great video Buzz!