Papua. A Cargo Challenge for the Canadians
For Saturday, January 27, 2024

Today we revisit Papua, the Indonesian provinces on the western side of New Guinea. Over the last few years, the central Indonesian government has committed itself to modernizing the infrastructure in Papua. They have developed the bigger towns’ aviation facilities transforming them from basic airstrips into small airports. And more powerfully, they have devised a plan for a roadway infrastructure so that these towns can be served by motor vehicles – especially commercial trucks. The government’s proclaimed goal is the integration of the countryside into the modern world which would provide ready access to education, healthcare, and commerce. This has genuine appeal to many Papuans who seek a better life. And yet, other Papuans see this as a plot to extract Papua’s natural resources in ways that will endanger traditional lifestyles.

At the moment, the Trans-Papuan Highway is near completion. However, of the road’s 3,800km only about one-third has been paved. On a rainy mountainous island, where dirt quickly turns to mud, this means that much of the “highway” is impassable on many days of the year. And, given the terrain and the armed resistance in the highlands, the most difficult part of the roadway lies ahead. The leadership needs to find some way to bridge the gap between rising expectations for transportation infrastructure and the reality of roadbuilding in contested mountainous terrain.

Caribou lifting off from Karubaga

For our mission this week, we test the viability of air cargo operations on a scale not yet seen in the region. Viking Air (De Havilland Canada), who hold rights to the DHC-1 through DHC-7 aircraft, have agreed to supply a small fleet of DHC-4 Caribous and DHC-6 Twin Otters. The Canadians will prove crucial for our operation’s success. [Please note that this backstory is fiction.]

We begin at Bokondini [WAJB], a small town with a fine airport. (The default designates this airfield, incorrectly, as Jayawijaya [WAVB]. If you did not install the addons, use the default airport flightplan below. These two “airports” are the exact same runway – but the starting positions are slightly different.) We leave Bokondini to fly southeast and then pivot to the southwest along the narrow Baliem River gorges before turning to land at Tiom [WAVT]. This is a larger town (20,000) whose airport has frequent commercial service to Wamena and Jayapura, two provincial capitals. On departure, we circle west to climb through high mountain valleys and over a ridge [11700] before descending into the Sinak Valley and landing on the relatively new runway at Sinak [WABS]. Again, this airport hosts frequent flights from local carriers such as Susi Air.

We head west into the mountains where most of the population live a traditional lifestyle. After climbing around the higher ground, we cross through a high pass [12500] before descending into the Ilaga Valley and landing at the busy airport Ilaga [WAYL]. The town itself has a mix of “foreign” Indonesian officials and traders and the local Dani people. It is a district capital with its own police station. It has also been a stronghold of the Papuan independence movement OPM (who briefly captured the town in 2001). In the last two years, the group killed 8 telecom construction workers and later torched the Ilaga high school and executed a student. Not surprisingly, it is common to see armed soldiers supervise all local airport operations in the region. We depart and circle north and then west, through narrow valleys, to reach Beoga Airport [WABA]. The village and paved strip are nestled in a tight valley and require a nearly-blind left-hand turn on finals. On leaving, we turn west and work to climb over the Beoga Pass [9300). We land at Sugapa Bilogai Airport [WAYB] which lies along a high ridgetop with drops of 600 and 1600 feet on each side. This looks more dramatic than it really is. The airport serves the fairly large town of Sugapa and also provides a starting point for visitors who will trek south to climb Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid), the highest peak in Oceania and thus on the bucket list for many mountain climbers. (Getting to the mountain, 20 miles to the south, requires passing through the unfamiliar rainforest and sometimes unhelpful local villages. This journey can be a challenge on its own.) We shall want to be careful because just this week local rebels have been shooting at landing aircraft and attacked the local police office. Despite continuing gun battles, the government assures our sponsors that the airport will be open by the time we arrive. No worries, mate. What could go wrong?

Assuming everything is fine, we turn back east along what local pilots call “The Freeway.” This is a series of east-west valleys along which lie many village strips that are served by local air companies. The larger airfields will accommodate bigger aircraft such as the Cessna 208 Caravan. The smaller ones require smaller STOL aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, the Kodiak, or the PAC P-750. We fly about 10 miles before turning to land at Nabia Airstrip [WADJ] (labeled in the sim as Beoga). This bowl-shaped dirt strip is long enough (1500 ft) but the sloping terrain and clifftop location may provide an interesting challenge for our larger aircraft.

We proceed 40nm to Mulia [WAVA], a more modern and better developed field. Mulia is the capital of the Puncak Jaya Regency (equivalent to a "county"). Mulia has a reputation as having one of the coldest city temperatures in typically tropical Indonesia (as low as 9°C at night and, in some seasons, down to freezing). We continue along to Ilu [WAVC], an equally well-maintained airfield that might prove interesting as the approach requires a sharp right-hand turn into the airport. Our final stop along “The Freeway” is the larger modern Karubaga Airport [WAVG]. This large town is another government center as the capital of the Tolikara Regency.

We head north for a quick stop at two airstrips which are more typical of daily operations in Papua. The strips are long enough for our larger aircraft – unlike many in the highlands – but will provide a last-minute bit of entertainment. The first, Mamit [WANX], has long been served by the MAF (Missionary Air Fellowship) team and consequently the village has developed a great deal over the years. (It was one of the first to have electric lightbulbs in every home.) The second stop, Babu [WAOG] (labeled Karubaga), is less well known. Then, we cross our last high altitude ridge [7100] before landing at our final destination Dabra [WAJC]. This is a government outpost on the shore of the Bailem River. We are now in the low-lying coastal Papua Province and the large provincial capital city Jayapura is 120nm away.

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here. (Only if you did not install the addon scenery, use the flightplan for default airport start.)

Aircraft
Our cargo airlift “demonstration project” emphasizes the DHC-4 Caribou and DHC-6 Twin Otter. In reality, almost all our designated airports are now routinely serviced by the C208 Caravan. So a C208 might provide a good comparison if you like. I'll take the Orbx Caribou in the Greatland Air Cargo livery. You should, of course, fly what you like.

Additional Scenery
All the airports are included in the default but many lack features. I recommend that you install several addon airports to improve the airfields. The packages will be used in later flights. You might want:

Fixes for 95 western New Guinea airstrips. wantok
Highlands Papua Airstrip Collection. Photosbykev
HaveDoughnut’s PNG/WNG Airstrips and Flags. Bush_Drivers
Ilaga [WAYL]. Beowulf99x
Wamena [WAVV]. capungflightTV

Temporarily, you can obtain a prepared package here.

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 8:00 am local for January 27, 2024.
We typically prefer real weather and will follow form if the weather is good. If not, I recommend the "High Clouds" or "Few Clouds" preset. This is very much a high mountain flying operation that requires VFR conditions for safety.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, January 27, 2024. 1900 UTC
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM1
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). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
 

Can't get this flight plan to work. Your file only has a LNMP file. When I make a proper MSFS plan I can't start at the location as the fly start is greyed out. If I just load at the airport all is fine just can't use flight plan. If I make a flight plan with making WAJV (3 miles away) the start point, then it works. I can always fly up to meet you.

Edited January 26, 20242 yr by FreeBird(Josh)

The start ICAO should be WAVB then all will work as intended.

 

1 hour ago, nbrich1 said:

The start ICAO should be WAVB then all will work as intended.

 

I tried that but still the same. I will fly the 3 miles and meet up with you.

Flightplans. Primary and Secondary Options.

If you install the addon scenery, then the posted primary flightplan should work as normal. (Download the flightplan again for both *.lnmpln and *.pln files.) This primary option starts at Bokondini [WAJB].

If you do not install the addon scenery, then use the secondary flightplan option designated above. (Here.) This second option starts at Jayawijaya [WAVB].

As described above, the two airports are almost identical. The names are different. And, I guess, the starting positions have different internal designations. However, they conflict with each other and it seems the addon supplants the default. If the addon is installed, it requires the addon starting positions. If only the default is installed, it needs the default starting positions. (I was originally puzzled by the practical consequences...but it makes sense at the end of the day.)

The complication is that the “Photosbykev” addon has a model for the starting airport. It is (properly) designated as Bokondini [WAJB]. My experiments indicate that if the addon is installed, then you must start at WAJB. If you have installed the addon scenery, then you cannot truly start at WAVB.

On the other hand, if you DO NOT install the addon, then WAVB will work and WAJB will not. Hence, my suggestion (if you DO NOT install the addon) is that you use the second flightplan which differs only in that it begins with the default starting airport.

Flying Operations in Papua. Videos v2.0

Flying Operations in Papua. Videos v2.0 is a compendium of “operations videos” of pilots flying into and out of our Papuan airports. Included are those for The Highlands and The Freeway. Also included are videos for a second “small village strip” flight in Central Papua west of the current flight. This is a revised and augmented version of the compendium published alongside our 2021 flights.

Sorry for the confusion.. a scan of LNM with new scenery is required and voila the affected airports is clear.  Thanks Mike.

Norm

PS: Great videos.. thanks for including in the package!!

Edited January 27, 20242 yr by nbrich1

Great flight!  🙂