Ga Gona Mathata: Flying in

GA GONA MATHATA

FLYING IN BOTSWANA

by Derek Melton, Sustaining Member.

Carol and I had spent almost a year carrying out baboon research in the Okavango Swamp of northern Botswana for a university in the USA. As we were leaving I was given an application to consider for the post of government wildlife biologist.

Back in California I read it over and found that although there was no paid flying work, there was a plane that could be used for fieldwork if one had a PPL. I had experience as an aerial observer in Africa, albeit with a weak stomach especially when in those days the pilot might be smoking, which combined with steep turns and avgas fumes made for an unpleasant hot cockpit environment.

However, I decided to give it a go. I mailed off my application and enrolled in a Cessna Flight Training School. I soloed in June that year after thirteen hours dual instruction and luckily found that if I was flying myself, I did not get airsick.

I soon received a letter from Botswana informing me that my application had been successful. The pressure was on. I passed the written test and in late August after solo cross country practice I passed the flight test. The next weekend Carol& I flew via London to Johannesburg and on to Gaborone with a fresh pilot’s PPL in my wallet.

A main research priority was the continuation of aerial wildlife surveys in the sparsely populated northern half of the country. My logbook shows that I arrived in Botswana with 48.2 hrs total piloting time accrued in a 110 HP Cessna 152 with a maximum take-off weight of 1670 lbs.

The plane available for me to fly was a high performance 300 HP 6 seater Cessna 210, with retractable undercarriage, variable pitch propeller, and a maximum take-off weight of 3,800 lbs. A first visit was made to the airport (FBGR at the time; 3300 ft elevation), where to my relief I found a flight instructor. I explained my situation and we agreed to a series of dual instruction flights in the C210, A2 ABJ. The instructor was very competent and included loading the C210 to maximum gross weight using sand bags, so I could explore the plane’s flight characteristics fully loaded in hot weather.

My logbook shows seven dual flights and two solo flights completed over two weeks, after which an aircraft rating / certificate of test was issued. During this time I made a point of visiting staff in the control tower to get to know people and procedures. This meant that at least one controller understood the practice I was undergoing and my general lack of experience. When conducting solo touch and goes, each time I was on short final he would add a helpful questioning phrase after giving my landing clearance: wheels down and locked?

The C210 had a Global Navigation System (GNS); this was well before GPS. The GNS was not common in small general aviation aircraft. It operated using a global system of very low frequency stations that gave long-range coverage. Using it one could fly in remote areas and usually know one’s location to within a kilometre or less.

So now I would fly ABJ to Kasane(FBKE) near Chobe National Park in the north of Botswana, which would become my base for the next two years. Navigation was easy going north, as I would just follow the road straight for 900km and just over 3 hrs of flying. At the time FBKE was a 3000ft gravel strip, with bends of the Chobe River at either end. It was also next to the borders of South Africa (Caprivi, now Namibia), Zambia and Zimbabwe. Airspace over the north of Chobe National Park was restricted owing to tension between the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and South African troops in the Caprivi Strip, with all flights needing military approval.

Operating from a small gravel airstrip in the tropics at latitude 17 degrees south with no hangar or other buildings was a bit of a challenge. I arranged to have barrels of avgas brought to the strip from Francistown (FBFT)450 km away using a 7 ton truck. I needed to learn about using a funnel, filter and earth wires for refueling, plus checking partially used opened drums for water contamination by using a wooden stick with an indicator chemical stuck on the end. Servicing was ably done by Kalahari Air Services in Gaborone.

Apart from near the few larger airports, there was no ATC or weather briefing available and I was on a steep learning curve with weather. After encountering dry season dust devils up to 1000 ft AGL, I learned to try to avoid them, but if entered to concentrate on maintaining attitude and letting altitude go where it wanted, which was quickly up and then swiftly down. I became careful to well avoid wet season storms developing from towering cumulus in the afternoons and learnt to pass them to the left, to avoid headwinds from the clockwise spinning low pressure air of the southern hemisphere.

I was very fortunate to have two keen game guards join me as research technicians, Matelepula Macheme and Obed Gwapela. During the early months Carol also assisted with aerial work, helping to train staff while I concentrated on the flying.

My logbook shows about 400hrs of flying with ABJ. ABJ had been donated to the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks by the Frankfurt Zoological Society and was sporting the society’s nifty gorilla logo on the tail. Pre-flight inspection included looking for any damage from wildlife rubbing the plane, plus checking pitot and static openings for the mud of wasp nests. These habits were actually learned by observation years earlier when I flew with pilot Dr. Keith Eltringham for the Uganda Institute of Ecology. Most flying with ABJ was for multi-species aerial surveys which were conducted using a slow speed at 250’AGL which was maintained with the help of a radio altimeter.

Observers used markers on the windows to search an approximately 250m width of ground either side of the plane. The generally flat terrain of northern Botswana aided such flying, although smaller antelope were especially undercounted. The GNS allowed for flying east-west transects using a grid pattern with observers noting numbers and locations of animals seen. Results were fed into a national land-use planning system and also assisted in quota planning for various types of wildlife harvesting.

ABJ also had a role in elephant studies in northern Botswana. Information on seasonal distribution and abundance would come from the multi-species aerial surveys. In addition I marked four elephants with radio collars, which I could then track from the air. The technicians at Kalahari Air Services were able to install a Yagi antenna in one wing tip of ABJ using an approved modification, plus cabling to a receiver in the cockpit.

While various animals crossed the Kasane strip, one hazardous runway encounter with wildlife occurred in the cockpit during take-off. As usual I had a clipboard on my lap with checklists and a map. I advanced the throttle for the take-off run and within seconds felt an intense pain high on my thigh. I retarded the throttle and braked hard while simultaneously throwing the clipboard sideways and slapping my legs. That resulted in a second bout of pain in the same area and on my hand. I stopped and jumped out onto the strip shaking my shorts, which let loose a large scorpion. I had a bit of a shock reaction and so no more flying that day.

Arrivals home after a survey trip followed a standard “bush pilot” pattern. I would retard the throttle and start a quiet glide towards my house at the entrance to Chobe National Park, where I would level off 500’ overhead and apply full throttle to announce I was back and in need of pickup from the strip.

On one occasion I had seen nothing on the runways I joined overhead and started to circle for an easterly landing when I noticed a SADF helicopter gunship ahead of me hovering 500’over the river at the east end of the airstrip which marked the border with Caprivi. I did not know what frequency they might be on, but called on the Botswana common frequency noting I had them in sight and stating my intentions. No reply.

OK, I completed my circuit and was on short final to the east when I saw the impala herd mid-strip. Full throttle go around, low at first to scatter the animals, then flaps up to 10, wheels up, speed increasing, start climbing and there right ahead of me the gun-metal grey helicopter. I banked left ahead of it and to remain within Botswana airspace.

Uhh, SADF helicopter at Kasane, this is A2 ABJ again, I am not playing silly buggers there were impala on the strip, going around again. The helicopter remained impassive and silent.

ABJ generally behaved well for me in spite of the harsh conditions and lack of a hangar, no doubt helped by good regular maintenance from Noel Fitzgerald and his team at Kalahari Air Services. The few in-flight problems I had could be handled efficiently using emergency procedures, which I found good to have memorized as well as on a checklist. These included smoldering wiring, loss of one magneto, and radio failure while in controlled airspace in South Africa. Avionics issues were the most frequent and time-consuming to fix, including with the GNS which had complex components in the rear of the plane.

It was a great experience for Carol and me to live and work in northern Botswana. Having a house in a National Park with wildlife at the bottom of the garden was special. Being able to fly for fieldwork was the cherry on the fruitcake and having so much varied flying soon after obtaining a PPL provided valuable experience.

I obviously learned a lot about flying while in Botswana and was helped greatly by various pilots, aircraft mechanics and ATC staff who readily shared their knowledge of local conditions.

One broad lesson was exemplified by a Maunbased bush pilot who flew a Cherokee six. Even when coming into or leaving Gaborone’s long tarred runway, I would see him regularly use short or soft field technique to good effect. The lesson was that as pilots we always need to practice... and there is always something new to learn. Derek Melton has flown in Botswana, South Africa, the USA and France, in addition to Canada. He wrote about Flying in France in the January - February 2022 edition of the Patrician. Ga Gona Mathata means “no problem!” in Setswana.