How hungry are your termites????

As we enter the minor dry season the airfield turns from green to brown, and this year we have lost all of our markers boards to termites, making the runway identification and manoeuvring areas definition less easy to make out.

We used to paint the runway marks - but at $400 per month in paint, we soon stopped that. We tried simple boards, but they lasted only a matter of months. Then we worked on a board with lots of treatments and plastic wraps on areas in contact with the ground - and they lasted a little more than a year, despite some expesive paints and a complex frangible mechanism...

Therefore, in an effort to improve marking visibility and as part of a long term cost-saving exercise, as well as an increase in safety, we have worked on a system of marker boards, moulded in fibreglass with an integrated resin coated wooden base (termites dont eat resin!). They are made ready to be adapted as runway lights should we one day be allowed to fly night VFR!

Here we see Bernard, Mr Solo, Newton, Lydia, Freda (one of the new intake, and Patricia), all pleased with the outputs. The prototypes installed at threshold 19 for a few weeks now, have added a great deal to our approach clarity and improved taxi precision. The next plan is to intstall one every 100m/330' along the runway... We hope to see these installed at other bush strips around the country in the coming years, based on our experiences.

At a materials cost of around $60 per board, excluding moulds, labour and R&D costs, we hope to sell them to interested parties at $100 each or $1000 for a set of 12, the amount needed for a 500m runway (1800'). We realise that, as an item they are not cheap, but as an investment they are vital. Safety is important, and the cost of replacing wooden ones each year is well beyond a joke, we will see a ROI (return on investment) of less than 3 years compared to the old system - and with it an improved solution for a safer flying environment.

We would like to see these markers in place at Kete Krachi and Techiman in the coming months. Should they purchase, it will create work for the girls at the airfield, increase skills and be a win-win all around. If you would like to sponsor marker boards for Kete Krachi or Techiman, please let us know!

Once they are painted (2 part epoxy paint) and installed on the runway we will post a fresh image to tickle your imagination as to when you will fly into Kpong Airfield!!

Building towards the future

People often wonder how wide the vision is at Kpong Airfield.... well, it is wide - and it all has a purpose. Here is the field plan - and you can see the planned future developments - many of which are many years away - but all are part of the bigger picture. Dreams become Visions and Visions become Plans and from the Plans can a reality be grown...

The areas in RED are far away, but EVERYTHING on this map was RED just SEVEN years ago. This month marks seven years from breaking ground - and it is a long way to have come. Seeing how light aviation can seamlessly integrate into a rural health development programme in a sustainable manner and with job creation and training as an integral part.

Thank you to all who embraced the dream, built on the vision, helped with the plans and then the realisation of the plans to this point. Together we can look to the next seven years and know that there are many more challenges ahead.

We do more before 6:00 AM ...........

This morning it was planned that we all rested after the exceptionally busy weekend's activities. HUH! Rest? Sleep? Recovery? No such chance .... not here!

After finishing complicated funding related discussions last night, we hit the various metaphorical haybales at around 10pm... then, Matthew had to leave at 05:20, and Rex left the accommodation block to fly at 05:30 with his PPG. (Rex has a special permission to fly his Powered Paraglider for this week and has found that the wind is very limiting as to when it can fly). Happily, the young lady we had in Quarantine is now able to return to school as a day girl as she regains her strength and some weight (she was VERY sick), and so we have, in conjunction with her and her sponsor, arranged a special support for the re-integration. Therefore, at 05:50 a taxi arrives to take her to school, and she leaves, accompanied by Michaela, who will now be gone for a couple of hours sorting that whole scenario....

The AvTech girls then suddenly appeared from their dorms at 06:30 forgetting that this was Monday, the nominal 'day off' in our week (well they had an exam yesterday on First Responder training and they WANT to be in classes today....). Jenny, meanwhile, is getting ready to fly back to Germany later today after flying in to for the weekend to help out with the various activities... Melissa will spend most of the day working on the practical exams for the girls First Responder programme and, as always, on the 'rest day' there is lots of hand washing, cleaning and preparations for the busy week ahead.

Oh, did I forget, we also have a meeting with Air Traffic later today to work towards streamlining our flight plans and RT operations. (Here we need to file for ALL flights, even for the PPG - which makes perfect sense once you understand the environment!)...

Oh, and the car has a fault on the oil sensor that shorted the starting circuits... and the old grass slasher blew its gearbox last week, and the new one donated by Sid (THANKS SID) and transported by Huub (THANKS Huub) is not directly compatible with the tractor and needs modified... and we hope that Mr Solo will be well enough to be back at work this week too...

In addition, this week has planned bag-drops to a number of communities, and all the usual work that happens.... add to that a film crew from France 24 who are excited about the operations here and the Bag-Drop and.... well, as I write, it is already over one hour into my day.... and the birds are complaining that they are woken by the sound of my keyboard chatter instead of waking me up by the sound of their chirping... (I must learn to type more quietly so as not to deflate the birds egos, then walk out and smile at them as they gather in the trees to wake me up, pretending they managed it...)

This is not the way of life for everybody... it is not easy... it is not without tears... not without upsets.... not without frustrations... not without worries... but it is about changing lives - and that is certainly the nett outcome of it all...

Thank you for reading... sharing... and supporting us all!