Kabul, Afghanistan - June 08'

Cow sacrificed at airport to bless a new airplane.

Video of the ritual at youtube.com - just search aviacru for videos.

Kiev, Ukraine - May 08'

Enugu, Nigeria - Summer 07'

I was pretty sure these guys were my friends...

Rules

We violated every rule!

Bushmeat

Bushmeat...some explain the animal as a small deer, others say it is a large rat. In any case, the meat tasted great!

Summer 07', Enugu, Nigeria

Having dinner of Bushmeat and Beer at an outdoor restaurant.

New Delhi, India - January 2007

The Lotus Temple in Delhi, India. Everyone must take off their shoes before entering the temple. Inside the large open dome is a very quiet place where many people are praying and meditating in silence. A nice reprieve from the hustle, bustle and noise of the city.

Welcome to Kinshasa!

I was happy to see some familiar faces and finally deliver the airplane after this marathon trip. I was even more happy when I finally arrived in Paris and was able to take a shower while waiting for my connecting flight to Los Angeles. While sipping some fine champagne while our Air France A340 taxied out, I asked Steve if landing with only fumes in the tanks and barely enough hydraulic fluid to stop, made him nervous. He said the only thing that caused him concern during the entire trip was "when the rat jumped out of the hole in the wall of the immigration office, ran around the room and then climbed a bookshelf and jumped into another hole in the ceiling". I had also watched the giant rodent, but had written off the whole scene to a hallucination... due to lack of sleep of course.

African Airplane Mechanic

Accra, Ghana December 23, 2006. Could not find any mechanics to resolve a problem with one of our hydraulic systems - the one that makes the landing gear go up and down! So had to take matters into my own hands in order to make it home in time for Christmas.
Many thanks to our ground handler and some rampers in Dakkar for their help in finding some skydrol (hydraulic fluid).
We flew this DC9 aircraft from Arizona to D. R. Congo with no overnight rest stop along the way. Steve and I were awake for somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 hours. We made our Air France flight out of Kinshasa by about 4 hours, otherwise we would have been stuck there until January 5th.

BOAT RIDE UP THE MEKONG

We paid a local fisherman to cruise us up the Mekong River in the small boat to the right of us. His wife and three children also lived on the boat. Our taxi driver tried to talk us out of the small boat ride and steer us towards the larger tourist boats...I am definately not one for doing the usual tourist thing. The small fishing boat was a blast! We cruised through small floating villages and just floated around on the several occasions that the engine quit.

Angkor's Buddhist Monks

Throughout the temples there are Buddhist statues and alters with Monks in prayer, mediation and burning incense. A very surreal place.

Temple of Angkor Wat - Cambodia

Angkor Wat and the many surrounding temples are incredible to experience. Photos don't do them justice.

And Longer and Stranger...Cambodia - Nov '06'

On a recent trip to Cambodia I had the opportunity to test drive some military hardware. Shot a variety of automatic weapons including the AK-47, Anti-Aircraft guns and thew hand grenades.
Most weapons are available...tanks, RPG's and a variety of automatic rifles and hand guns.

What a long strange trip it's been...

Have been on the road most of the '06' summer. Waiting for a flight home from Kelowna, BC.

Budapest - October 2006

Enjoyed the beautiful city of Budapest on a trip that also included Belgrade and Zurich.

Kinshasa, D.R. Congo

We delivered several aircraft to Kinshasa over the summer during a very tense time in the country. The presidential election and subsequent election runoff were cause for unpredictable and stressful times in the country.

The Shakedown

Rolling up 100 dollar bills to pay "fees" at a West Africa fuel stop. 727 Delivery to South Africa, Summer 06.

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to our guide, Camorra, at Nairobi Airport. My trip to Malawi and Kenya is probably my most memorable trip to date. It was a true eye opening experience and completely different than what my pre-conceived thoughts about Africa were. Although most of the people seem to be faced with extreme poverty, everyone I met were proud and extremely hard working people. Having barely scratched the surface of experiencing Africa, I look forward to returning again in the future.
Not being one to care much about politics in the past, this trip did urge me to try and understand some of the issues that cause much of the poverty and violence that are host to many of the countries in Africa and for that matter in many other places in the world. I urge all of you reading this to make an effort to travel and see the world. Also, find out more about what can be done to end the extreme poverty worldwide, here are a few links with more information: one.org, unhcr.org, care.org

Giraffe

Our Kenya Transportation

The roof of this truck popped up to provide great views of animals that our guide was able to track down and drive very close to.

KENYA

This was taken at the same location as the picture below. The location is between Nairobi and Lake Navasha where the locals try to get the tourists to stop and buy carvings, blankets, hats, etc.

Great Rift Valley

Picture of the Great Rift Valley near Nairobi, Kenya

Elephants in Kenya

AFRICA - January 2006

We delivered a B737 to Blantyre, Malawi and traveled around Africa for a few weeks. This picture was taken near Mt. Kenya while on a safari. We saw lions, elephants, hippos, zebra, giraffes, rhinos, baboons and a variety of other animals.

Fuel Stop

Stopped to get some fuel in Petropavlovsk, Russia. Note the volcano in the background above the fog. There are several very large volcanoes (active) in the area.

Sakhalin, Russia

View of Sakhalin from the ski slopes.

Rent-a-Car

Our rental car in Russia.
July '05

TEST DRIVE

Taking Russian Troop Carrier For Test Drive.
Sakhalin, Russia - Aug '05

HONDURAN AIRFORCE

Tried to get a ride on a Honduran Airforce T33. No such luck, but they did let me sit in it.
Honduras, July '05