Most of the evenings when I was flying in Timor Leste I would walk up a hill behind my hotel. One of the evenings it started to rain so myself and another Vietnamese pilot Capt Binh decided to take a short cut to go home. We used to past this little wooden shed on the slope of the hill many times but had paid no notice of it. That particular day because of the rain we decided to go in for shelter.
We were in for a surprise! Inside that little shed were about 21 boys . This was their sort of "hostel" and all of them were university students in nearby Dili University. Because of the war with Indonesia, they were quite old. the oldest among them was 26 years old. Their parents are from the districts all over Timor.
This was the bed for one of the boys. Some of the students were just sleeping on the cement floor.
There was no water supply nearby so it had to be brought up in jerry cans. You can imagine the hygiene standards of the boys here. As for food, their parents only share a sack of rice every month for ALL the kids. Amongst them they had a few dollars to buy oil, sugar and salt. These boys are expert at survival for I saw with my own eyes they were gathering leaves of some of the trees nearby to be boiled and eaten. There were a few chicken behind too.
For their only meal of the day there was nothing much to be eaten. What I saw was only rice and some leaves.
BUT these boys were cheerful and looks happy. To them they are waiting for a bright future after their university education.
I had a look at their mathematics module. It looks like Form 2 work to me but these are for their university here. No wonder one of my engineering hand who had been teaching in a university do not even know the working of an internal combustion engine! He graduated as an industrial engineer from Indonesia.I felt bad for they boys and next day I decided to buy some good food for them. The next time when you feel poor just remember how poor these boys are...both financially and spiritually.
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At the start of the trip all of us looks cheerful. Even the oldest in our group, LAE Cheng is in good mood. I must have played the pipes well to get the followers to come out and sweat!
The start of the climb. Still not bad as it is gradual and it is on good road.
Soon we reach a small church that was built like a cave.
Then we have to climb about 365 steps..up up and up....
This leads to a trail. At this point some of them might decide to put in the "reverse gear" and these two friends are quite good at it!
There are many Crosses along the trail and this is the first one. Everyone was posed as a Cross for this picture.
At the top of it we are rewarded with a good view of the airport and the Banda Sea.
And a few minutes of rest.
After this it will be a kilometer of walk on the ridge of the hills.
With Capt Binh a Vietnamese pilot.
The highest point on the trail is 880 ft as per my GPS readings. After that it is downhill all the way. Gotta be very careful because downhill is when people hurt themselves if they slip and fall!
By 0600 hrs we would have arrived 
By 0620 it gets bright. The helicopter would have been towed out of the hangar for 
Passengers from the fixed wing aircraft arriving from Darwin normally comes in by 0645 hrs. 
Their bags are checked and there will be a drug and alcohol test for the passengers going to the rig.
If there are no delays we would have the passengers boarded and the aircraft started for its 195 
On a clear day this is what we get to see after leaving the airport. The flight to the rig normally takes one hour and thirty minutes.
This is the semi sub that I have to bring the passengers to. From a distance the 
The crew change takes about ten minutes on the 
Once we have establish the cruise, there is time for some snacks. Ocean Shield normally serves us a healthy sandwiches and a cold drink. the sandwich is Australian sized and it takes me more than 10 minutes to eat it!
The return journey will normally be uneventful until the last thirty miles. This is where the clouds building up at the mountain range greets our arrival with some "rock and roll"! However most of the time by the time we are overhead 
This is Capt 
Once we have landed, the engineers busied themselves with the post flight maintenance. Every component is meticulously inspected for any sign of 
Oil levels are checked and the aircraft is 
The aircraft is then towed back to our hangar.
There are only three scheduled flights a week but there could be 
So, what do I do on non flying days? Plenty.....I have to run safety meetings and clear off any outstanding safety issue, do my regular paper work, 
BUT I am blessed with very motivated people under me so it makes my work as Chief Pilot easy. The local 
Most evenings I like to run up a 1000 ft hill at the back of the 
Life in 
The families are invited as well so this is a good 
In Dili, I stay at The Timor Lodge. It is somewhat similar to some caravan parks in Australia. In fact the owner of this place is an Australian.This place was selected because it is only 5 min drive to Deli airport and about 10 mins to town(if there are no traffic jams)
There is good security..The whole place is fenced up with double layered high fencing and the gates are closed all the time.
Security guards are posted at the entrance. Normally there are 2 guards at the gate while the rest patrols the property. So you can see how "safe" this place is.
I am seated in front of my Villa. Looks like a low cost bungalow but my unit was actually the lodge owner's unit and he is away .
Here I am inside my Villa trying to get this blog through. Internet service here is BAD. It gets disconnected very often..almost to the point that we cannot work. In my office I have 4 different internet service provider to ensure that we get at least one working so we have to keep switching! Power failures are a everyday affair. Our hotel has its own diesel generators to keep things going (including the air conds!)
