Part of the purpose of my visit to Kalimantan is to capture film and imagery of MAF’s work here. Monday was therefore committed to obtaining action shots of the Kodiak in the interior. The guys were looking forward to a great day!And how many guys were there? Five! The pilot, of course, plus two other pilots (who are into photography and filming), a MAF UK volunteer videographer (who also happens to be a pilot), and a photographer. Put these guys together with a plane, and numerous cameras and what can I say? They did have a great day! And with four different cameras trained on the plane, we’ve got some good material.
One thing I love about my job is the challenge of writing in a way that brings things to life for the reader. I will, however, spare you a description, from this hot and humid day, of sharing the limited and enclosed cabin space of the Kodiak with these chaps....(at times an assault on an English lady’s sense of smell)!
Once finished in the interior, the action continued. We headed back to Tarakan and, with it being a beautiful day, had just enough time to get airborne again, this time with eight pilots in the air (plus the videographer) and four planes – the grand caravan, the Kodiak and two 206s (one with the door removed for filming and photography). David Holsten was keen to get a generational shot of the different aircraft flying together in formation. I was impressed, both with the planning and precautions outlined in the briefing before we flew, and in the ‘choreography’ in the air. The planes were flying closer than I expected, the reason for having so many pilots involved – in each plane a pilot in command, and a second one committed to watching the instruments the whole time for safety purposes. We also captured air to air footage of the Kodiak, the light being perfect as the day drew to an end.
So, a different day, but a memorable one where the guys had plenty of fun (and so did I).
Photos:
Top photo: Left to Right - Layton Thompson (photographer), David Holsten (MAF pilot and Programme Manager), Jonathan Binnie (volunteer videographer and helicopter pilot), Dave Forney ( MAF pilot), and Paul College (MAF pilot)
Just above: Aerial photo taken from the caravan with Kodiak in the foreground and the 206s.
