New airport construction ... how far society has come!

[Deleted member 29185]

Sometimes I think we take an awful lot for granted, but air travel is not just a "fun" experience, it's also a real boon to our way of life.

I just thought I'd share a pic of the construction of a new airport that is being built in the remote PNG highlands community of Winjak (Enga Province). This project is of interest to me as one of my team was born there and some time ago he told me a story of his childhood. His family lived an isolated and meagre subsistence life and his father was determined his son would have a better future and struggled to get him educated. To do so, his mother got up every morning at 2am to cook breakfast and make a "lunch" for him to take to school. He got to sleep in to 3am, at which time he had get up and start his walk to school. As a young child, this guy had a 5 hour walk to school over terrain that is tough and I mean tough, almost impassable to most of us, no roads to this day go there and the valleys are better described as humongous ravines (I regularly fly over the area and I'm still awe-struck each time).Then at the end of the day, he'd turn around and do the same to get home, but he persisted. He's now an electrical engineer with a good job and is a very smart and polite adult in his mid 20's. This new airport will make all the difference to this community.

You may be a little surprised to learn that the airstrip is being excavated with spades and wheelbarrows! Two wheelbarrows and eleven spades to be exact!!!

 

[rock86]

I just thought I'd share a pic of the construction of a new airport that is being built in the remote PNG highlands community of Winjak (Enga Province). This project is of interest to me as one of my team was born there and some time ago he told me a story of his childhood. His family lived an isolated and meagre subsistence life and his father was determined his son would have a better future and struggled to get him educated. To do so, his mother got up every morning at 2am to cook breakfast and make a "lunch" for him to take to school. He got to sleep in to 3am, at which time he had get up and start his walk to school. As a young child, this guy had a 5 hour walk to school over terrain that is tough and I mean tough, almost impassable to most of us, no roads to this day go there and the valleys are better described as humongous ravines (I regularly fly over the area and I'm still awe-struck each time).Then at the end of the day, he'd turn around and do the same to get home, but he persisted. He's now an electrical engineer with a good job and is a very smart and polite adult in his mid 20's. This new airport will make all the difference to this community.

It is stories like these that just reinforce how much you take for granted living in a country like Australia and all the facilities/services that go with it.

 

[docjames]

They'll probably complete it in less time than it's taking BNE to complete the 3rd runway.....

 

[Happy Trails]

And, I'm guessing, no NIMBYs.

 

[amaroo]

Last month we drove a couple of thousand km's through Mexico. On our first big rural drive we were a little surprised to see quite a few men carrying very long machetes, a little down the road it all made sense.... It's how they cut and maintain the road verge.

 

[RooFlyer]

construction of a new airport that is being built in the remote PNG highlands community

Soooo.... its going to be take of from, and land into a little canyon, with the excavated spoil forming a bit of a ramp externally, and take-offs are achieved by gaining airspeed after dropping off the end of the ramp?

 

[moa999]

They'll probably complete it in less time than it's taking BNE to complete the 3rd runway.....

BNE could have completed the runway much quicker.

Just it would probably have sunk after a couple of years.

Don't think this bush runway had the same issues.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Last month we drove a couple of thousand km's through Mexico. On our first big rural drive we were a little surprised to see quite a few men carrying very long machetes, a little down the road it all made sense.... It's how they cut and maintain the road verge.

Machetes here are called "bush knives". They're a fabulous tool to cover all occasions, from mowing the grass, to chopping wood, picking teeth and of course the odd tribal stouch! It's perfectly normal to see small kids with bush knives as big as they are, as they learn to use them like we learn to tie our shoelaces. The photo below is bringing in a new coffee plantation. The clearing is done by bush knife and those kids are not just there for the ride ... they work hard.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Soooo.... its going to be take of from, and land into a little canyon, with the excavated spoil forming a bit of a ramp externally, and take-offs are achieved by gaining airspeed after dropping off the end of the ramp?

You're talking about my fortnightly Kairik flight there you know! Land up hill, take off down hill, ski jump at the end ...just in case, and on the side of a rather steep faced mountain to boot!

 

[Denali]

Most probably be finished before the new Sydney airport is.

PNG piloting isnt for the faint-hearted... I still break out in a sweat thinking about our last flight and the massive altitude drop we had. Only time ive burst into tears during a flight.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Or circling up and up in an unpressurised plane and, whilst struggling for breath, you watch as the pilots don their oxygen masks and you're left wondering "where's mine"!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

BNE could have completed the runway much quicker. Just it would probably have sunk after a couple of years. Don't think this bush runway had the same issues.

Definitely not the same issues, but they do indeed have issues ... typically sliding down the hill! Landslips happen all the time here due to the steepness of the terrain. Kairik is a new(er) strip that replaced the old RGE (Porgera) strip, that slid downhill and took the police station with it! The remains of that old Porgera strip is now the main street!

Soooo.... its going to be take of from, and land into a little canyon, with the excavated spoil forming a bit of a ramp externally, and take-offs are achieved by gaining airspeed after dropping off the end of the ramp?

You're talking about my fortnightly Kairik flight there you know! Land up hill, take off down hill, ski jump at the end ...just in case, and on the side of a rather steep faced mountain to boot!

I have the feeling I may have posted this one previously, however for anyone interested, here's the Kairik airstrip ...

Once you're off the ski jump, you're in the clouds at 8000 feet and then start the spiralling up to gain another four to six thousand feet clearance of the surrounding mountains (weather dependant).





And the approach is up Porgera Valley, directly at Mt Paiam with a bank to the right before hitting it. The alternative is to leapfrog over a few ranges to come at it front on. That doesn't happen regularly with most preferring the bank to the right method. Mt Paiam is the pic below and Kairik is built on the side of it.





And just to revert back to the OP, the next two pics I took whilst flying over the new airstrip area. You can see just how difficult it actually is to locate a spot for an airstrip.