What a jigsaw puzzle!

Yes, indeed.  What a jigsaw puzzle this sorting and packing to get stuff on the plane is.  We will fly to Gemena, DRC in a Cessna 206.  This is a 6 passenger plane with a small luggage pod under the main frame.  Starting last week Pete has been working with the JAARS (SIL) pilots to determine how much weight we will be allowed on our 4 hour flight to Gemena.  Yes, we are the only people on the plane and can fill the rest of it up with freight, but it is still not a simple answer.  The answer is complicated by where they can get additional fuel to come home.  Ah yes, that is needed.  The worst case scenario would have us stopping at a mission halfway to Gemena where they have some fuel stored.  In this case we would only get 315 kilograms leaving Yaounde.  We and the baggage we brought from the US weigh 310 kgs.  Bad news.  But yesterday we learned that they can buy fuel in Bangui, Central African Republic.  So now we can have 420 kgs leaving Yaounde.  Hallelujah!

In addition we will send some freight on a flight taking a couple to Bangui on Monday.  We will get up to 240 kgs on that plane.  Now the issue becomes, how bulky is our stuff?  Some kitchen stuff is not very dense, so we are concerned that we will run out of space before we hit the weight limits.  Pete has been out to the plane to carefully measure and try to determine what pieces can fit where.  Therein is the jigsaw puzzle!

the chaos of sorting and deciding what goes and what does not

how much tupperware does one need?

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2 Responses to “What a jigsaw puzzle!”

  1. Do you plan to keep this site updated? I sure hope so… its great!

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  2. ekstrand says:

    We are trying to, but it will become more difficult once we move to Congo next week.

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