Jonathan Porter's Blog Posts Tagged 'Ghana' (19)

From Ghana to Oshkosh 2014

It's confirmed! Oshkosh 2014 here we come! 

Patricia and I will be there! We will be spending our time at the One Week Wonder Event - and hope to see our fellow Zenith builders too!  We will be more than happy to answer face-to-face all those questions about building and flying in West Africa and how light aircraft really do change lives. WE…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on July 8, 2014 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

The nose job....

As we work ever creatively towards using the Zenith STOL aircraft in practical applications, in the heat of the tropics, we are currently working towards a concept for improved cooling.  It has taken us a long time, but we are close to test flying the 'nose job' on the 701 with a Rotax 912iS up front.

The fun part is the new nose shape and the…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 2, 2013 at 10:32am — No Comments

Flying with 912iS in a CH701

One of our pilots from Brazil is transitioning to the CH701 with the 912iS.  He put a GoPro on the mount and then created with You Tube video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ijgyJhgUic - although it is speeded up, it shows a lot of interesting hand movements in the cockpit... watch carefully as you see me in the right seat moving my hands around a lot!  Also check out the full and free movement prior to take off - as well as enjoy…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on June 24, 2013 at 2:31am — No Comments

Research and Results for Fuel Supply Solutions Rotax 912iS

Finally we have reached the point where we consider that we have expressed how we have established our fuel system for the 912iS in our test bed CH701.  No, it does not contain all that we wanted to, but we feel that it conveys the points about what we have done, why we have done it and what we would prefer to do.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the engine and the airframe combination.  It is a great airframe and a great engine.  A marriage of heavenly proportions, for us and what we use…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on March 5, 2013 at 12:06am — 10 Comments

Learning to Fly with a broken wing...

Lydia is already known to many of you, she has undergone a lot of challenges in her little life.... yet, through the amazing healing power of Zenith Aircraft, she is getting above her problems...

As we beat out the circuits with the occassional 12kt gust that made her work harder, we started to chat....

'How many 16 year old girls learn to fly?'…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on April 11, 2012 at 2:23pm — 8 Comments

Cleco's to Africa!



Our heartfelt thanks go to Randy and Tim for kindly sending their 'left-over' cleco's, wiring, instruments, clamps, breakers and other goodies to us in Ghana.  Randy and Tim both built Zenith aircraft, and at the end had some parts that had some good deeds left in the packaging... They responded to the Medicine on the Move…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on February 12, 2012 at 2:12am — 5 Comments

Santa provides logistical inspiration to 701...

In Ghana, Santa has been giving inspirations to the CH701 building ladies of WAASPS and Medicine on the Move.

Consideration was given to renaming the the aircraft as 'Metal Sleigh', for, afterall, both the Wooden Sleigh of the red-coated-white-bearded aviator (Reindeer powered, of course), have great similiarities....

1. STOL capabilities - both…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on December 16, 2011 at 4:54am — No Comments

Some parts for training in Ghana...

Hi fellow builders... would you like to have a part in helping to train girls to build Zenith aircraft in West Africa?…



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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 1, 2011 at 11:51am — 3 Comments

New hope for young people in Africa from Zenith

Thank you Zenith for making the growth of light aviation possible in Ghana, West Africa and for giving so many young people new hope. The ability to produce parts from scratch build, and to have kit parts coupled with excellent manuals and plans and outstanding support from the factory and Zenith community is what has made it possible for WAASPS, Medicine on the Move and the AvTech Academy to succeed in changing lives, one flight at a time.  

 

The changes to these girls lives…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on August 20, 2011 at 3:16am — No Comments

After Oshkosh...

I decided not to write about Oshkosh - since there was a lot already.. .but the Medicine on the Move (MoM) team are just winding up their USA tour - and looking forward to getting home to the team that are still in Ghana working hard on keeping the airfield ready for our return (they chose to dig out some large stones whilst we are away... and now need to fill the holes!!)

 

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Zenith Factory.  For Patricia this was her…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on August 12, 2011 at 10:11pm — 2 Comments

Floating Aircraft Dock

Ok, so here is your challenge - a floating airport.

 

We are seriously considering taking on a disused hospital ship and converting it into a 'Health Education Vessel with Advanced First Responder Capabilities'.  If successful, which is more than 50%, we would want to keep the vessel at large the majority of the time, anchored at a number of points along the thousands of kilometers of lake-coast on the largest man made lake in the world.  Moving crews and supplies on and off…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on May 5, 2011 at 1:33am — 15 Comments

A tale of three airstrips

In West Africa light aviation is still massively under-utilised, yet in great need.  So, with the harmattan dust restricting our flight movements, and with Detective Erin Nolan from the NYPD on a visit, we took to the road to check out the airfields we hoped to 'stimulate' either back to use or to improve.  We scored 2/3 and get some very interesting tales to tell.…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on February 13, 2011 at 12:49am — 1 Comment

Phoenix Flight

The story of the phoenix bird that loves fire came to mind today.





For the first time this year, we were able to fly - circuits and very local, but operational. Safety procedures are essential when you have been on the ground for an extended period, as has happened this year.



Our in house regulation is that 'if you have not flown for 28 days you…

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Added by Jonathan Porter on January 26, 2011 at 7:25am — 1 Comment

Education Day and Air Show in Ghana

What a weekend... after having taken two STOL CH 701's around the country just two weeks ago, we then ran an education day - and an air show weekend!!! Errrr not like Sun'n Fun nor like Oshkosh... more like.... well, I guess you will have to read on...



We live, work and operate in…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on November 15, 2010 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments

Aerial Drops from the Drop Hatch in CH701

As we progress with our supply drop preparedness in Ghana, we carried out a series of drops this weekend, witnessed by our Civil Aviation Authority.


The dropzone was identified using 6 tyres on a roughly 12m x 12m target. The approach to the drop zone was over the hangar at Kpong airfield, and the target around 40m away from the hangar, simulating a drop to a school playing field or park. 9 cannisters were dropped. 4 x 1kg sand non chuted, 4 x 1kg sand chuted…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on October 25, 2010 at 4:30am — No Comments

Around Ghana, West Africa in a CH701 - in 3 days

It just has to be done. As we try to raise awareness of the ability laden CH7xx and CH8xx range of aircraft for humanitarian aviation logistics, it is now time to undertake a mission that appears to have never been done before.


On November the 1st to 3rd Patricia Mawuli, the 22 year old girl from the bush in Africa who has learned to build and fly airplanes, will take 9G-ZAF, the Medicine on the Move CH701 around Ghana to prove the metal of the T6 aircraft. For a low hours…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on October 11, 2010 at 1:41am — 2 Comments

Being 'On Top' in a 701

Flying VFR is wonderful, we get to see the real world, and we get to enjoy sights that make us smile. When I get asked why I never pursued a career as an airline pilot I have a simple response 'why be a bus driver when you can be a racing car driver!'


I know that the speeds of our aircraft are often around 20% of that of the big birds, but our pleasure and grin factors are much greater thanks to the environment in which we fly - and we do fly - hands on, looking out the…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on September 19, 2010 at 6:00am — 2 Comments

A little Angel with a Crumpled Wing...

I have often been asked what is so special about flying in West Africa and, 'If I could have a cent for every time I was asked that I would be a millionaire'. Well, I may be far from a monetary millionaire (as all of those I owe money to know I am not), but I am very rich in my life and its experiences.


One of those experiences is Lydia, a young girl with a deformity caused by the lack of education and a absence of tube of antiseptic cream. When Lydia was three years old…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on July 4, 2010 at 1:30am — 2 Comments

Patricia Trains for Bush Strips

This week, 21 year old Ghanaian pilot, Patricia Mawuli Nyekodzi, who builds and maintains the Zenith aircraft for Medicine on the Move, is training ready to start flying doctors and nurses into the remote bush strips as they get approvals in Ghana.


In the picture above she sets up 9G-ZAF for finals to Kpong Airfield - we start work on the 500m strip, then work on the cross-wind runway at 300m, then we have our own 200m strip at the Rocky Farm site a couple of…
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Added by Jonathan Porter on June 9, 2010 at 3:32am — 6 Comments

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