We
are a bit
overdue for a general ‘state of the nation Mercy Air’ address but hopefully this can
fill people in on some of the nitty gritty of what we have been doing
recently.
The good
news is that we all continue to be busy here and keep healthy. There have
been, and continue to be, some obstacles to overcome especially on the flying
side.
The two main
issues concern our access into Mozambique.
Moz Civil
Aviation have been trying to comply with worldwide standards the last year or
so (which is a good thing) but they have instigated and been over zealous with
a number of rules and regs designed to show to the world that they’re serious.
One
of these
has concerned ‘cabotage’ which is where a foreign operator provides a
service
in another country. It would be like Lufthansa offering a regular
service from London to Newcastle when there are UK companies who can do
it. Usually you’re
allowed to fly into the country and then a local operator will provide
onward
travel. We have traditionally flown into a Moz port of entry and then
gone on
to other destinations with our passengers, maybe even flown around a bit
and
then left. This is OK if it’s you’re private plane owner but we are
technically
a commercial operator because we charge for our services. At least we
take our
own passengers but our heli almost always goes in empty and ferries
Mozambicans
around – even though they are doctors, nurses etc. With the rules being
policed more avidly we have had a number of occasions
where we planned a trip but the flight permit we apply for a week before
we go
was refused. We were told that we could only fly to the first port of
entry and
then a local operator must continue with the rest of the journey. We can
see
the sense and legality of that, but there is usually no other operator
to do
this.
We flew over
to see the authorities a couple of times to present our case and got a
reasonable response – although not quite the one we would have opted for. They
understand what we do, that we are non-profit and that we are there to help the
country and its people. They will give us a temporary waiver for the time being
on the understanding that we will apply for a Moz operator’s permit – which we
hope could take years. This is awkward as we don’t want to register our
aircraft in Moz as then we wouldn’t be able to offer a commercial service in SA
or go to other countries if requested. Pilots would also need to get a Moz
commercial license which is written in Portuguese and the chance of that
happening for the likes of us who struggle with English, pertains to zero.
These
things, although frustrating and causing delays, can be overcome – eventually.
This doesn’t
mean we’re not flying though. We have a number of requests for ‘commercial’
lodge hop transfers usually within the Lowveld but sometimes to/from Jhb Int.
This helps keep us current and last year we were able to fund three mission
outreaches to Moz from the money raised.
Another
issue though is probably even more African – political unrest. Whilst falling
short of advising against all unnecessary travel in Moz UK Government
advisories state:
‘There are high tensions in Mozambique
mainly between the opposition party’s militia and state security forces.
There have been armed attacks on
vehicles and police are escorting traffic in certain areas in convoys which
have themselves been targets of fatal attacks. ‘
There is sporadic fighting between
RENAMO and the government forces of FRELIMO only 60km north of Chimoio (our
most visited mission base) and almost daily we hear missionaries reporting incidents.
This type of situation, where the main opposition party controls its own army
is highly unusual and casts a shadow over the country’s economic and political
stability. The problem is that the areas of concern are where we fly to most often. The
two main missions we fly in support of in the central parts of
the country have advised us not to visit them for the time being. It remains to be seen how the situation will evolve in the
future, but an escalation of tensions should not be excluded as a possible
scenario.
Because we can’t fly up north right
now, we have intensified our flying in the southern parts of Mozambique. As
well as the routine rural clinics with local nurses we can continue to fly for
the local churches and missions. There is also the possibility of flying to the
far north. We have also been approached by MAF who still exist in SA but don’t
have any aircraft in the country as theirs have been re-located to S. Sudan and
Kenya where they can be better utilised. They have medical and education programmes
into some of the more remote northern areas of S. Africa which they have asked
us to help with. The heli side have also had meetings with the Swazi Civil
Aviation with a view to providing help with rural clinics.
So, challenges on the Mercy Air side
but we can see light at the end of the tunnel and there are a few possible
alternate developments coming as a result.
Rain – or rather the lack of. I know
it’s not just the Lowveld, South or even southern Africa but by now dams should
be full after the summer rain. Our local one is at about 45% which I don’t think
will be enough to see the area through the winter.
Thank you
Mercy Air team
