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The
following account of Canadian MAF avionics technician Hugo Feunekes originally appeared in the
December 2003 edition of Life Link.
SENTANI, Indonesia – With their three small children in tow, Hugo
and Erica Feunekes of Aldergrove, British Columbia, traveled more than 40
hours to Sentani this July so that Hugo could offer six months of help
with the electrical, communication and navigation systems on MAF aircraft.
Hugo, 30, has an avionics degree as well as an aircraft maintenance
engineer’s licence with electronics certification (AME-E).
Because no one else at the MAF flight base in Sentani has his
qualifications, his abilities have been greatly appreciated, especially as
MAF begins to incorporate more instrument flying to improve the efficiency
of its flight services in Papua province on New Guinea Island.
To assist MAF with this project, Hugo took a leave of absence from Pacific
Avionics and Instruments Ltd in Richmond, BC. The Feunekeses also raised
enough funding from supporters to cover the expenses involved in sending
them overseas.
During their first few weeks in Sentani, Hugo fabricated a tilt table to
help test the electronic components of the four Cessna Caravans MAF uses
in Papua, he fixed radios and backlogged instruments, and he replaced ELTs
(emergency locator transmitters) in aircraft.
In addition to the Caravans, MAF Papua has nine C206 aircraft. On one
occasion, Hugo flew with MAF pilot Fred Heier of Steinbach, Manitoba, to
the flight base at Wamena with a C206 that had a malfunctioning HF radio.
There they met a plane with the same kind of radio so that Hugo could do
some testing to figure out which component was not working properly.
In September, when one of the Caravans was found to be 30 degrees out on
its navigation equipment, it was grounded so that Hugo and a technician
could solve the problem.
Since then, Hugo has been fabricating more test equipment, including test
cables and break-out boxes that will help determine which components are
failing on an aircraft. This equipment will save MAF shipping and testing
costs.
The aircraft needing a new ELT will also receive a new radio stack. With
this installed, it can become an IFR (instrument flight regulations)
aircraft, meaning that the pilot can fly in conditions where he has little
or no visual contact.
IFR allows MAF pilots to fly through clouds instead of using up extra time
and fuel looking for holes. Bad weather comes up suddenly in this part of
the world.
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a day in the life of... an MAF avionics technician
