A week in the Serengeti and a flap motor failure

The ultimate African safari image a Toyota Landcruiser parked under an Acacia tree with a small table with tea and coffee for guests disembarking the aircraft at Ndutu airstrip in the Ngorongoro conservation area.

I spent the last seven days up in the north of Tanzania. Four nights at the rodent infested 1970's travel lodge styled Seronera wildlife lodge in the Serengeti national park and two nights in the minimum security prison which is Geita gold mine.
Also to throw in a little drama I had a primary flap motor failure at lake Manyara.
When I touched down at the rocky airstrip perched on top of the escarpment above lake Manyara I noticed that the circuit breaker for the flap motor had popped out. I looked at the indicator that shows the position of the wing flaps (things that slow you down for landing and they also help provide lift to aid take off performance) they were stuck down at the full 30 degrees even though I had the selector set at 20 degrees. The circuit breaker must have popped shortly after landing...I thought maybe my trousers somehow got caught and accidentally pulled out the circuit breaker, so I recycled the circuit breaker (pushed it back into its correct position) and again selected 20 degrees again....It was not my imagination the breaker popped out immediately...being stubborn I repeated the process and received the same result. Hmmm good thing about the Cessna Caravan it has a back up standby flap motor. Before I used the standby system I though I ought to ring the Chief Engineer in Dar es Salaam for advice and his opinion. Once I dropped off two passengers I got approval from Dar es Salaam to use the standby flap motor for the flight to Arusha and then back to the maintenance base in Dar es Salaam. Over the phone he warned me that with the standby system do not hold the switch in the 'on' position for too long as it can do serious damage to the flaps when they reach their full travel, and if pressure from the motor still exists a pin in the linkage will sheer off. This would instantly render the entire flap system out of action.....not a good thing. So I climbed into the Caravan with my 6 passengers and decided to set the flaps before I lit the fire in the turbine (started the engine) in case the standby system was unserviceable for some reason. It was a wise decision, on the cockpit roof I lifted up the two red/marone switch covers that protect the emergency flap systems two toggle switches from being knocked accidentally during normal operations.....With the battery on I tried the standby switch to raise the flaps....nothing happened.....I now went into a relatively educated frenzy turning on and off various switches until I was at the point of giving up when suddenly the flaps moved into the 20 degrees for take off. If I could not fully attract the flaps in flight it would just mean a very slow flight to Arusha. After take off the standby motor retracted the flaps no worries. As I approached Arusha airport I thought I would try the primary system again pushed in the circuit breaker and tried the primary lever....the flaps lowered themselves without any problems whatsoever. On reporting this to the Chief Engineer he said it was a sign the motor is on the way out and still took the aircraft to the hangar for flap system inspection....have not yet heard the final verdict the Caravan is still in the hangar.

The two red/marone switch protectors raised that usually guard the two toggle switches that operate the standby flap motor. Notice the broken lock wire that usually holds guards in position.

This is a random picture I took from the aircraft of wild flowers on the Serengeti plains.

Whilst enjoying a bottle of Kilimanjaro (the beer not the water) I photographed this almost text book Cumulonimbus (thunderstorm cloud) with the sun setting behind it.

Also check out:

www.africanbushpilot.com