The airstrip running left to right, uphill.

My first flight today was to Methalaneng. It’s our most challenging airstrip. It has a one way landing, and the abort point (the place where you commit to landing) is just after you turn final approach. The airstrip is in a valley, at 90 degrees to the direction that the mountains run. So you are landing up slope. As you turn final, you have to decide if you can continue or not. If you can, whatever happens from that point onwards, you have to deal with, and continue to land. You cannot turn away and abort the landing due to the mountains. If you decide you can’t land when you reach the abort point, you add full power and get out of there.

We have a limitation of 7 kts tailwind for this airstrip. We have found that once it is over 7 kts, it’s too dangerous. We also have a remote weather station there so we can check the wind before we depart, and while we are en route. Today, before I left the wind was 6 kts tailwind. So I was expecting a 50/50 chance of landing.

When I arrived, I saw the windsocks showing a tailwind. I tried the approach up until the abort point, but it was too unstable and I aborted. I climbed up and gave it a second try, just in case it felt better the second time around. This time it felt worse, and I gave it up before reaching the abort point.

My two passengers who where supposed to go there asked to be dropped at the next closest airstrip, Mantsonyane, a 5 minute flight but 2 hour drive. We hardly every fly to Mantsonyane as it has a good road network, so I was excited to get to go there today.

Mantsonyane airstrip, right next to the hospital.

We landed there without any problems. I felt bad to not leave my passengers where they needed to go, but felt confident in making a decision based on keeping us safe.