Leg 17; Batavia to Rambang.
Take off from Halim, formerly Tjililitan Airfield (Vliegveld Tjililitan), at Batavia. An early morning start, and a long run of 611nm by LNM's reckoning. One major problem is that at the other end, Rambang airfield no longer exists. I have a plan, however:
Krakatoa aside, I never realized how volcanic this region is. In fact, flying down the length of Java, it's obvious that the string of volcanoes gave birth to the island. This is Mount Ciremai National Park in west Java:
One volcano after another. These two, in central Java, are Mt. Sumbing on the left and Mt. Sundoro on the right. I thought the ground textures looked a bit suspect, but checking on Google earth, the lower slopes of both peaks are indeed heavily cultivated:
Over the crater of Mt. Bromo, in the east of Java, and almost at the end of the island. Two more volcanoes can be seen in the distance - they're all over the place!
Leaving the eastern tip of Java, and Bali ahead:
After leaving Bali behind, I started getting very severe stutters, so I decided to put down at Selaparang (WADA) on Lombok's west coast and reboot the computer. This is the first time I've had to add an unscheduled stop to G-ACSR's MacRobertson route.
After rebooting, I took off and continued east across Lombok, hoping the stutters wouldn't return. In the distance is the Mount Rinjani National Park (yes, another volcano):
Having reached the east coast of Lombok, I turned north and kept a sharp look out. After a few moments, I spotted it - the site of the old Dutch colonial-era airfield at Rambang:
I hadn't come all this way to miss out one of the MacRobertson check points, so I made a slow approach, with full flaps out early:
Other than the bare earth, no evidence of the grass airfield remains. This is the only
definite photo of Rambang that I have found, and show's KLM's DC-2 PH-AJU 'Uiver' (Stork) on its way back home to the Netherlands after coming second (but winner on handicap) in the MacRobertson race. I parked the Arrow in what might be the same area of the airfield:
After a wander round the deserted airfield, I headed off for Lombok airport 16 nm away:
On finals for Lombok runway 31:
Parked at Lombok airport, and off into town to cry into my beer over lost empires