The trip from Darwin to Balikpapan is one of the most demanding on our tour. With a distance of approx. 1100 nm (2000 km) and just 7 hours it is one of the longest ones. The flight route leads almost entirely across water – few islands on the way offer bad or no options for unplanned stops. Many are unoccupied and some inhabited are not always safe. The radio communication on VHF band will be interrupted for major parts. And, finally, we will fly into the ITCZ (the Intercontinental convergence zone) which is known for its many and mighty thunderstorms with CBs reaching up to FL500. The weather is bad often the whole day – however, on some days it becomes even worse during the day due to the intensive irradiation of the sun. Our long flying time is not helpful in that respect. However, an alternative route planning with inter-stops is not possible either because two potential airfields are not approachable for us. So, good reasons to pay appropriate attention to the subject preparation.

Hence, once more we are very glad to receive a flight weather briefing of the DWD (German weather service) team around Andreas Beck in Hamburg. On Monday Andreas Beck even finds some personal time to give many useful additional instructions and tips to the specifics of the ITCZ.

On Wednesday the forecast is favorable for our plan (there are only 4 TAFs available for the whole route – however, the infrared satellite pictures are enormously helpful). The first route segment up to East Timor (approx. 1/3 of the distance) is flyable free of any problems. On the last two thirds the CBs develop quickly - however, they are still "isolated". In competition with airlines we request course corrections to keep the necessary distances. The final CB towers up just northeast shortly before our landing in Balikpapan/Borneo.

Radio communication en-route is bad. Nevertheless, we are able to submit our position reports and course corrections by means of relay always on time.
On this route segment it becomes apparent how important it is to build in some extra days for contingency.

In Balikpapan our manual fuel pump is required again. We are a bit concerned as we examine the corroded and damaged barrels of AVGAS. However, the seals are not violated and the production date is shown as “12.2009”. Our Handling agent Sari Mahayu Biomantara managed to anyhow organize two barrels of AVGAS from a local operator of small airplanes at a different airport. Their appearance probably is owing to the tropical situation on this island. Shortly after the landing we experience this specific weather. The sky opens and despite the warm rain, it is not nice to become wet to the bones within seconds.

Coal, gas and oil – that’s what Balikpapan stands for. No wonder that we are the only tourists in town. The stop in Balikpapan was planned as a „technical stop“ (maybe unfair because of the beauty of this island). Therefore, we spend a large part of the day with flight preparations for the following route segments.

Early in the morning we want to take off heading Manila. However, once more we decide for safety reasons on a deferment of one day due to bad weather.

We are on Borneo: so it would be a pity if we miss the jungle and the orangutans. The organization of this excursion turns out to have some difficulties. After a slide tour across the slippery soft jungle ground we reach the Samboja Lodge, one of the stations for adoption of orangutans to wilderness that have been in captivity before.