Because of the stability of the weather and the friendliness
of the people, Indonesia is a superlative and exciting place
to fly. For Wilhelm Becker, flying over the beautiful island
of Bali is a dream come true. Wilhelm is the founder of the
Bali Flying Club, a recreational non-commercial organization
whose members love flying the skies over Bali. BFC members,
made up of many different nationalities and walks of life,
use as their base of operations the Ngurah Rai airport,
an airstrip in Buleleng as well as any of Bali’s neighboring
islands that have an airstrip. Their first aircraft, a
Cessna 172, will be arriving on Bali in the middle of this
month.
What’s your background?
I was born in Germany but I lived for more than 40 years in
Belgium. I am Doctor in nuclear physics. I did research work
in Euratom in Belgium and was also a manager of a big chemical
company for many years.
How did you come to live on Bali?
After I retired, my wife and I decided to live in Asia because
we like the people and the culture. We were actually on our
way to Australia and decided to make a stop in Bali where
I first thought of flying here. I soon realized that this
was not possible. It was unbelievable that there were no opportunities
for recreational flying on such a nice island, particularly
in Bali’s mountainous center where there is such spectacular
natural beauty.
When did you take up flying?
I started flying at the age of 15. I am now devoted
to recreational flying with over 30 years of logged air time.
I have many unforgettable (and from my wife’s point
of view, unforgivable) stories and adventures from my many
years flying airplanes. To this day I impulsively take off
on a day trip with buddies, then show up a few days later
with dozens of reasons why I did it. While I’m flying
my wife Gerda looks after the family while our children are
off playing with friends – that’s our family culture,
so to speak.
Where did you ever come up with the idea of the Bali Flying
Club?
The Bali Flying Club is a result of many conversations between
friends, tourists and myself. When we started there was not
a single source of information on how to set up a flying club,
the proper procedure involved, import taxes, permits for foreign
pilots or anything else. We had to start from zero and it
took two whole years.
We visited the airport to try to get information, but no one
had ever heard of recreational flying in Bali. They suggested
we go to Transportation Department in Denpasar. They couldn’t
help either and recommended that we visit other government
departments.
I flew to Jakarta several times to try to find the correct
information but most of these trips were fruitless because
it was so difficult to find officials who were well enough
informed, who had the authorization or the right connections
to help us. Over time, I collected hundreds of pages of information,
but because the concept of a flying club is so new here in
Indonesia, most bureaucrats couldn’t even grasp what
I was talking about.
Finally, I got my first break. I met Mr. Suudi, the manager
of Waingapu’s airport in Sumba and a former chief of
aviation in the safety section of the Transportation Ministry.
This nice gentleman was very helpful in giving me lots of
information which was to become very handy.
We eventually staged some flying events in north Bali’s
airport and invited some flyers from Bali and other islands
to participate. We drafted some guidelines, club rules, set
up a committee, and started to make a little progress in legally
establishing the club. At this point we didn’t even
have an airplane, it was only a club of like-minded friends.
At last, in late October 2003, all the documents needed to
legally operate the club as a non-profit organization were
signed and notarized. One surprise were the taxes we had to
pay. To import new or used recreational sport aircraft are
liable to a tax 67.5%! We put together our first safety manual,
adopted the name “Bali Flying Club” and our motto
“Bali fly is Fun.”
Now it was time to find an airplane. We got a kind offer from
the Indonesian air force to borrow an airplane. We could never
repay the kindness of Major Doddy Fernando from the Makassar
air base in this regard. We flew to Makassar to check out
the airplane, how many miles it had on its engine, etc., and
it turned out it to be in great condition. So our perseverance
finally paid off! Our first aircraft will be arriving this
month and soon after it will be ready for operation.
The final stages of setting up the airfield and restaurant,
bar and meeting room are being worked on as we speak. We’re
all hoping that the facility will be good for the local people
and, in addition, will bring investment opportunities to Bali.
That will be repayment enough for the two long years of hard
work!
What are the cost and dues of membership?
Supporting member’s dues are Rp100,000 per year. Other
costs are not fixed but we try to keep the expenses down so
as to give anyone who’s really wants to an opportunity
to fly. I welcome anyone who is interested to visit our website
at www.balifly.com <http://www.balifly.com/»
or email me at postoffice@balifly.com.
For anyone interested in being considered for Siapa, please
contact : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2004 Al Hickey
You can read all past articles of Siapa
at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
