Mouaputa

This is how the French Polynesian island of Moorea looks like from a Cessna :

Before going to French Polynesia, I did a reasearch – tried to get in touch with the General Aviation flying clubs there. It wasn’t easy. I found one on the internet, based in Papeete on Tahiti, and made an agreement for a flight. Flemming and I had a very nice flight in the beginning of December, you can read more here.

We were going to visit all 5 archipelagos of the French Polynesia – The Society, Australs, Gambier, Tuamotus and Marquesas, and we would have loved to fly over all of them. But the distances are huge, even commercial airlines do stopovers for refuelling on small atolls, so it had to be from a local airport.

I contacted the tourism office of the French Polynesia and joined different Facebook groups where I posted my questions. People were very helpful, and the bottom line was – there is no General Aviation flying rather than on Tahiti island.

I didn’t believe that. I thought, if there is a runway – there would be private pilots with their airplanes. Later I realised, how naive I was. There are only 9 private airstrips in French Polynesia, e.g. Marlon Brando’s private atoll and the likes.

Flying over Pacific is always turbulent, in any airplane. The weather is changing rapidly, and most of the time it is rather windy (good for windsurfing, but not that much for flying!). By the time of writing this blogpost, we had around 15-20 domestic flights, and have got a better understanding of the local conditions.

The runways are short, especially on the atolls, which is not a problem for a small airplane, but pilots (also commercial airlines) often have to both take off and land on the same runway, i.e. in tailwind. We have also had some missed approaches and go-arounds on commercial flights, which I had never tried before.

Almost everything is imported and extremely expensive. Like a cheap chocolate bar would cost 10 euro, just to give you an idea. Where would you get your spare parts, oil and fuel, and how much would you have to pay for them, if your airplane is based, let’s say, on Hiva Oa in Marquesas?

Experiences and travel give a better awareness and acknowledgement of the local challenges. But Flemming and I wanted to have one more flight in a small airplane, before we would leave this wonderful paradise. We agreed on a flight over Moorea island with the same flying club in Papeete.

We knew the procedure how to get in: on the check point you just say you are a pilot, no documents are needed. The security guys open a bum, and you drive in. You would be thoroughly checked later, when crossing to the air side.

This day, we had more time to have a look around, and happily walked among the club’s airplanes. They had ultralights, too!

The all-wood open cockpit Druine D.5 Turbi, a French aircraft from the 50s:

Another interesting aircraft – Edra Aeronáutica Super Pétrel LS – an amphibious biplane:

We got the same Cessna as in December 2024, but with a different instructor. Flemming posed for me:

Moorea is an island of 121 km2, located west of the Tahiti Nui. The only island accessible by a GA airplane from Tahiti, except for a couple of private atolls nearby:

The Moorea’s airport on the photo below. There is a ferry going from Papeete several times a day – Flemming and I took it when we were on Moorea in December.

Our intention was to fly around the island and see the places where we had been.

Our instructor, knowing we were pilots (and wouldn’t be afraid of turbulence), took us to fly in the mountains. And indeed, there was turbulence! The sacred mount Mouaputa with a hole in its summit:

A legend has it, the hole was formed when the God Pai threw his magic spear of hibiscus wood from Tahiti to prevent the mountain from being carried off to the island of Raiatea by the God of thieves known as Hiro. The spear pierced a hole in the mountain and the vibration woke up the island’s roosters. They began to crow (they always do, if you ask me) and the thieves ran away, fearing that dawn was breaking and they would be discovered.