Touchdown Zone: Nubogeta Helipad

Region: Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea

Surface: Sand, mud and grass

Elevation: 5 feet

Location: Soccer field at the local school

Language Group Served: Gumawana

Time Saved: A trip to Nubogeta from our aviation center in Ukarumpa starts with a two-hour flight in a fixed wing airplane to the coast. From there a helicopter flight to reach Nubogeta takes 20 minutes. The other option, a boat trip, takes 15 or more hours. A helicopter flight is also safer; a boat has to contend with dangerous rough weather and reefs.

Interesting Fact: Nubogeta Island is very small, about 1/3 square mile in area, its highest point being about 300 feet. Yet it has a church, a school, and a soccer field! Use this link on google maps for an aerial view. If you zoom out from this point you can slowly see how very tiny the island is and why it is difficult to reach it by water.

Watch a takeoff from Nubogeta here.  View the helipad chart here.

Approaching Nubogeta – an island about 1/3 square mile in size. The landing zone is the clearing toward the tip of the island. Photo credit Fred Leman

 

Beyond the landing site are many other islands. The Amphlett Islands in the distance consist of around 28 islands of which only five are inhabited, including Nubogeta in the foreground. Photo credit Amy Evers

 

Approaching the landing zone at the school. Photo credit Amy Evers

 

The helipad on Nubogeta is a school soccer field. Photo credit Amy Evers

 

Landing at Nubogeta.  Photo credit Clif Olson

 

The people made a circle of crushed shells to mark the landing pad. Photo credit Clif Olson

 

The landing pad is close to the beach at the only suitable spot on the island. Photo credit Fred Leman

 

The helicopter always attracts a crowd. Photo credit Clif Olson