What our journey to Komodo could have been

A bright and early morning, a perfect set up, flight plan on file, weather perfect and a willing group for the Komodo Dragon experience.

The brief was all set up, we reviewed the landing in Komodo



The airport chart was found on the internet.

Weather was reviewed and all was good to go.

Life span and size

Komodos have a life span of 50 years! Their length is about 3 meters (10 feet) and they weight around 70 kg ( 155 pounds).

Fun fact, they can swim!

They can swim in the open sea and are actually very good swimmer. They swim from one island to another island inside the Komodo National Park. They usually change of island to find food and their favourite prey or during the mating season to find a receptive female in order to make babies! However it is very rare to see them swimming in the open sea.

Speed

These giant monitors Lizards can run very fast with a speed up to 12 mph (about 20 km/h) and even more when they hunt. Visitors of the Komodo National Park have to be very careful especially with Kids. The dragons are usually sleeping and seem to be very slow but in a second they can reach maximum speed!

Komodos lay eggs

Female lays between 15 to 30 eggs. There are four times more female than males! The maturity age is about 8 to 10 years old. See the specific page on the reproduction of Komodo Dragons.

They are usually solitary animals but it can arrive to find them in a group for feeding and during the mating season.

History

They have been discovered one hundred years ago in 1910 when a plane WWI pilot crashed into the Komodo sea. He swam to theKomodo Island and discovered this new specie. Then in 1912, a scientific expedition was carried on and they captured several dragons.

They are the largest lizards on earth. Their length can be up to 3 meters (about 10 feet). They are also the heaviest lizards and they can weight up to 70 Kg (about 155 lbs).  If you want to know more about the komodo dragon facts you can ask me in the comments.

How many are left?

The estimated population of Komodo dragon is about 5 700. They live on the Komodo islands in the National Park. It is located in Indonesia, between the island of Lombok and Flores. These giant lizards live on the following islands:

• Komodo island (3000 dragons)
• Rinca Island (900 dragons)
• Gili Motong (150 dragons)
• In some parts of Flores island, North of Labuan Bajo.

It is an endangered specie. They don’t have any predators but humans hunt their favourite prey: the dear and the water buffalo. If you want to know more about the diet of Komodo dragons.

Since this giant Lizard has been protected and the creation of the Komodo national Park, their number is actually increasing but very slowly.

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Sauria
Family: Varanidae
Genus: Varanus
Species: komodoensis
Category: Reptiles, lizards
Common Name: Monitor, Komodo Dragon
Other Common Names: Land Crocodile, Ora, Giant Monitor

But all of these did not happen because

On 6/30 at 0930 local Mustang 0155 (N510KB) was departing for Komodo Island (WATO) to visit the Komodo Dragons.  The left engine was stared first.  The start was normal, once started the left generator charge current was indicating 310 AMPS and the throttle was increased to 57% N2 so the generator would show green instead of red.  It should be noted, the start charge current on start up has been slowing rising for the past 100 starts, in particular on the left engine. I monitored the battery charge current waiting for it to reach less than 100 AMPS.  At approximately 250 AMPS the charge current went to -15AMPS. 

 

I noted the left generator putting out 28 volts at 0 AMPS.  The CAS message window was completely full of CAS messages, and I chose to ignore the messages because it is very difficult to determine what the actual failure is when these types of buss faults occur.  I hypothesized that the left GCU had tripped off line and attempted to reset the left generator, two attempts failed to restore the generator.  Realizing the fault was more serious, I elected to shutdown the left engine and inspect the airplane.