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I live and
work in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Oil Company ARAMCO as a
petrophysicist. Petrophysics is the analysis of data acquired from various tests made on an
oil or gas well to derive a better picture of subsurface variables like
rock type, percentage of hydrocarbon, rock pore space, etc.
My family includes
my wife (Deb), son (Ryan) and pooch (Georg). Deb is a music teacher at the Dhahran
Academy located inside the American Consulate
compound. My
son Ryan is 13 and goes to school here at Aramco which follows an American
curriculum. We live within the confines of a community set up for
expatriates working for
Aramco. The Aramco camp is like living in a small town in the states. At one time the
Aramco camp (Dhahran) was completely self contained because there were no facilities
outside. It has a hospital, school, grocery store, dining hall, movie theatre, etc. and is
really a mini-town. This was all built by necessity years ago when the only things outside
of Aramco were date trees and Bedouins. Now, the area (Khobar and Dammam) is
much more
developed with shopping centers, malls, highways, etc.
Click here for a recent CNN video piece by Christiane Amanpour describing our camp (6.4mb MS Windows .asf fomat). She makes it look a bit like a country club. I can assure you not everyone has horses here!
I am also an airplane nut and a pilot with Single Engine Land, Instrument and Glider
ratings.
Unfortunately
full-scale flying is not possible here because general aviation is
forbidden. As a result, the only flying here is
commercial or military. For military aircraft buffs, this place is great. We live next to
the airbase here and F-15s, Tornadoes, etc. are overhead constantly. When I lived
in the states I used to get goose bumps when I saw an F-15 at full afterburner. Now I just
close the sliding patio door because it's too loud.
Our main flying outlet here is RC models. I have flown models for 35 years (I’m
46) and RC for the last 28. We also have a full-scale flying club here at Aramco
called Hangar Flyers (the name says it all). 
We can't fly of course but we
still have presentations and offer ground school courses. We also have two
simulators. One is the venerable ATC 610 and the other is a large King Air
simulator.
The King Air sim was given to us a year ago by Aramco Aviation
and is perfect for IFR currency and training. 
Many of the Hangar Flyers pilots are also modelers. We
have an RC field very close to us in a leveled area near some little hills
(jubals). There are many different nationalities but primarily Americans
and Brits. RC flying sits on the gray area of legality here. Most
of the customs people or authorities have no idea what it is or have weird
notions about it.. Shipping in RC equipment by mail is fraught with peril.
The best way is to bring things in is by hand and scatter the bits through your
baggage. A kit out of it's box is just a pile of balsa and can be called
"hobby supplies". An engine is an "air pump".
Radios are more difficult but we have managed over the years to keep everyone
pretty well equipped.
Besides building RC planes I am constantly looking for a full scale version
to build. I go to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) at Oshkosh
almost every
year and look over the current technology of homebuilt designs. Of the
airplanes I've seen recently my top choice is the Europa.
The Europa is
kitted in the UK and was designed by Ivan Shaw. It is a two place composite that is
trailerable, aerobatic, economical, fast and STOL. Playing the compromise
between all of those competing capabilities is a daunting task. One other
reason I like the plane is that it was designed by Brits who have notoriously small
garages. The company provided housing here includes a one car garage so
that puts me in the same category. At Oshkosh 98' I had the opportunity to fly one. I
just need to figure out how to bring the into Saudi Arabia. Maybe in the future......
If you want to see some family pics and other personal stuff then click here. I put whatever crosses my mind there from time-to-time.
Finally, I'm also an avid runner and participate in races and activities associated with the Dhahran Road Runners Club
Contact me:
Ronald Monsen
email : monsenrm@yahoo.com