Languages and… well, it’s been a while since I posted, eh?

Well, for sure you’re wondering where I’ve gotten to and I am sorry my blogging has taken a back seat to a lot of other activities in the past almost 6 months (that blog w/ a 10 things list is forthcoming, or maybe 5ith coming…) I figured first I’d jump back in w/ a blog entry, then summarize the past for you in a later entry (if you’re still tuned in)…[some of you will recognize classic procrastination when you see it)

So, the language thing..I was out flying toward the mountains the other day, enjoying some beautiful wx and my fine comfy Cessna front row seat behind Continental’s finest engine and I got to thinking about the 4 different languages I’d just been greeted in on the HF radio (4 different interior mission posts checking in to tell me their wx or make requests). So, I came up w/ quite a list and here it is… (all spelled phonetically according to how I learned them and the ones in all caps are all Papuan language groups in some of the areas I fly)
25 LANGUAGES I USE TO GREET IN:
1. Selamat
2. NAYAK
3. Ah-nyo-ha-sayo
4. AH-CHE-MO
5. MU-TEH-JO
6. O-hayo-gozai-mous
7. TEH-JO
8. FOI MOI
9. BOO-BEAR-BA
10. Hola
11. WAH-LAY
12. AH-SBEY
13. SENYE-KOTO
14. BAKA-REE-DO
15. OH-SAI-EEGO
16. AH-MA-NO
17. AH-MAH-KA-NAY
18. KA-ONAK
19. WA
20. NAREH
21. KUSI-PAPU
22. TELE-VBE
23. YEP-MOOM
24. FBU-RU-KA-NE
25. ABBA, ABBA
26. PE-ROPE
So, anyhoo- that’s a longer list than I thought it’d be. And sorta interesting that 22 of them are tribal languages from here in Papua. Mind you, except for #22 and #23 (and #1, which I’m fluent in), I pretty much only know the greeting in those languages – but they sure enjoy knowing “their” pilot greets them in their language when I check in w/ them on the radio or land and get out of the plane there. oh, and of course I forgot “hello” for most of the english-speaking world… and “Dude!” which is for my Cali-speaking friends – as in “dude, I’ve missed you guys” – am SO TOTALLY looking forward to a furlough next year to see you all!

 

Welcome to Okbap – you’ll be here a while

Yep, launched early and w/ a full schedule for Okbap (OKB) and though the weather looked threatening, I was able to get there “under this,…over that… and around.. OH, there it is!” Landed expecting a quick turnaround and the weather to improve.  And as I turned the plane around at the top and idled to cool the engine and turbo down, I watched the fog/mist roll over a ridge to the north of us…3 minutes later, I’m out the plane and the mist is coming toward the bottom of the strip.  5 minutes after I landed, it’s closed the strip completely… so fast and so completely, I can see only as far as the 200m markers from the top.  Rest of the valley and HUGE mountains are completely gone!  oh well, get the plane unloaded, use the ‘facilities’… get ready to leave, it’ll clear.  Nope, still socked in hard.  So I figured it was a good time to walk the strip and inspect it – since the agent and others were not interested in that easy hike downhill and HARD climb back to the top, I went alone – well I had my iPod for company.

Seemed like a good time for some worship music and I’m accompanied down the strip w/ some updated versions of some old hymns and singing along, actually enjoying the forced “slow-down” to my morning.  Since there’s no way I can influence the weather by stewing at the delay, might as well check a strip and enjoy the worship!  Checked midfield and now I couldnt’ see the top of the strip (plane, crowd, all of it gone) and couldn’t see the bottom either – just me, on a strip on a mountain a mile above sea level, isolated! Wow God, this is really cool! (well for a few minutes anyway, I don’t want to LIVE in isolation or singleness)  But it was a very powerful walk downhill, singing and enjoying the hushed beauty of being literally in the clouds w/ some great music (and yes, I was inspecting the strip and making mental notes along the way!)

Got to the bottom and was ready to start up, there were people on the trail headed to the village wondering where did “that” come from… imagine this bald, pilot guy appears out of the mist singing in a strange language w/ plugs in his ears, smiles, waves and turns back to hike back up the strip into the mist again!  Ha! Probably didn’t expect that, did they?  imagine:  “Shouldn’t “he” be in the airplane?  Did he lose the plane and is looking for it?  Why’s he down here alone? What’s w/ the singing?” head-shaking and wonderment, no doubt in my wake…

Heading up the hill, I noticed the little “root beer plants” (prob sasparilla, I don’t know – botany, not my bag, actually) – some strips I walk out here have them growing as weeds on them, pull it up and sniff the roots – ummmmm, root beer!! and quite refreshing too!  And thankful the beat of the songs gives me a rhythm to walk in and this turns into exercise – which i’ve been doing more of lately, so it feels pretty good!  “Kingdom of Love” by Scott Wesley Brown came on and that’s quite the motivating song (always envision the 80s MAF video that went with it) – so I noticed one of the agent guys was pacing me to the side… as I approached the last 200m (remember this is 21% slope at the top!!!) and so I challenged him to a race to the top.  Me and my iPod and he w/ his bare feet.  W/ the entire village cheering and whooping in excitement to see a race, he matched me easily and w/o even breathing hard…. no matter how hard I pushed.  Finally  as I was completely winded and unable to go on, I stopped (remember we’re over 6,000 feet above sea level at the top!) and he laughed and gently chided me “You should not run like that, Mr. Pilot.  You are not fast.  I can do it, b/c I live up here.”   When I went to pat him on the back and congratulate him, he ducked and swatted at me!   Ah, it was such a fun moment!!  We’re at the plane, sweaty laughing, and breathing hard in the chill mountain clouds we’re still engulfed in. I mean, who says that being a missionary pilot has to be all seriousness and technical stuff?  That Petrus is the man!, upon “rocks” like that, the church is being built in there where I fly the little plane each day.

Since I was still waiting on weather, they wanted me to look at and repair a mower that had the wrong part installed, so I got out the aircraft toolkit and took the wrong part off (fixed also 2 incorrect assemblies) and loaded that part in the pod to take to Sentani to replace.  Of course even this half hour was full of murmuring and a huge crowd of witnesses engulfed me the entire time to watch and exclaim over all the shiny tools and stuff that I was using to work.

After over 2 hrs of waiting, the cloud broke up enough and I was able to load the family coming out for medical treatment of the mom and kids and we flew off.  What a morning spent in Okbap hanging out, to slow down and laugh w/ them, teach them a little about what I’m waiting for in the weather,  (and yes, to handle the inevitable village grilling over my marital status… probably they’ve lots to talk about around the fires tonight!!)  It was rich and I’m grateful God lets me be “their pilot” and to spend most of the morning w/ them.

(btw, the Okbap strip is the picture at the top of my blog – that’s me and Mike-Papa-Whiskey (my little plane) taking off on a clear, beautiful day – none of that scenery was seen for most of this story and even on departure, much of it was still obscured)

 

Pamek strip opening, pt 3

Pamek airstrip

Of course the next day, I was very stiff and sore (and Friday was even worse!), but I think the joy and their excitement when we landed on Friday morning safely on “their” strip – built and labored over for 7 years w/ the hope that MAF would come and serve them. The strip is 445m long, w/ a 8% avg slope (15% in the touchdown zone) – it’s hardpacked gravel over rock and very firm.  25m wide in most places, it will easily take a Cessna 206, and w/ a little cutting into the embankment on south side, the Kodiak will have room to go in there as well.  Clarence did the 1st one, and then we walked and inspected the strip, installing 50%, 75%, and 100m markers as we went.  6 huge pits were opened up and all the pork, veggies and sweet potatoes they’d been roasting in the ground were broken out – more dancing, more feasting, more loud, happy whooping and singing – it was chaos and it pulled the heart upward.  What a real honor to be witness to their joy and to be invited by God to be “their pilot” now! I can’t really describe how it encouraged and lifted my heart – this is hardly work!! this is the thing I was created to do, gifted by Him to do as my work and now to celebrate (and yes, dance a little w/ them too!) this event… Dare I even call it “work”?  I don’t know, it seems too good to be true, but I digress – our story should wrap up here before I “muse” too long and lose you…  Need to do 5 landings to get checked out on a new strip and I did those, as well as an abort, and they went well.  Clarence talked me through picking a Key Point to start the approach, an abort point on the approach – how the terrain and winds might work at different times of the day and also the illusions of such a wide, STEEP strip on  end of a ridge w/ valley all around on 3 sides.  It was over too fast and we had to move on (to check another strip) and so we had to go – but I’ll be back in there as soon as we can get the report in and the paperwork approved at the DGAC (Indonesian version of FAA) level.

Pamek dancers and the plane

Oh, by the way, one “warrior” guy told me that they were thankful to have us there and that he was glad too not to be living in “the old ways of our elders”. I asked him to elaborate and he explained their history of fighting and warfare w/ EIP and how they lived as “one people” now b/c the Gospel had made their hearts peaceful. A number of the men grabbed my hand to say they were thankful to finally see “their pilot” come to their village and thanking God that I could now come fly for them too.  OUCH, my heart is full and I can’t believe how much I get to “take away” from this experience!! I’m just a guy who loves to fly, and God wanted to call up from my Navy flying to something “higher” and a “job” w/ eternal value in every days’ efforts.  It was such a blessing to hear him talk about how the Gospel made the difference for them as a tribe, and know how I can use the plane to serve his village now (for their med needs, their students, Bible school guys, etc) – I just can’t wait to get back in there for regular service now!!

 

Pamek Strip opening, part 2

(contd from yesterday)

[PAM} It was plenty wide, firm and steep – to the point of being exactly at the upper limits of our allowable slope for touchdown. A few soft areas, I identified and made the requisite drawings and measurements of the strip as I worked my way slowly UP the strip, not even noticing now that I was still climbing! Accompanied by half the village, I reached the top where they warriors and all had been dancing and singing for past hour-plus waiting to welcome me to the top. It was moving, I don’t know how else to explain it, so full of such hope and excitement and my heart..., my soul really wanted to burst w/ a love and desire to serve them! Oh, it was “rich”!! They had also prepared “bakar batu” (pit-roasted pork and veggies) and were ready to serve it – first though, we had a short devotional from the evangelist there and he asked me to pray and share w/ the people. Did it, it was translated from my Bahasa into Ketenggban and they were whooping and excited again, chattering and then spontaneously whooping, clapping, rattling their bows and arrows, all stood again and the pork and some gifts (produce and a few nokens (net bags) were pressed on me. I ate and in my heart prayed that God would protect my system from undercooked pork, dirt on the peeled sweet potatoes, the fact that we had to use my Leatherman (last used to cut open my planes’ oil filter a week earlier) to cut things for everyone. Soon, time to leave and I was back downhill now (at least at first) headed back toward EIP by – all escorted me singing loudly and running and dancing down the strip to the trail and then sang me off onto the trail. Some following/escorting partway and others turning back to finish the feast up at the top. I paced myself – now remembering my aching legs and the overexertion to get there, prayed for safety and then watched the wx in the EIP valley degrade into low overcast and then it rained on us a number of times off and on. Having told me the trail only took 1 hr for them to get back to EIP, the men mostly ran on ahead, but faithful Samuel (who had carried my backpack from EIP to PAM and still carried the slightly lighter pack, water consumed) stayed just behind me and assisted me all the way back. I needed it, now much tireder I was slipping more and the downhill sections really worked my thighs and my knees – but it passed slowly and uphill sections required more frequent rests and prayer under my breath. Several slips resulted in strong, brown hands that grabbed my arm, or my back or my rear pushing me into the hill, stabilizing me to keep me from slipping over an edge – two edges I looked over after they had stopped my slipping, had a good 400 foot drop straight down!! (rain didn’t make that stuff easier to cross, that’s for sure) Actually begging God to help me have the energy to finish this trek well. Cross the scary “bridge over the River Mek” and I was headed up the last, vertical climb – steeper than the earlier stuff, it was daunting. I worked up it slowly, resting every 15 yds or so to get my breathing and heart under control – I mean, I’ve climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan and it was strenuous and taller, but not this hard (mostly due to longer switchbacks to walk up). I was ready to fall down tired when I got onto the airstrip at EIP and back to the plane. To my utter surprise, the weather had broken open beautifully, sun was beaming down and blue sky at the end of the valley and back toward Sentani to the north!! What an encouraging sight; to top it off, it had only taken me 2:15 to get back. Including a 10 minute stop to troubleshoot an inoperative shortwave radio for the health clinic there. Departed, overflew PAM (actually only 1.8Nm from EIP, so easy to get there and only requiring 3 minutes in the climbout to get there!!) and circled to encourage them before heading on home. ...now we've just got to use that data to land my plane there on Friday..

 

Pamek strip opening, part 1

Muddy splatters on the bottom of my backpack, mud-stained hiking boots still sentenced to “outside” the door… incredibly sore/stiff quadriceps and memories of a long trek that really strained my body – these are some of the “fruits” of last weeks’ activity. I was asked to hike into a newly-completed airstrip, Pamek (“Pah-mek”, yes, they’re related to the Mek tribe in the Discovery channel series). So the plan of the day was to fly into Eipomek (EIP), where I fly at least once a week, then trek over and survey the new strip, check dimensions, slope, surface, hardness, approach and dept. paths in prep for the Friday “first landings” which I and Clarence, our CP would be making.

That day was really long and challenging… and I was really really sore and worn out. I totally overdid it on that trek just to get there (2 hard hours). Nevermind the strip inspection part, talking to the people part and the return trek. As far as stories go, I have to explain that it doesn’t look that uppy-downy from the air when you fly over – seems a pretty straightforward hike down the gorge, up the other side partway and then along the valley to Pamek. BOY was I wrong!!

Got a late start that morning b/c the wx was not great down here in Sentani, but a friend had written an encouraging email, so I had time to read it and reflect before I took off, so the time wasn’t wasted at all personally. Wx was better enroute and actually Eipomek was really nice – no wind, no rain, and strip in good condition. Saw the typical “large cloud of witnesses” at the top, but failed to notice the warriors in traditional garb (feathers, weapons, headresses and lots of scary accoutrements – including face paint!!) that were there to welcome me. a few mins later, I learned they were there to escort me to Pamek – oh good, my very own war party to lead the way!! But it was very special and I’ve got some video I shot of it while they were doing their “circle dance” and wooping and chanting, there were also 3 girls dancing to the side (apparently that’s part of it too) – they didn’t participate in most of it, danced in a line as a group, but were adding their voices to the din, so it was a very motivating welcome and send off (didn’t waste too much time there unloading and such, I was still not sure how long the hike would take me).

First stretch was all downhill into the gorge there – I was slipping all over, that was embarrassing (I mean, here I am, I’m the one w/ “hiking boots” on, for pete’s sake!) very muddy and lots of streams running all over the path all the way down too…..A really heinous 40yd suspension bridge about 80 feet over a really nasty, fast river below. At this point, the guy I’m walking w/ urgently chases everyone else off the bridge and then explains to me twice that I can’t walk on the “rotten and falling” side (the right, apparently), but to only walk on the left and to “really hang on, in case…”. Oh man, I can just see me falling into the river, washed away and drowning and that’s the end of this trek – 10 mins into it!!! I got out onto it and it was not sound and it was swinging wildly (not stabilized like it’s s’posed to be), boards are loose and missing… so I started praying, swallowed hard and looked across to the far side, prayed some more – quick, “oh Help me” kind of prayers. And I made it, but I know I’ll be dealing w/ that again on the way back, so aduh!

Up we started out of the gorge and it was steep, but I felt good – I had a good night’s sleep (thanks for praying!) and I’m healthy and had a good breakfast – it went up a bit and then up and up, then looked like it would settle down, then went up, really UP – steep and twisty. All muddy, all slick – oh, it was really hard work up that first incline and I knew I was in for a real workout. Well, it didn’t get much better, there were some few leveller spots here and there, or even a short downhill section, but relentlessly up and up and up. I kept looking over at EIP where my plane is parked and waiting and wow, we’re not even back up level w/ that yet!! it was hard, really, really hard – I’m a mile above sea level – climbing hard and not really accustomed to hard climbing. Legs felt like lead or concrete weights swinging sloppily, splashing, slipping and then there’s the sweating and the uncontrolled breathing that eventually worried me. I don’t like that feeling that I can’t slow my breathing and rest, my heart was pounding so hard and I’m not even halfway there. Started thinking this was a bad idea and that’s just barely 1 hr into the 2hr trek to get there…

Stepped off the trail on one downhill section and my left foot plunged deep in a hole into a hidden streambed all the way up over my knee – that could have really torqued it bad had I been moving faster, so I slowed down a little even on the downhills. The climbing was relentless until the 1:40 point, then it settled to the level part that I had always seen from the air (which I thought I’d be hiking the entire way, lol). That was easier but it was midmorning and I was worn and they were just getting more excited and now the warrior party caught up to us – RUNNING! They were motivated and the noise level was deafening… found myself grinning and enjoying their excitement. My muttered prayers for help now switched to a full heart thanking God for a chance to be here doing this! What fun actually, sure I’m really dirty and really tired and not even halfway through the day’s exertion, but hey, who else gets to do this? Or as my brother would say: “You can’t BUY training like this!!” I started enjoying it (again) and the last climbs were still hard, but the singing and their excitement carried me up onto the bottom of the Pamek (PAM) strip.
(more tomorrow, gotta keep this readable and interesting, pics in the 3rd installment)

 

Rainy monday

Heard the heavy rain (nothing like a hard tropical rain for sleeping weather, btw!) an hour before my alarm went off this morning so I figured on a late start.  Low ceilings and poor visibility to the south for almost the entire morning – started to break up at about 1130, but then the mountains weren’t open – low vis, rain on the windscreen and the strip slick and short, hmmm, … so I canx both flights today and we’ll do that sked tomorrow.  Got plenty done in the meantime: NOTAMS, scheduling, maintenance follow-up, etc.  Oh yeah, and I got some more deck strips put on the kayak this evening, so that was fun.

And kind of drizzly afternoon as well, so it made my run a little cooler and “mucky” as well.  My brother’s advice about my chronic shin splints was to consider how high I was lifting my feet – to stop them “slapping” down on the pavement and I also back off on my stride a little and didn’t push so hard.  It was a good run, a little shin pain mid-run, but it was loosening and feeling better by the end.

Can’t believe I forgot all that translation news yesterday’s post:  One of the benefits of going to the Newman Memorial Chapel service on Sunday (Intl. service up at the high school, in English) is hearing the praise and prayer requests.  And besides Paul’s praise (Sunday, 5Ts, KOB post), there were 2 other translators who shared about major milestones in their Bible translation work – one was checking the NT and working on checking Genesis as well.  The other had finished NT and OT and was praising God for their health and “help” as they were working through that (15+ years of steady work).  Just blows me away that these guys are out there doing that HARD WORK of slowly, steadily putting the WORD into different tribes’ languages… my hat is off to David, Greg and their wives!  And what a privilege to be their pilot and support it when they need it.  HE didn’t give me that gift (nor, some would say, the patience) – but I’m glad my gifts can be used to enable them to use their gifts.

sorry, i was meandering there, thinking and typing extemporaneously; time to clean up and get a-bed,

 

Fast week, where’d it go?

Full week of flying, in and out of the eastern highlands each day.. exception was a trip to KOB to pick up Paul, missionary I left there last week for some teaching and w/ his boxes of the 5 T’s (I and II Thes, I and II Timothy, and Titus).  He asked me to pray for him as he taught and shared this newly-translated material w/ all the church leaders and teachers in that area.  So all week, I’ve had a small slip of paper by my laptop that says “Nggem” on it.  He wrote it so I’d pray for the Nggem and when I picked him up this Thurs, he reports it was a very productive week of teaching, the 150 copies he took in w/ him are all taken and the people are eagerly following along and learning from the “T’s”.  So, that flying was definitely Kingdom-stuff for KOB.

Other flights into MIP, NAL and a few others were long-awaited, runs to support ministries there.  Oh yeah, I got back into KIW, it’d been a while since I was there, but Jack and Corky are back from their furlo, so into there Thurs morning (before KOB run) and fully expected the winds to mess w/ me.  Winds in KIW are notorious for coming up suddenly, even very early in the day and there’s nowhere to turn around down in that end of the canyon, so it’s always a “committed” time going in there at some point.  Anyhoo… Jack always meets the plane and Corky usually doesn’t come up to the plane, but she sends a guy w/ a tray and some hot chocolate and slice of banana bread or something.  Treacherous winds that can pop up anytime and so I check, recheck and recheck and even doubt myself all the way down on final as I’m “committed” already and then see the windsock start to swing around… I land (giving away the first 100 feet for margin, SOP) and really felt good about it – maybe a little long, but it was a real greaser and I was proud of it.  I get out of the plane and Jack says “what happened on that landing, man?”  I drew a blank so I asked what he meant, he repeated the question as if I’d really blown it.. I mentioned that I thought it was a pretty decent one, it “felt good from inside the plane, why? what’d I do?”  He replied, “Well your dad always used to just PLANT that plane hard down there, and then bounce it a time or 2 on his way up the strip” (which I too have done before, maybe Jack just doesn’t remember, lol).  He said “I used to worry the way him and Pritz (sorry, Ron) used to come in here and do those carrier landings PLANTING hard at the bottom of the strip and working to get it stopped before the top” (372 meters long, 15% slope, and slippery wet grass).  He said I was doing it wrong and that was no Jim Lynne landing no matter how you looked at it… haha, what a guy, eh?  It was all in good, joking manner but I’ll admit it  it really stroked my ego a bit to hear that coming from a missionary who’s been watching MAF pilots do that for 30 years now… (of course now that I’ve shared that, I’ll probably bounce like a pogo stick all this week, lol) – and yes, I guess I still have to work on my ego, eh?

My brother and his family got the packets I sent 2 weeks ago via handcarry – enjoying little “treasures” from Unka Nemen in Indonesia… and they are watching the video I’ve been shooting w/ the Flip camera they sent me for Christmas.  Fun! and much more dynamic than reading my descriptions of where I’m going, where I live, etc.  And I’m glad I get to share some of it with them.

It’s been a very productive (*well, Ididn’t fix the oven like I planned, hmmm) and restful weekend at the same time – made some very real progress on the kayak project.  Had some good time w/ friends and I’m ready for this week.  Fly, fly, fly is on the agenda this week.  With a little over 25 hrs left on this inspection cycle, I should make it through this week and prob the next monday before the next inspection is due.

Oh yeah, and Discovery channel’s still showing the 2008 Iditarod (World Toughest Race) – that and the Volvo Ocean Race have kept me pretty entertained… apparently the Super Bowl happened somewhere in there, but I guess I missed it.  Oh well, I’ll have to see if anyone has it recorded or somesuch…

 

Inspections, in plain english

Basically to maintain an airplane’s airworthiness, preventative maintenance is a necessity.  The airplane’s life-span is measured in operational hours flown and thus the maintenance intervals and various component life-spans are tracked that way as well.  So, the basic, most thorough inspection of an airplane as the FAA would define it is the 1000-hr inspection.  Required also is an “annual” inspection if the plane is operated in the US under FAA regulations, so what MAF has done is schedule the 1000-hr inspection to be done progressively over the course of the year++.  I’m averaging about 650 hrs/yr here flying, so I don’t get through the entire inspection cycle in a year and that’s ok, it just keeps rolling on progressively.  Each inspection is done at 50-hr intervals and they’re scheduled that way b/c that’s a more restrictive, more frequent requirement we (MAF) put on ourselves to add “margin” to our operations.  [“Margin” is something we talk about and focus on a lot in MAF aviation-speak, referring to the boundary/cushion built into our daily ops and our practices to give us room for weather issues, equip failures, delays, human factors, fatigue, etc…it’s a very good thing and it comes “written in blood” usually, someone, somewhere learned this/that the hard way and thus we….]  So, there are 21 inspections in the cycle and each has a detailed area for inspection, leaving the rest of the plane for routine inspection items… (example, I just finished #15, detailed ldg gr and wings, routine eng, empennage, cabin and fuselage)   The forms are usually 13-16 pages long, w/ lots of blanks for recording, initialing, double-checking and they’re minimal checklists, so you have to know the procedures referred to and where to find them in the manuals or what safety bulletins/advisories apply and how… then there’s the continuous FAA-updates, MAF-updates, and the manufacturers updates (Cessna, Goodyear, Continental, Garmin, whoever…) Inspection items are generally visual inspection, frequently involve some disassembly and/or measurement/functional checking, etc… and then there’s the prev maint parts where you inspect and repair, repaint, touchup or do maintenance while a problem is small to prevent it becoming bigger later.  (stop me if this is dragging on too long, please..)

So, depending on the area and what you’re inspecting, it can be a simple 3-4 day process in the hangar, inspecting and maintaining.. or it can be one of the majors (6, 13, 19) where big pieces come off and get reworked, overhauled, inspected, repainted, reinstalled, etc….(usually a 3-week process, at least planned that way).

Yes, it’s very intensive and very minutae-oriented. I’d say I’m still a pretty average mechanic and I have the benefit of being around a couple of full-time mechanic-only guys here in Sentani, so I always ask a lot of questions and use my manuals frequently as my brain is kind of split between pilot-stuff and part-time mechanic stuff (let me clarify:  I am MAF-qualified and have the FAA and DGAC licenses as well).  To be honest, I’d love to be just a full-time pilot (as I was in the Navy, it’s policy there to keep the 2 different priorities from conflicting in the same guy and creating a risk-factor) – but MAF pushed hard to get me to come here as an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic, FAA license) this and that’s how I ended up at LeTourneau from 1999-2001.  Got my A&P and my Bible training there, so I could come here and do this.  So, there you have it, it IS fairly intensive and it’s a bit draining b/c it’s also a physical effort different from my usual fly, unload, load, fly, unload, load, fly, unload, load… etc. routine.  9 or so hours on my feet in a hot hangar inspecting, craning, etc. really wipe me out after the 3^rd day or so and the of course the reward is a plane freshly-inspected and safe, ready to fly another 2.5 weeks or so!!

 

fast and busy week serving C&MA in Nabire

(I can’t quite figure out how to insert links into the text (guess I should read up on that!) – so I’m just going to put “Google-able” items in red and underline it, search, read, learn if you like)

The original sched said I’d go out to get Lois Belsey to Mbugulo (MBG) for a Women’s Ministry Committee mtg – problem:  we didn’t get to finish my checkout in MBG last July due to bad wx, soooo…. plan B:   “I know, we’ll send Doug w/ you to check you out in MBG!!” and that worked.  Poor Doug sat there and watched me fly all day,  then to keep me safe while I checked myself out at MBG (he’s been there before).  Lois in for her mtgs, Doug to Nabire in time to catch Yajasi (JAARS) PC12 Pilatus back to SNT.  Gorgeous wx ensued for 2 days and I got a lot of flying done – adding in a few side trips to help serve a few strips that have been needing service.  Had to close SEF again – I was checking to ensure they’d cut their grass like they reported, turns out they only cut the N end really – South end was up to my mid-thigh and thick!! grabbed hard on the plane while landing and I knew that was bad.  Walked the whole thing and did the calculations, basically 340m useable and that qualifying as a pretty serious “soft field”.  So, reduced the load leaving and the takeoff accel was wayyyy slow, staggered off the ground by 75% of the useable and wow!  – glad I planned some margin into that, cause I need to climbout over the river instead of straight ahead – -  because there are no trees there (and it’s always easier to keep the plane flying w/o all that “inadvertent live lumber contact“!!  (BONUS points for pilot-boy’s survival skills! – give me a helicopter for this stuff, anyday!!)

Wednesday the wx was clouding up and tried twice to get into KEG, but unable.  1st time up a valley behind it and dark, indistinct cloud/mist obscuring the terrain aborted that attempt.  Heard on the way home from attempt #2 that Burkharts in Bugalaga had a fire last night and the house burnt to the ground!  What a shock, so wondered what we can do to help…; so I had the line guys load the plane quickly for BGL (irony: a fuel drum + some other cargo) and just beat the wind curfew in there.   Of course I wasn’t imagining the total lack of a structure left…nothing standing – puddles of melted glass, melted aluminum, charred mowers, blown fuel drums – looks like a warzone:

Burkharts

Apparently his early morning fire in their Franklin stove in the living room, got out of the chimney and into the office wall – they managed to get out w/ the clothes on their backs, their laptops, passports and her camera!  That’s it — 42 yrs of service here in Papua, working/translating and it’s all burnt to the ground in a big pile of ash.  I can’t imagine… well, I can, I’ve seen it – but I can’t imagine what that feels like.  It’d seriously discourage me, that’s for sure.  They’re amazingly upbeat about it and didn’t want to fly out w/ me Wed, preferring to wait until Friday’s Caravan flt to Timika. Went surfing again w/ Matt and the boys that afternoon – (double-overhead!! huge for Nabire!!) and they called asking if I could pick them up on my way home from dropping Lois in HIT on Thurs.  Of course Paul joked they “would be travelling pretty light”.

Landing at MBG was straightfwd and the wx closed it immediately – so I prayed about it and loaded the plane (being pressed to get into HIT before 0930, back to BGL by 0900  and into POG by 1100; respective windcurfews).  clouds opened off the departure end and I got Lois into HIT w/o too much trouble – she’s been sick all week during the meetings, so was glad to get home (as was Mary to see her back again in HIT).  Burkharts were travelling light (as promised) – asked if they’d eaten breakfast, but they hadn’t – so I gave them my lunch (sorry, that meant they ate pb&j for b/fast).  Got John Cutts in POG and 2 long hrs later we all got into SNT.  — where the C&MA (Christian and Missionary Alliance) folks graciously took Burkharts under their care and my tired plane is ready for a #15 inspection.

I do have to thank God for gorgeous wx almost all week – and clear enough to get all the flying done every day (though each one got longer than the last).  HE is sufficient and I always enjoy hanging out w/ the Harrises – this time I brought the first 4 days of the Olympics on ext harddrive and we watched that a few evening.  Oh, and not to forget the booming waves – afternoons in the ocean, bodysurfing and enjoying hanging out are good for the attitude.  And of course – today, I’ve had a great QT at the beach this morning, some reading in Psalms and Deut (yes, Deuteronomy, can you imagine?) – some great worship and refresh/plan/prayer time w/ God on the beach.  Yes, it poured down rain, but the little pondok (shelter) held and I was mostly dry.

 

New Years’ in Sentani

A fresh, untouched New Year has sprung here in Sentani – rather raucously on Wednesday evening!  I was planning to get up to HIS to celebrate w/ all the people gathering there (great vantage point to see all the fireworks all over Sentani, etc.) – alas, I’m sorry to say I almost slept through it…  let me explain, I’d had a very long day, couple of very long days as a matter of fact.  Had just flown back from 2 days in Nabire that afternoon and w/ an invitation to join Martins for burgers, I was falling-down asleep by 1910… fortunately all the explosions/horns/music/etc woke me and I was out on the base in time to celebrate w/ fellow MAFers and kids, etc.  It was absolutely a great show – people all over town have been buying, firing off fireworkers and various explosive devices for the past 2 weeks for Christmas and in anticipation of the NY – then in an incredible orgy (can i use that word?), triple or more were set off from 2330 until about 0040.  Unmitigated, continuous skyshows in all directions (except over the airport to our south) and continuous explosions ringing all around!! it was spectacular and I was glad to be awake for it!

This beats last year which I slept through in a Vicodin/Flexiril-induced haze due to back spasms and waiting for the chiropractor to reopen on the 2nd of January.  That pain is gone and I’ve learned how to exercise and stretch my back into healthy flexibility, preventing the piriformis spasms and generally enjoying a painfree, usable lower back again.

For me the New Year always invites resolutions or introspection – I want to make sure this year I “grow” and mature some more – I want to be closer to the LORD I am here to serve… I want to be able to bless and encourage the people I’m here to serve as well as my co-workers.  Tall orders, to be sure.. and so nebulous, they’re almost sure to get subsumed in busyness and daily procrastination if I don’t make it practical.  And so I will, but I’m still working on that… maybe I’ll share it when I get it worded/phrased correctly.  There’s also the physical goal 0f continuing to strengthen my back; and the 10 kg I need to lose (probably more would be great, but let’s start w/1o kg).  As well the kayak project, I want to finish it in the next 2 months – I want to be safe and professional in my flying and know discern the truly important flight requests from the 20 or so I’ll get each week of this year (that’s all in addition to my scheduled flights).  And I want to write more prayer letters, keep up w/ more supporters and friends via email (facebook is fun, but it’s not REAL communication)… to love my brother, his wife and their kids better and… and,… and…

actually the list goes on if I think about it – time to get to it.  Pray over it all and let Him show me the important from the “noisy” or the “urgent”.  I hope and pray you’re all having a blessed New Year and that HE’ll use you (and you’ll let Him) this year,

kevin