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Hangar Happenings

Well, what's going on in the hangar today? I'm working on a client's Windows 95 laptop, trying to get the modem to work. Another client's laptop is waiting for me to have a look at, as they are having trouble getting e-mail to send. I'm just finishing up on a documentation project, and hope to have a useful binder of information on the shelf at the end of the day. I'm trying to leave a very thorough set of documentation and instructions, so that if I was to be out of the picture, the others here could continue running things. I have no plans to go anywhere, but just in case, I'd rather be prepared.

A rep is here from a paint company, and John and Curtis are talking with him. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I believe they are trying to decide which paint to use to re-paint HC-BXB. I think painting is the next step, as it looks to me like they have almost all the prep work done. Mateo is working on getting the new engine ready to put in HC-BQV, and I imagine he's about ready to put it in the plane. Right now he's working on it while it's on a stand. Oscar is up in Quito, starting exams for his mechanic's license. That's part of the plan to keep ourselves in step with Civil Aviation requirements, as they want us to have a second Ecuadorian mechanic.

I don't think anyone is out flying, as the weather is poor this morning, both here and in the jungle. They've got lots of flying to do, so it would be good if they were able to do some today. We'll see. You can never tell around here when it comes to the weather.

Frogs

There must be some sort of amphibian convention going on at our house. I just came in the front door, and there was a toad staring right at the door, about an inch away. It was as if he was waiting for someone to answer the door. Then, I came inside, went to the study, and there was a small frog on the floor. The kind of small frog that is really hard to catch. Even when you get it in your hand, it manages to find a small place to squeeze out of. That reminds me. When I was up in the attic last week putting in the network cables, there was a small frog skeleton up there. Only about an inch and a half long, but a perfect little skeleton.

The boys and I just got back from walking up into town. Shell, and most other Ecuadorian towns, come alive in the evening. The boys were looking for some fireworks, and I went along. We didn't find any, but we'll be going through Pelileo on Wednesday, and it's usually easy to find fireworks in that town. That's one thing the boys will miss when they get back to the US. Here, it'd be pretty hard to start a forest fire! Things stay quite wet, with twenty feet of rain a year!

You won't believe it! Ellyn just squealed in our bedroom--she stepped on a frog. It was a little bit squished, and I put it in the toilet. Wonder where we'll find the next one? Well, I better go. I need to go read with Dustin. We're slowly, but surely, making it through The Two Towers.

Vantage Point

I was over on the Harcey front porch to take a few pictures of Ron and Ben. They are finishing up with some of the car port roofing, and Ben wanted some photos for a newsletter. The view of the hangar was different from what I'm used to seeing, and it was quite busy at the time. You really can't see from the photo, but there were a couple planes on the ramp, one of them being HC-BZE which had just flown down from Quito. Bruce had flown in a patient from Damointaro, and the ambulance had just pulled in to pick her up.

Favorite Aircraft

Two of my favorite aircraft to watch operating in and out of Shell are the Hercules C-130 and the Helio Courier. The Helio is such a classic plane, with it's tail wheel and it's look. There's nothing better than watching it land in a couple hundred feet into a good headwind. The C130 is a blast because of it's size, and it's easily the biggest plane landing in Shell.

Almost Predictable

The rain is pounding on the hangar roof again this afternoon. Rain is usually more random here, but this week we've been able to count on a storm later in the afternoon each day. This time, Bruce is on the ground in Shell. He did make a short flight this afternoon, and is back before the rain. Here's a radar image saved from yesterday afternoon, when Bruce was wanting to get back to Shell.

History Lesson

This morning Dan flew in from Makuma. On board was Jean Johnson and her daughter. Jean and her husband, Earnest, were the first missionaries in Makuma. This was back in the late '30s and early '40s, when the land was given by the Shuar to the GMU mission. At that time it was a no-man's land, an area between warring Shuar tribes. The idea was that giving the land to the mission, and having missionaries there, could lead to some peace. I would say it has. It has also lead to the Shuar learning to read their own language, and having the Bible in their language. An MAF Cessna 206 makes to flight to Makuma from Shell in just under thirty minutes. Back in the days when the Johnsons first went there, it was a ten-day walk from Sucua.

Yesterday, Dewey was wandering around the hangar, waiting for his flight to Tiwaeno. Dewey was one of the men in the killing party back in January 1956, when Nate Saint and four other men gave their lives to reach the Auca (now Woarani) indians. It never ceases to blow my mind how God used those five brave men to reach a tribe of 1500 savage indians who were on their way to self-extinction because of revenge killing. Dewey walked around our hangar, a big smile on his face, and the love of God in his heart. God! Wow!

In The Rain

Just as in the past couple days, this afternoon we had a huge storm. It didn't pass right over Shell, and I was able to get a bike ride in with John. We left a bit early, about 4:30, to avoid the rain. We still ended up riding the last four miles in a downpour. But, that's OK, since I like riding in that kind of weather once in a while.

The downside is that Bruce is going to have to overnight out in Damointaro. There are worse places to have to stay, and he should get a bed and a square meal. Well, a square meal if you like monkey meat, or something like that. There's a Bible Institute there run by a Colombian missionary, Reinaldo Bernal, so it's a little more civilized than some other Woarani villages. The guys did manage to get most of the flying done, but Dan did have to turn around on his last flight due to weather. I wish I could tell you more about the flying that gets done each day, but I don't always get to find out. We flew an emergency flight today, returned some patients to their homes, and flew some people out of Damointaro, where the Bible Institute is. Brian Shepson was down in Shell for a few days, and he returned to Quito today. He's one of the instructor pilots from MAF headquarters in California. He came down to fly with a couple of the guys, and also to fly with an Ecuadorian pilot who is interested in joining MAF. That is looking hopeful, and would be good for our current situation with the aviation authorities.

Prep work continues on HC-BXB. Joe is doing most of that work. I don't know the right names for what he's doing, but he's using an acid wash to get all the residue off the aluminum, and then putting on a special coating to 'seal' the aluminum. It will help greatly with the corrosion. Meanwhile, Curtis was mounting the pod on HC-BQV. He's been repairing the old one for about a month now. A new once costs about $6000, so it's a lot cheaper to repair the old one. He had to do quite a bit of fiberglass work on it. The other mechanics, and Steve, were working on the beginning of an engine change on that same plane. The old engine has to be removed, and that takes some work. The new engine is here, but part was damaged in shipment, and we're waiting for a replacement part to come down in a week.

Auto Parts Delivery

One of the MAF vans has been out of service for a month because of a bad fuel pump. Of course, it's not that easy to get a replacement in Quito, so we've been waiting for someone to bring one from the States. It arrived in Shell about 1:30 PM today, and within a few hours, Ron had the part installed and the van running again. Too bad there's not a NAPA auto parts store down the street. There's another vehicle in the photo, and that's the Schmidts. It was out of commission for a few days 'til Fred could find the part he needed and get a broken bolt removed. There aren't many choices when it comes to mechanics and garages down here, and the guys do most of the work themselves. Being trained aircraft mechanics means they do have a just a bit of skill at that sort of thing.

Play Time

Saturday the weather cooperated so that Joe and I were able to climb Iliniza Norte. We didn't have a view from the summit (16,800'), but at least is wasn't cold and windy. When we were back in the truck on the way home, it started to rain. I was glad we missed that while on the mountain. I always have loved getting out in the mountains, where I feel so alive.

Meanwhile, Dustin was back in Shell, where Ben was helping him build a ramp for his bike. With a bit of coaching from Ben, Dustin was soon catching big air.

In The News

QUITO, Ecuador, Nov. 18 ã The U.N. refugee agency expects the flow of thousands of refugees into Ecuador from the war in neighboring Colombia to persist through 2004, with many fleeing forced recruitment.

QUITO, Ecuador, Nov. 18 ã Ecuador's Congress opened an investigation on Tuesday into President Lucio Gutierrez's campaign financing after a newspaper reported that his party received cash with a possible link to drug trafficking.

QUITO, Ecuador, Nov. 18 ã Ecuador's public school teachers went on strike on Tuesday to demand the government follow through on promises to raise their salaries.
Ý Ý Ý Ý''We're on strike indefinitely because the government has failed to follow through,'' Ernesto Castillo, president of the nation's leftist teachers' union, told Reuters.

Close Call

It's a beautiful day in Shell--one of those days that makes me think of a California summer day. An abundance of blue sky and an absence of clouds. If you have to work outside, it's very warm. It's also very hot in attics, and that's where I was yesterday. I was able to complete the network wiring to our house by the end of the day. How nice to pick up our e-mail from the hangar without having to use a modem.

We've got three planes out today. Make that three from Shell. The Quito plane is also flying, and will be arriving here later today. Brian Shepson is here from the MAF US headquarters, and he's doing some check rides with the pilots. He'll be coming down to Shell on the plane based in Quito. Bruce is already back out on his second flight. He had a close call this morning as he was leaving Shell the first time. The Ecuadorian Air Force's Twin Otter came within 50 meters as it was overtaking him. I don't know how the pilot didn't see him on such a clear day, especially when Bruce was right in front of him. Bruce thinks that maybe they were doing some sort of instructing and that the pilot wasn't all that experienced in that plane. Maybe the pilot just wasn't paying attention. That's hard to believe though, because the tower had told the Twin that Bruce was there. Either way, it's too close for comfort.

It's Friday

The day has ended without rain. It was very cloudy most of the day, and raining off and on. Before it got really bad, we had the Quito plane come down, and one of our planes went back up with it. We had two families that went up, as well as two medical transfer patients. The patients were two children who had been hit by a truck. I have no idea how they are doing, but if they needed to fly them to Quito, it can't be good. Right after those two flights, it closed down for a while. We finally got two planes off the ground about 3 PM. It's still cloudy, but the ceiling is high, and El Altar and Sangay are in view. Sangay is puffing small clouds of ash, but farther to the north, Tungurahua is spewing tons of ash, or ceniza. I have had stuffed sinuses and allergies the past couple days, and I have no doubt that the ceniza has something to do with it. Yesterday I was feeling very poor, and almost didn't go to work. About 8:30 I went across to the hangar and got started. After lunch I managed to finish the network to the Marx house, and got that all working. How nice for them to be done using a modem to get mail. And, they'll be able to use instant messaging any time of day to talk to their two college age kids in the US. Today I've felt a bit better, and did work at my desk all day. I'm working on wiping out the hard disk and then re-installing Windows 95 on a client's computer. Yes, I did write Windows 95! It's an old Pentium 1 Toshiba notebook with about 64MB of RAM. Before I take everything off, and I had to spend some time making sure I had all the drivers I'll need to get it working again. Anyway, I'll need to finish that on Monday.

Empty Hangar (Almost)

We had three planes flying today. The hangar was pretty quiet for a while with three planes and three pilots out. It's been a while since all three planes were out all day. Only HC-BXB was here, still getting the paint stripped off. The weather cooperated as well. That's in contrast to yesterday, when the weather was poor all day, and we didn't do any flying.

More Cable

Today I made a lot of progress on the effort to connect MAF base houses to the hangar network. I ran a cable from the Schmidt house to the Marx house in the morning. After lunch Ron helped me put in a power outlet in the Marx' attic. After that, I put in the hub and put a connector on the end of the coax cable. It was warm up in the attic, and I was glad to get down. I'll need to go back up tomorrow to run one more cable to the laptop on the desk.

Paint Prep

The guys are continuing to strip HC-BXB in preparation for painting. Joe is down for a month from California, and among other things, he's helping with the paint preparation.

Firewalled

I made some good progress today with a project I've been working on for several days. The computer we connect to for Internet access at our 'ISP' used to be maintained by the 'ISP'. Over a year ago, when the hard drive went bad, and it was going to take them a week to fix, I stepped in with a temporary fix. At least I thought it would be temporary. I'm still maintaining the machine. My first attempt at it was rather weak, and recently I found that the machine had been hacked into. After the 'ISP' didn't respond to my requests to take care of it, I once again took care of the problem. A minimal Linux install, and some some firewall configuration took me a bit of time to figure out, as the scenario at the ISP end looks different from what I do at the MAF hangar. I installed the new hard drive about 4 PM this afternoon, and fired the computer up. Things look good, and so far I haven't found any problems with the setup. It was funny. The computer room is locked at the 'ISP', but I was able to get the maintenance guys to let me in. Their network guy wasn't around, but the maintenance guys know me, and when I told them what I was up to, they unlocked the door for me. Nice!

Canyoning

There was more adventuring yesterday, and it was a new kind of adventure to me. I have seen it advertised in BaÒos, and I've seen people doing it along side the road as I was riding by, but I never had the urge to try it. But, several months ago Ellyn said she wanted to send me canyoning for my birthday. She had learned of it from her friend and thought it sounded like something I'd like. I didn't get too excited about it before we went, and Ellyn thought I wasn't interested. Not true--I just didn't know what to look forward to. There were seven of us who left for PequeÒo ParaÌso, or Little Paradise, on Saturday morning. Because of road construction along the way, we were a little late, but that was OK. We started out getting our gear--wet suits, jackets, life jackets, harnesses, and helmets. Some brought their own shoes, but I borrowed a pair of 'stylish' ones.

Franko , the owner and guide, showed us how to put on harnesses and how to abseil, or slide down the rope in a controlled manner. Franko is from Switzerland, and along with his wife, Nina, has been living in Ecuador for eight years. He first came to Ecuador because it was cheap and safe. He has a dream now to buy a big Mercedes four wheel drive truck, turn it into a motor home, and drive around the world with Nina and his two dogs. He is ready to leave Ecuador, because he says it isn't cheap and it isn't safe. When we were ready to leave, we all pile into a camioneta, or four-door pickup. We can't all fit inside, so Joe and I sit in the back in typical Ecuadorian fashion--sitting up on the sides of the bed. Franko and the other guide sit on the pile of gear. We headed back down the hill towards Shell, once again waiting for the road construction.

Once we get to the turnoff, we park the truck and start pulling on our gear. Franko says the water is cold, and I believe him, having swum in nearby rivers. But, for the moment, I felt warm was looking forward to getting into the water. After a short walk up a trail, we get to the river. One by one we entered the water, and starting following Franko. Right away we came to a small and shallow pool. We took turns jumping in, landing on our backsides with our legs held out straight. A short way from there, we came to the point of no return--a jump into a deeper pool with no way to go back up river. After that we spent the next two and a half hours wading, jumping, floating, abseiling , and climbing our way down river. It was a hoot, and we went through places I had never thought of going before. We abseiled beside beautiful waterfalls and crossed one of them on a flying fox (zip line). Everyone had a great time, and I for one was sorry to see the end of the trip. There was a jump and a slide that we weren't able to do because the water was just a bit too high, but other than that, everything went smoothly. A five-minute hike and we were back up to the truck, drinking hot tea. Then it was back up the road, including the wait for construction, to PequeÒo ParaÌso. We all changed back into dry clothes and waited for a bit as Franko and the guide rinsed the gear and hung it to dry. Then, we all sat down and enjoyed lunch together. Now that was a great birthday present!

By the way, in case you want to run a small business in Ecuador, PequeÒo ParaÌso is for sale. The sooner it can sell, the sooner Franko can pursue his dream of driving around the world.

Great Views

I've been out adventuring the past couple weekends. All week long I've been meaning to put a few words here about our trip to the Ilinizas on November 1, and it just hasn't happened. I had planned to go on my own by bus, to do a little exploring and checking out hostals, in advance of Bob's trip here in January. He and I are planning to to some cimbing and river rafting while he's here. Anyway, before I left, I invited Ben and Joe to go on the day-trip. Ben's wife, Krissy, also joined us. We left on a 4:45 AM bus out of Shell, and four hours later we got off next to the turnoff to El Chaupi.

No sooner had we walked 100' up the road, than a man approached us, offering to drive us to the trailhead to the Ilinizas for a reasonable price. Originally I hadn't planned to go even that far, but because of the day, we couldn't resist. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and along the way from Shell, we had seen all the volcanos from the bus. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Segundo drove us to the parking lot at 12,795' and agreed to return for us at 2 PM. Ben stood in the back of the pickup in good Ecuadorian fashion, and grinned like a little boy! We started hiking at 9:30, and less than a few hours later were at the climbers' refuge, at an elevation of 15,600'. What a view! Even though we weren't going to the summit, this was an awesome view. Joe scampered on ahead of everyone else, not bothered a bit by the fact that he'd just arrived in the country a day and a half earlier. For Ben and Krissy, it took a bit more determination, but we all enjoyed lunch with a view. Cotopaxi, RumiÒahui, El Corazon, Antisana, Cayambe were all there in plain view. Woo hoo!

Getting home was a bit of a chore, as it was a holiday weekend. Because of Day of the Dead, many people were going to visit cemetaries, and buses were packed. Not one of them would stop for us. Finally, a policeman who was directing traffic, came over to find out where we were headed. He stopped a bus for us, and we just barely squeezed in the door. It was standing room only, and I don't like those kinds of rides. Not because I have to stand, but because it's hard to guard your backpack and pockets. I got by pack of and had it in a safe place. But, it wasn't long before Krissy realized that her digital camera was gone. Someone had taken it out of the case she was carrying over her shoulder. What a way to ruin a perfect day! We ended up changing buses in Ambato, then getting off again in Pelileo. We wanted to buy some bottle rockets, and picked up 72 between the three of us. Joe loves to play with fireworks, and when we got back to Shell at 8 PM, we announced our arrival with several bottle rockets. With the exception of the stolen camera, what a great day. Oh, and I forgot my sunscreen, so got a really good burn on my neck. Fortunately I had my ball cap with me.

Just Enough Time

I was in the house at 4:35 PM today and heard a plane take off. It sounded like a Cessna 206 with a turbocharged engine--most likely an MAF plane. Later on I was out running, and saw the plane landing, just minutes before 5:30 PM. It was one of our planes. As I ended my run, I walked into the hangar, and right away saw a man standing there, holding his arm up, in great pain. Fred had just flown him out, and he'd been bitten by a tree viper. He was fortunate that he'd be at the HCJB hospital tonight. If he had lived farther out in the jungle, or the weather had been worse (it had been cloudy and raining all afternoon), he would have spent the night, a long miserable one, without medical attention. Thankfully this snake bite victim will get great medical attention, and he'll get to hear of the love of Jesus.

Holiday

Today was a holiday in Ecuador. I enjoyed a day off from work. I spent some time hanging out with Tay. We played video games, rode bikes, and cut some balsa wood to build gliders. We ended the day by going up into town for a hair cut. He'd been wanting a #1 buzz for a while, and Ellyn had finally given in. When Taylor sat down in the hair and I told the lady what we wanted, she couldn't believe it. She started, and then before she was done she had asked at least five times if we really wanted it all cut off. She couldn't imagine why Tay wanted all that beautiful blond hair cut off. I'm sure she thought we were gringos locos. It was so funny! Dustin had his hair bleached today, so he looks really different too. The two neighbor boys had their hair bleached Saturday, and Dustin joined the club today. I had Ellyn take our photo, and I had a hard time keeping my eyes open with the flash. So I tried really hard, and here's what happened.