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Prayer Request

As some of you are aware, MAF here in Ecuador has been struggling to maintain our aviation ministry due to problems with licenses. About a year ago, Civil Aviation informed us that they would be applying a law that allows foreign pilots to fly for only six months while Ecuadorians are trained to replace them. Obviously weíve been working here for 55 years and this has never been applied to us before and the law is intended for commercial companies. This issue has required incredible amounts of time and energy as we look for a solution. We have received several extensions to comply with these new requirements but there is no possible way to comply within the time we have been given. Since March 10th, we have only been able to keep 2-3 of our US pilots and our one Ecuadorian pilot flying and all of our foreign mechanics are without licenses leaving just our two national mechanics to sign off all the maintenance.

Yesterday we were informed that on Monday Civil Aviation will decide whether or not to grant us 60-day temporary license renewals or permanent licenses. The issue is very complicated and recently Civil Aviation is trying to adopt the International and US standards for issuing licenses, which adds even more to the complexity. These new laws are in conflict with the previously mentioned law that has been our problem. The US Embassy here in Ecuador has been instrumental, in the last few months, in helping us move ahead on this issue and we have new hope for resolution.

We would like to ask for a concert of prayer to begin immediately through Monday to receive a favorable decision from Civil Aviation Authorities. Our desire is for permanent licenses for both pilots and mechanics to enable us to return our energies to the many ministry tasks before us. Satan would like nothing more than to continue to discourage us with this issue. It is time to win the battle.

Pilots' Office

We were standing in the morning circle yesterday. The two gringo pilots with licenses were already off the ground. Normally, it's hard to get away before 8 AM, but with the camp flying they can leave early as the passengers are all here and ready to go. I looked around the hanger. The three planes in the hangar were all down for maintenance. So, even if we had more pilots with licenses, there would not have been any planes for them to fly. Seven other pilots were standing in the circle. Two of them have management positions, and don't fly full time. Then, there are two who are new to the Ecuador program and who need to be checked out on the jungle strips. That leaves three others who could do quite a bit of flying. What works out great is if two pilots can share a plane for the day. One flies in the morning, the other in the afternoon. That way they have enough time to get the paperwork done.

At any rate, through it all, we've been moving on like all the pilots will soon be flying. Months ago, back in November and December, we realized the need for more desks for pilots. The pilots office had a general desk with a computer, then three other desks that were all occupied. With two new pilots that came in January, we needed more room. Last week Ben and Ron finally put in the additional two desk. Oh, and we also needed one more for Chad who had moved up to Shell from the now-closed Sucua base. Now there are desks for six pilots in the pilots office. It looks great, and is quite a change, as a wall was knocked out to make more room. My corner/desk is a bit more open now, as we moved a cabinet around the corner. I've moved the computer off of the general desk (which is now Chad's desk) and it's in the middle of the room.

Praying for licenses so the pilots won't just 'fly desks', but airplanes too!

One More License

Bruce was up in Quito and was able to get his license renewed. He is one of the two expats who are flying for MAF right now. Well, up until to day that is. Today Mike got a temporary license. Monday we find out if the rest of the guys get temporary licenses, or permanent ones. Looks like some progress is being made, but we'll keep praying. Also, we still don't know about mechanic's licenses, as those seem to be in a different category.

Here's a note from the Program Manager:
The aviation law regarding licenses is changing here in Ecuador to come into compliance with ICAO and FAA standards. There is supposed to be reciprocity of licenses between the US and Ecuador, but we are getting mixed messages from DAC about our situation. Some seem to indicate that our problems are over and the 60-day licenses are provisional just until the new aviation law changes are complete. Others are saying that we still need to deal with the law they have been citing all along about training Ecuadorians to replace us within 6 months. With the new ICAO/FAA license requirements, these laws are now in conflict with each other. An additional twist is that they say the new laws do not clearly specify how to handle mechanic licenses. Please pray especially diligently through Monday for permanent pilot and mechanic licenses to be issued so that we can return all our forces to the many ministry tasks before us.

This Week

It's been a while. Guess it's time to catch up a bit today. Mostly I've been to lazy to write anything. But, I'm sure my loyal readers are dying to know what's going on in Shell. Hah! Got to give you your missionary aviation news from the front lines. I was up in Quito on Monday and Tuesday with Dustin. The ortho appointment was for 5:30 PM Monday afternoon, and that was just too late to get on the bus and come home that same day. We got into Quito around noon, and spent most of the afternoon at the MAF office. That gave me some time to tinker on the gateway/firewall/content filter computer there, as there were still some things on my to-do list since the initial install several weeks back. There's still more I need to do in that office, and I should probably make a trip back up there next week. Thankfully, I have Brian there who is computer-savvy. But, now that he's going to be our Quito Office Manager, I think he'll have less time to deal with computer issues. I haven't done it this past year, but I think when I get back in August, I'll need to make regular, monthly trips to the Quito office to take care of computer issues.

Yesterday I spent the day on a variety of things. Worked on getting a donated computer ready for the pilots' office. Needed to install programs and run updates. Went to Puyo in the afternoon with Ron looking to get some errands done. Between the two of us, we managed to get only a couple things checked off our list. Such are trips to Puyo. It was 2:30 PM, and there were still some places closed for their afternoon siesta. I left a message at one of the places for the guy to stop by and see me today at the hanger. He did, and right on time. I need an estimate from him for some bars on the bodega door. The three windows have bars, but not the door, and the door has a large window in it.

Gotta' run. More later. I have some info on licences and flying.

Teacher Appreciation

Yesterday the School Board had their annual teacher appreciation lunch. This year it was done a bit differently. Ellyn hosted lunch here at our house, and went all out to make the atmosphere just right. A couple board members made the lunch. It turned out very nice, and we all had a very enjoyable time. Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, we had a board meeting. My last. I have been on the school board for three years, as president and vice president, and I'm ready for a break from that. I enjoy being involved in what is going on, but I think it's someone else's turn now.

Much Rain

It rained hard last night. And then again through most of the afternoon. Chad got some flying in, and Daniel made it down from Quito with the Borror family. But, Bruce was hoping to get to Quito for a medical, and that didn't happen. Along the way he was going to stop in Tena for a medical emergency patient. Man, the weather can really mess things up.

Lance

Yahoo!! Lance is looking good. He's racing in the Dodge Tour of Georgia this week, and won the third and fourth stages today. We're only about ten weeks away from the Tour de France, and I can hardly wait. This year I'll be in the States, and can only hope to be able to watch on TV.

Teaching Overseas

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in teaching missionary kids, MAF is in need of teachers for the following positions.

• High School Biology Teacher - Alliance Academy - Quito, Ecuador
  
• Lower Elementary - Hillcrest International School, Wamena Satellite, Papua, Indonesia
  
• Lower Elementary - Piningki Hill School, Tarakan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
  
• Middle School - Language Arts, Sentani, Papua, Indonesia
  

Tower Trip

Yesterday Bruce asked me if I'd be willing to go to the north repeater site. He wanted to go himself, but has something wrong with his ankle, and didn't think it best to hike on it. He's planning to re-do both the north and south repeaters with with all new equipment and antennas in the next couple of months. He's going to need to build an antenna mount for the south repeater. To make sure the mount will work, he needed some measurements, and the north repeater is the easier of the two sites to get to. There is a work team of students from S.M.A.T. here for the week, along with some volunteers. One of those volunteers, Tom, went along with me. We had beautiful weather this afternoon, which was a plus. On the down side though, was the fact that loggers were working on the hillside, and the trail was really muddy and torn up. The loggers cut the trees, then saw the wood into planks with their chain saws. After that, the planks are tied to the sides of horses, and dragged down the mountain-side. That doesn't do any good for the trail, believe me. The view from the top of the tower was awesome. Here I am looking down at Tom. The panels at the top of the photo are solar panels for re-charging batteries. The rusty tin roof is the shed where the VHF radio repeater equipment is. I climbed the tower to make some measurements, and really didn't want to get down--the view was spectacular. In this photo you can see Mera in the foreground and Shell off in the distance.

President GutiÈrrez

Here's a bit of news on presidential politics in Ecuador. If you live in the US, I bet you already get enough of that with the elections coming up in November. The president here in Ecuador has had a rough time of it lately. We aren't seeing any signs of unrest in our neck of the woods because of this, but I suppose that could change any time. Here's an article from Reuters describing the president's situation. He started his term on the left, with support from native Indians and Marxists. He soon swung to the right to get support for an IMF loan. Now, he has no real support from either side. A recent poll shows he continues to have low support numbers.

License Update

Let me see if I can summarize the situation with licenses. It's a little complicated, and I won't take the liberty to go into details. But, the acting Sub Director (actually Head of Flight Standards) is granting 'temporary' licenses for sixty days. This is to give him time to work out a solution with others in the DAC. As it turns out, the acting Sub Director is an evangelical Christian.

We have to fill out a formal solicitud, fill out a bunch of forms, turn in copies of log books, last check flights, and a few other things. This is because they can not convalidate the US licenses anymore, but can give us Ecuadorian licenses under a special provision.

The sixty days don't start until they actually give us the licenses. Brian has all the forms, and he'll be working on filling those out to get us back into the air for at least a while! Thanks for your prayers. Be encouraged!

Friday Flying

It was near the end of Friday afternoon when Chad asked me if I wanted to go get a snake bite victim with him. He and Bruce were trying to decide which of them would go, but when I said I'd go, Chad said he'd do it. He wasn't excited about making the flight alone, but was more than happy to have some company. I ran across the street to tell Ellyn, and also took my laptop and backpack home in case we got stuck out and didn't come back that afternoon. The weather looked reasonably good, and had been all day, so I wasn't too worried. But, when the flight is forty minutes each way, and you're taking off after 4 PM, the thought does cross your mind.

We flew southwest to a village with a name I can't remember, and landed. There were quite a few people waiting for us, and a young man carried a young woman to the plane. Chad quickly loaded her in the plane, and of course the people asked about an acompaÒante, or someone to accompany her to the hospital. Normally, when an adult is flown out of the jungle, the Air Ambulance program doesn't pay for somone to go along. However, since this was a woman, and the community was so remote, Chad allowed her father to go along. Some communities always have someone in Shell or Puyo, and others from that village who end up going to the hospital can expect some help from them. Chad also said he was a softie, and couldn't say no easily. I also pointed out that when the plane has two empty seats, it does make it hard to say no.

After a short ten minutes on the ground, we were off, flying through the late afternoon clouds. We arrived back in Shell a little before 6 PM. A few minutes after we were on the ground, a taxi arrived to take the woman to the hospital in Shell. I always feel better when someone goes to the HCJB hospital. I know they will get great care there, and that they will also hear the Gospel message. But, not everyone we fly out gets to go there. Along with the patient, was the snake--very dead, and
in a plastic bag. It helps the doctors to know which type of snake it is. This one was an Equis, a snake with an often deadly bite.

Saturday morning I was standing at the kitchen counter at 9: 30, washing some dishes. It was a cloudy and rainy morning, with zero visibility and zero ceiling. All of a sudden I thought of that woman. If we hadn't gone to get her Friday afternoon, she wouldn't have had any chance for a flight on Saturday morning. And, it stayed that way all day, with no chance for anyone to fly. That's the way it often is, where someone in the jungle needs a flight, and we can't get them. This woman was fortunate.

Chad and his young son came over Friday night for a Boys' night. Ellyn went over to be with Chad's wife for a Girls' night. Chad and I played Rallisport Challenge on the Xbox, and then watched Mr. Bean. Taylor was off at Luke's for the night, and Dustin was over at a friend's house for a movie.

Positive Progress

This from Brian:
Darryl and I had a favorable meeting with the Sub Director of the Direccion de Aviacion Civil [Ecuadorian Civil Aviation authority] on Wed, 14 April. He feels we have done everything needed in order to receive our licenses back. Unfortunately, the process by which we received licenses in the past is no longer part of the Civil Aviation law. Ecuador is moving to a licensing scheme just like in the US, but the Ecuadorian Congress has not yet passed the new law. So today, Thursday 15 April the head of the licensing division and the head of the Flight Standards division are meeting to figure out how they can legally give us licenses again. We are supposed to have an answer tomorrow (Friday, 16 April). Please give thanks for the positive movement and continue praying that the Lord will work this out to His honor and glory.

Back In The Saddle

Yesterday HC-BXB flew with passengers for the first time in almost a year. During the duration, it's engine was sent back to the US twice, it was repainted, a 1000-hour inspection was done, as well as some other work that needed to be done. It's good to have that going, as HC-BQV will be down for quite a while for repairs.

Camp Bus

The guys have started working on repairs on HC-BQV. The right wing is off and Mateo is working on removing some of the skin. Camp flying is done for now. We had two great days of weather for it, and ended up bringing out about 120 campers. Other operators on the runway were also used, and over 200 total campers arrived in Shell. They went to the coast by bus. Lloyd Rogers, of Compassion, coordinates this every year, and he needed to use the other operators to get all the campers out.

There's an important meeting this afternoon with MAF staff and the Director of the DAC. It's at 4 PM, and all prayers are welcome!

All-nighter

Let me try and quickly catch you up on a few things before I get pulled in another direction. I pulled an all-nighter (to use a college term) on Monday night. It was quite epic, as I worked through a HUGE lightning storm with the power off. Had a utility flash light on my desk, running on iBook battery, linux server on one UPS, and monitor on another UPS. I ended up botching things up early on, and had to start my install all over gain. But, by 6 AM I had the server up and running again with SuSE linux, and the Communigate Pro mail server was cranking away. MAF staff were able to wake up and get their e-mail, and they had no clue I'd been up all night. I'm glad I have that done, and all in all, it was a smooth transistion. Now I have time to update my documentation, and start showing someone else how to do some of the e-mail admin tasks while I'm gone this summer.

Backup Power

I woke up this morning to the sound of the diesel generator starting. My guess is the power went off around 6 AM, and Ron decided to start the generator around 6:30 AM, realizing it wasn't coming right back on. So, this post to the web log is still going through because both the MAF base and the HCJB hospital are running on generator power. But, despite the electricity, we still won't have water. The water system pump is a three-phase motor, and the generator is only two-phase. My guess is we'll have regular power again by noon. We'll see.

Update

Please continue to pray for MAF's situation in Ecuador. Here are a couple 'sound bites'.

1. Our contact at the US Embassy has now met twice with the Director of Civil Aviation on our behalf. Both times he has said that we just need to make an appointment with him and he will "fix our problem." After the first meeting we made an appointment and (our two pilot/management reps) were passed off to the Sub Director who knew nothing of the situation nor why we had come to see him. However, the meeting did end up bearing some fruit which we are acting upon. Now, we have a meeting with the Director scheduled for next Wednesday, 14 April, at 4pm. Pray that our guys will get in the door this time and that the Director will indeed, "fix our problem."

2. This coming weekís schedule is already full with plans to do 'camp flying'. Many of the indigenous Christian young people who have been faithful to complete a correspondence Bible study will be able attend a week-long camp near the Coast. We only have alotted a couple days to fly more than two hundred young people.

3. We continue to have three operational pilots in Shell. One of the three licenses will be expiring at the end of this week. In addition, one of those three pilots has been ill over the weekend. He will be needed for the camp flying.

By the way, there is also a praise to share. The problem with the prop on HC-BXB was solved. It was a relatively easy fix, and a Return To Service (RTS) flight has been carried out. The plane should be operational again this week, just in time for Camp flying.

Wild Ride Home

Guess I ought to update this page before too long. It's on my list of things to do, but I keep putting it off in favor of doing other things on the list. One thing I really don't want to do is go outside and work in the yard. I need to do some filling and placing of sod (cut from out back) in the places where new water lines were laid a few weeks ago. I should mow the lawn too. The sun came out earlier, and that was a good excuse to put it off. Now it's cloudier, and actually looks like it might rain. Think I'll get out there and do that next.

The family had a good two-day trip to Quito. I had some good success with the Internet content filter in the Quito office. Taylor had his first cavity filled. Dustin had four teeth pulled, as he needs more room in his mouth as they straighten teeth. Within an hour after having the teeth pulled, we headed off to the bus station for the trip home. The kid is tough, and didn't complain once.

The bus station was very busy, as it was Thursday afternoon, and many people were leaving Quito for the Easter weekend. Good Friday is a big holiday here in Ecuador. It's actually a more important holiday than Christmas or New Year's Day. We got on a bus to Ambato. A bit crowded, but we had three seats. Two of the seats were right in the very front, next to the driver. Taylor and Dustin were going to take turns sitting on the low, padded 'bench' right behind those two seats, but then Dustin fell asleep, so they didn't want to move him. Tay ended up on Ellyn's lap near the end. I was in a seat farther back, and as the bus travelled toward Ambato, the aisle filled up with passengers, and was a bit crowded. As usual, nobody would open a window, and I was desperate for some fresh air. In Ambato it looked grim--buses were packed with people making the pilgrimage to BaÒos. We waited up by the street for a while, and then decided to go down into the bus station. There were very few buses, but we found one travelling to Tena, and which would pass through Shell. We filled the back row, then I went inside the terminal to buy tickets. When the bus pulled out of Ambato, it was packed, standing room only. We were fortunate to have seats.

Then, as we got to the traffic circle at the outskirts of town, the bus turned off onto the Riobamba road. I heard the attendant say we would be taking a detour, and the trip would be at least an hour longer. Groan! It turns out that many people walk to BaÒos, and the police close the road from Ambato to BaÒos. So, the bus went on back roads, all the way to Pelileo. Roads were cobblestone and dirt much of the way, and often only single lane. In Pelileo it was even worse, and the place was packed with people. The bus again took off on back roads, this time descending down in the river canyon, and through the town of Patate. Finally we came back onto the main highway, just about five miles from BaÒos. What a relief, because for a while I wondered if we were going to make it home that night. As it was, we got home around 11 PM, and was is normally trip of less than five hours ended up taking seven hours.

Friday, Dustin wanted some soup for lunch. We went out and got him some Fanesca. Not really a soup, but more like a stew. It's made with fish and many grains, and is a traditional Holy Week dish that everyone in Ecuador eats throughout the week. Tasty, and filling. Recipe is here if you want to try making some.

Moonlight Volcano

The family is off to Quito tomorrow. Boys have dentist appointments, Ellyn wants to do some things with the MAF apartment, and I have some work to finish up at the office on an Internet content filter. We'll ride the bus both ways, which is old hat for Dustin, but much more novel for Taylor. We'll try to catch the 8 AM bus to Ambato, and from there switch to a Quito bus. I'm so thankful for the convenience of public transportation here. But I can never get over the amount of time it takes to travel 155 miles. Five hours. Oh well.

I did the water run today. Went in the rain. Probably would have gone later, but when I got to the hangar at 8:30 AM, there was a pilot/mechanic meeting going on in the pilots' office, and I couldn't get to my desk. So I headed off to Mangayacu. I had a few containers less than usual, and the rain let up enough that I didn't need an umbrella.

It did rain most of the morning, but by afternoon the guys were flying. We had great views of the volcanos this afternoon, and tonight the moon is lighting up the snowcaps. Makes me miss the Sierra Nevada.

Today I finally managed to finish up with Dawn's computer. She's not with MAF, but I agreed to help her with a laptop someone gave to her. An old Macintosh Powerbook. Thankfully I am a long-time Macintosh user, and have an old Powerbook here myself. I was able to get her set up with an old modem I have. This is a big plus for her, because now she doesn't have to travel five miles by bus into Puyo to do e-mail at a 'net cafe. Makes you wonder what we used to do with all the time we had before e-mail and web logs, doesn't it?!

Consulta

As I wrote last week, HC-BQV is back in Shell. I got a chance to look at it up close and personal Saturday. It sounds like the biggest issue is going to be the wing repair. Damage is both at the root and the tip. I was a bit surprised that they had actually used duct tape in the temporary repair. Despite the fact that might not seem like a very good way to repair a plane, it was done for temporary aerodynamics, and wasn't used in any structural way of course. There was nothing 'Red Green' about this repair! You can also see that the roof of the cabin is wrinkled quite a bit too. So, the guys are now with another project, just as they are finishing the project of repainting HC-BXB.

Speaking of HC-BXB, it's not all downhill from here. They took it out to run it up today, and discovered a problem with the prop. Actually, I think the prop is OK, but I think it's the mechanism that changes the pitch that isn't working. At any rate, the guys are putting their heads together, trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

Shell Weekend

It's late Sunday night, and I'm ready to crash. I made it back from Quito about 8:30 on Friday night. Keith and I left HCJB about 3:15 PM, took the trolley to the bus station, and got on a Riobamba bus. Not my favorite bus line, but it was the first one out the gate. The guy was a typical Riobamba driver, and drove like an idiot. Whenever he was in the wrong lane, making a crazy pass, with oncoming traffic closing in on him, he'd use his horn, which sounded like a siren. In Ambato we switched, and got on a San Francisco bus. That got us to the road construction in BaÒos right at 7:30 PM, right when the road opened. If we'd missed that, it would have been a wait of over an hour. All in all though, it was a good trip. On the second half, I sat next to a woman from Ambato, who is a doctor. When she realized I spoke English, she pulled out her notes, and started practicing her English. She takes an English class an hour a day.

Saturday morning I worked in the wood shop with the boys. Taylor built a cross bow, along with friend Joel. Dustin built a portable building tray for his Lego Mindstorm. Today I helped him download a program and a tutorial, and he's really starting to get into programming. We'll see where this leads. He's really getting into it. Then, Saturday afternoon I got the go-kart going again. It's been a long time since we ran that, and I had to put in new rocker arms for the valves and adjust those. I changed out the old gas, and it fired right up. Then, within a couple hours, had trashed it. Taylor and I were riding it, when I slid around a corner and hit a rock. Popped the tire, bent the axle, and tweaked the sprocket. Took a bit of time yesterday and today, but I got everything all straightened out. I took Taylor over to the runway at 6:15 this evening, and he had fun riding it 'til the gas ran out. Oh, he also fished in the ditch by the hangar this afternoon while I worked on the kart. He caught four fish, all about five or six inches long. He was so excited.

Well, I better hit the hay. I wonder what awaits me at the hangar tomorrow. Hopefully all the computers behaved while I was gone, and I won't have too many unexpected things to deal with.

Ten Is Back

HC-BQV (or 10, as we call it) is safely back in Shell today. Temporary repairs were made, and the plane flown back this afternoon. I'm sure it will be a while 'til repairs are all done. Now they can take the prop off '10' and put it on HC-BXB, which has just had the engine re-installed. You might remember that the prop was damaged on '10' during the accident in Kuakash. I imagine HC-BXB, or '11' for short, will be ready for a Return To Service (RTS) flight in the next few days. It's been almost a year since '11' has been in regular service. It first was taken out of service for a prop strike, then had engine problems after the engine inspection, then had a 1000-hour inspection while waiting for the engine to return from the US, and then was re-painted. It's been a long time for '11'. They'll need the prop to get 11 going again, so it's good that '10' came back sooner rather than later.