Fathers Day

Once again, I found myself at the South America Mission guest house in Lima. My cousin had just spent almost two weeks in Peru visiting me and helping install a computer network in our office at SAM AIR. Having dropped my cousin off at the airport, I had a day and a half before my flight back to Pucallpa. So, I made the best of my time all day Saturday and it got me inspired to write something up for fathers day.

Growing up, I remember my own father working around the house. Some of my clearer memories of childhood were of me “helping” him repair ovens, replace window screens, build ping pong tables, and other such handyman jobs. When I was 7 years old I even wrote a father’s day card in the shape of a tool belt that said how I wanted to be like my dad. Well, for my day at the Lima guest house, I found myself doing the same things my father had taught me.

From talking with the lady who runs the house, I knew that there were a few different issues that needed to be addressed. So, I spent my day installing a new window screen, fixing a leaking faucet, and buying and installing both a fluorescent light fixture, and shower head/valve assembly. These things, in my mind, were simple jobs yet I knew that not everyone knew how to do them or would take pleasure in them as I did. The satisfaction of fixing something that was once broken or leaking is a wonderful feeling.

So Dad, this blog post if for you. Thanks for teaching me how to work with my hands. Thanks for teaching me that no job, even a leaky faucet, is to small to fix. Twenty years after that card that I gave you, I still find myself wanting to be like you. Happy fathers day!

Mini motorcycle trip

A month ago, on a Saturday morning, I went out with a few other missionaries for a little motorcycle ride. The guys I went with, really love trail riding and so we got our bikes pretty muddy.


It was also sweltering so whenever we stopped to lift our bikes over logs that were in the trail, the sweat flowed and even soaked our socks. Most of the trails were cow paths leading back into the middle of nowhere. Thank fully nobody broke down or got hurt bad. It is amazing that those dirt bikes can handle.

Turbo 206 Pictures

As promised, here are some shots of our new Turbo charged 206. These were taken during an inspection by the government. They had to check and make sure the prop, engine, and accessory serial numbers were the same as they had on their documentation. Jon, Craig, and Hammer all jumped in to pull the cowlings and spinner.
I also got a good shot of our tail number N9878Z along with our other SAM AIR wheel plane and a military helicopter in the background.


We are all looking forward to flying behind the Gamin 530 GPS system! JAARS did a really good job on the panel overhaul. Special thanks to Electronics International for donating the 6 point EGT/CHT gauge.

First visitor

Even though my first visitor is not even here yet I am already quite excited. My cousin, Ed, is coming from Florida to work for a week at the SAM AIR hanger. He will be helping out by installing a network NAS drive. I honestly have no idea what that means, but I think it helps the computers talk to each other and share data faster. So he will be working on that along with our office manager Mike. Then, we will be taking 5 days and Ed and I will be going to Arequipa, Peru. We hope to try all the local foods, do some hiking, and hopefully relax. I know I need it.

The other day I went on another orientation flight with one of our pilots named Craig. We were in the float plane were headed up north to the Marañon river. The weather was not great but it was a good learning experience as we were down to 1000 feet above the ground for an hour and half before the clouds started to break up and we could get on top. We were going to 3 different Indian villages to pick up 4 Indians who would be working on a New Testament Revision for their tribal language. Since the center where the revision work is done is in Pucallpa, we picked them up and brought them back to Pucallpa.

I got to load and unload all the cargo but I was sweating pretty good due to the 90 degree heat and humidity. We unloaded a Honda 5 hp engine along with a ten foot out board drive shaft. Think of it as a propeller shaft that hooks up to the motor so they can move their canoes around by motor instead of paddling. There was also a live chicken that came along for the ride but it stayed in the float baggage compartment.

We saw some virgin jungle waterfalls and landed on two very swift rivers. Infact, you could stand still with relation to the river bank while you were taxing in the water! It was 6.6 hours of flying and we were gone from 10am until 6pm. What a day!

More good news

This morning I talked with the DGAC (Peru aviation authority's) about getting my mechanic certificate convalidated. They were a little confused at they told me my license was waiting for me in Lima but that, as I told them, was my pilot license. (It was nice to reconfirm that it is there and ready for me) But as fas as my mechanic certificate goes, I still have to receive a practical check from a government inspector.
Thankfully this past week we had a maintenance inspector out here to check out our float plane and he will be coming back next week to check out our new Turbo 206. So I managed to get my practical check scheduled with him while he is here next week. It was an advantage to meet him previously because when I talked with him on the phone, he was informed about my situation. So things are coming together slowly but surely.

Inspection

This past week we had an annual inspection on one of our airplanes. It was very interesting because the government actually has to send an inspector to look at the airplane but he only looks at a few things or check certain things, basically what ever he wants to see he checks out. But Todd and Hammer, our two mechanics did well and I even tagged along for the day and observed. I was hoping I could also do my practical check to get my mechanic certificate but that ended up falling through because nobody had communicated with the inspector...
In other news, we have one of our pilots getting home from furlough tomorrow. So now we will be up to 2 full pilots and me... so that is like 2.5 pilots as I still do not have a license and still have to be checked out to go solo as of yet.
This past week we received our, new to us, Cessna Turbo 206. It basically is the same as our other 2 airplanes but the difference is the engine in that it has a turbocharger that is able to keep the rated horsepower up to 16,000 feet. Non-turbocharged airplanes lose horsepower as they climb due to the fact that the air becomes less and less dense as you go higher. The turbo compresses the air and makes it so that the engine has just as much air as sea level. We still need permission to operate the airplane in Peru but at least we have it down here. Pictures to come!
One last thing, the pilot who brought the plane down stopped in 5 different countries on the way down. Unfortunately he said he had the most problems with clearances, flight plans, and customs in Peru and NOT in the other 4 countries!

The latest

Well I had been waiting for my pilot certifacte to come through and the latest word was that I would have a checkride on the 22nd of this month. Then today we heard from the government that I would need to got to Lima again because my pilot license was ready to be picked up! Without having to do a checkride... So I don´t really understand it, but I will take that! Not sure when I will be going but I would imagine in a week or so.

I am still flying with my Chief Pilot here. We had a 5 hour traing flight yesterday with the float plane. I will post some pictures as I came into town where there is fast inernet. Yes, we do land on there rivers. Some of the approaches require low turns over the river or on take off you have to follow the river while you climb out above the trees!

Still waiting

Two weeks ago I called the Government inspector about scheduling a time to receive my final checkride. This is the last thing, that I know of at least, that I need to do before I receive a pilot license down here in Peru. So he said to call him back the next week on Monday. So I waited 5 days and then called him Monday morning. He told me that that week we was going to be in northern Peru but was going to be coming out to Pucallpa on Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week and I should call him again the following Monday.
So yesterday I called him again and he said he was still in Northern Peru and for the next 2 weeks he was going to be busy. He did suggest that I call the DGAC offices and see if someone else could come out to Pucallpa and to the check ride.
So we called the DGAC, they gave us two numbers for the person that is in charge of the Pucallpa area and of course when we dialed the number it was a wrong number. So we call back to the office and they give us another number which when dialed is also not correct. Then we call back to the DGAC office a 3rd time and they give a 3rd number for someone else and he is not picking up his phone. So at the moment we are not really sure what in the world we are going to do but something has to give right?
Maybe I can just start flying down here without a license because they would never find out because they are never out here and don´t want to work with us or help us in anyway at all. But of course the moment we did that you know they would show up with a surprise inspection. You can´t win for loosing.