Interior pieces

On Friday I finished a mini-milestone on the 206 rebuild project. I have been working for the past two week off and on trying to fit the new interior. The new beige plastic pieces needed to be trimmed and installed. One would think that this process would be easy, but many pieced needed some "persuasion" to fit well around windows and where they mated up with adjoining pieces. I made judicious use of a heat gun that helped me to mold the plastics so a good fit could be obtained.

My friend Nathan finished repairing the horizontal stablizer. There were numerous dents that needed to be filled and then sanded down. The protective rubber boot on the leading edge was also coming unglued so some industrial super glue was used to keep it attached for the next 10,000 hours of flight time.

Project update.

One of the big jobs for the re-build project is resealing the wing tanks. This model of Cessna 206 has "wet wings", basically a section of the wing is put together with sealant and is used to hold the fuel inside of the wing. This is different than a car which has the fuel in a separate purpose built tank. Other options on airplanes are "bladder" tanks made of rubber.

Almost all airplanes, including airliners, have the fuel tanks in the wings. Really small airplanes like Aeronca 7AC Champs have a tank right behind the instrument planel. But those airplanes don't have a second engine, flaps, a nose wheel, starter, or an electrical system... that is why they are much fun to fly.

After cleaning out all the fuel tank sealant, new sealant must be applied along every seam and over every rivet. (Its the dark grey stuff) Let me tell you, this stuff is SUPER sticky! Once we get done with this wing, there is one more to go!

Dave and Nathan have been painting control surfaces. Hot and humid weather can make it a challenge to get the paint to come out right. It takes a full day just to spray the primer and then the white top coat after that. Having worked in a paint shop, I know that prep work is 95% of a good paint job... but the last 5% can still ruin a good paint job.

Reflections

Playing with the camera while flying on a beautiful sunny day.

Birthday Flying

On my birthday, December 27th, I celebrated by getting checked out into a new airstrip. This one is called Santa Rosa de Serejal. This is a community where we pick up people who are working on translating the Bible into their own language. They come Pucallpa where they work for 2 weeks and then go back to their village.

The interesting thing about this one was that after Craig (the other pilot) and I landed, we found a number of holes is in the runway! They keep cows on the airstrip and sometimes they make holes in soft areas after it rains. Thankfully we stopped about 20 feet before one of these holes (which we could not see until we walked the airstrip)!

The villagers filled the holes in with dirt and I got the chance to do 3 takeoffs and landings. They went well and I am officially checked out in one more place. As my friend Dave K. says, I am 93% of a SAMAIR pilot.

End of 2010

Today is the last day of 2010. At the end of the year I know many of us take time to reflect and think back upon the last year, considering what happened, what goals we achieved, and how God continued to work in our lives.

In January I had the Chicken pox, a very miserable time for a number of reasons. This was compounded by the fact that I had accidentally reported I had Small Pox, which caused mild manic until I finally stopped hallucinating and got my facts straight.

I enjoyed new friendships this year with other Missionaries from Switzerland and Germany. Proving that ethnicity is not that really important when you are chasing after a soccer ball or eating Swiss chocolate!

Two months in the USA during the summer spent visiting supporter and friends was encouraging and refreshing. The annual Oshkosh Airventure Fly-In was a highlight, as well as giving airplanes rides.

The challenge of living by myself after my house mate got married forced me to become more outgoing and pursue relationships with Peruvians and missionaries from other missions.

American Football games during the past 3 months have been a highlight and the impetus for gatherings at my house. This was made even sweater by the Detroit Lions winning more than 1 game during the 16 game season!

Finally, increased confidence and skill in my job as both a pilot and flight coordinator with SAMAIR has been satisfying. Of particular note were emergency flights which saved the lives of at least 3 people!

Thank you to the countless people who have made it possible for me to be serving in Peru this past year. Without your prayers and financial giving, it would not be possible for me to be here. For those of you wishing to make and end-of-the-year donation to this work, you may give online through the website www.southamericamission.org. On the homepage, click "Donate Now", and then select the pop-up menu on the left that allows you to choose a missionary and/or ministry to give to. Have a blessed New Year.

Christmas Flowers

Flowers I found within 100 yards of my house.

Merry Christmas!

Fill 'er up!

There is only one distributor of aviation fuel here in Peru. I am told that every year one tanker ship comes from either Houston or Venezuela with enough fuel for the 40 piston powered airplanes that fly in Peru. At the SAMAIR hanger we have a 9000 gallons storage tank for aviation fuel, however our permit only allows us to buy 3000 gallons at a time. That is enough fuel to keep us flying for almost 2 months.

Fuel arrives from Lima, an 18 hour drive, by tanker truck. We then hook the truck up to our tank and using the electric pump that is used for filling up the airplanes, we throw some valves and are able to pump it off the big truck and into our 9000 gallon tank. It takes about an hour to offload all 3000 gallons at a time.

After checking the fuel level and making sure we did receive a full load, its time to drain a sample and check for water. If everything is ok, we are good to go for another 2 months.

Bits and Pieces

The rebuild project on our 1980 Cessna 206, OB-1671, continues to move forward. This past week work was completed on a number of bits and pieces. The complete rudder pedal system was stripped of paint, repaired where needed, primed and painted a gloss black. All of the push rods and bell cranks for the aileron and flap systems were bead blasted to remove the old paint, had new bearing installed and shot with a green primer. they will be ready for installation with new hardware once the work on the wings has been completed.

Even the program manager, Craig, visited the bowels of the shop to check out the cowl flap I had just finished riveting together.

At the moment we are anxiously waiting for out latest parts shipment to arrive. It had been in Peru for a month now, but problems with some paint thinner have kept things from moving forward. In the end, we had to send the thinner back to the USA and are looking for other options! Scheduled completion time frame is April or May of 2011.