End of the Line

My first Kodiak tour has come to an end.  I am excited to be going home and seeing Caleb and Renae but also sad that I won't be able to fly the Kodiak on a regular basis.  We have traveled in the last 10 days from Grand Rapids Michigan to Akron OH to Norfolk VA passed Washington D.C's busy airspace and then back up to Lancaster/smoketown PA.  I have enjoyed getting to "know" the Kodiak by flying for several hours and just familiarizing myself with the G1000 avionics package.

We just finished yesterday the biggest mission aviation air show in the world! This is located in Smoketown PA, just a few miles east of Lancaster.  The airfield is located in a contrasting environment with aircraft  flying overhead and buggies driving in the middle of Omish country.  Even some of the locals came out to see what all the noise was about.

At the moment I am waiting to board my first flight of three today.  Even though it is 5:30 am here on the East coast it is funny to think that I was awake and driving to the airport when in Spokane the clocks were only showing 12am.  I only wish I could be with my family for breakfast this morning, guess I just have to wait only a few more hours.  The trip was a good one but I am very ready to be home with my son and beautiful wife.

How many people can you fit in a Kodiak?

The answer to that is 74...well 74 people over the course of 10 flights.

We were very busy giving rides to some students from Western Michigan Aviation Academy. This is a new charter high school for students that are interested in aviation as a career.  We were there to help start the school year out with a thrilling ride in the Kodiak to almost 160 total students over a two day period.  It was a great time seeing the smiles as they bounded out of the airplane, chatting and talking with their friends.  For some it was their very first flight and they were nervous when I first sent them off on the flight but were grinning from ear to ear when I opened up the rear door.

Tomorrow we will head over to Virginia and then to Smoketown Pennsylvania.  This has been my second business trip away from Renae and Caleb and I am excited about return home already.  This has been a great opportunity for me to be able to gain some more flight time in the Kodiak as well as meet a lot of people that have been praying and supporting Spokane Turbine Center. 

Kodiak Tour in Full Swing

Spokane Turbine Center has been giving rides for the past week in the humid air of Missouri.  The reason we are doing this is to let people know more about what mission aviation is and how it is a necessary part of overseas ministry.  My job for these tours is to get people to sign up and give their weight (oh the horror!) for a weight and balance calculation for the Kodiak, and then give them a safety briefing like you get on a big airliner.  This group above is from a church in Muskegon MI where most of the kids have never been on an airplane before.  It was funny to hear Jeff (the pilot) comment that as soon as they started to taxi the kids would start to scream with delight and they would not stop screaming till they touched back down on the runway.  All of them had a wonderful time and would pile out of the plane with huge grins on their faces asking if they could go up again.  This is one way that we can influence some of the kids into thinking about becoming pilots and hopefully for missions as well.  I did talk to one lad that was in sixth grade and because of this flight he was very interested in wanting to learn how to fly. Just like me when I was a young boy.  It is amazing what one experience and the Lord can do to shape the rest of your future.

Oshkosh has been a BLAST!  In between working at the Spokane Turbine Center booth I have been able to visit the many different exhibits, see vintage aircraft, watch air shows and talk with different pilots.  This air show has so many different aircraft that come from all over the world, and it is fun to see new designs of aircraft as well as the older "war birds."  One of my favorite parts was being able to go to the section of the airfield that was a reenactment of the old WWII base.  There were reinactors that were living just like they did on the battlefield almost 70 years ago.  They had the tents set up, full gear on, the trusty jeeps and other vehicles and some various weapons that they use to back then.  I had a lot of fun taking pictures and talking with them.

As I "work" the booth I met many people that have a passion for missions.  To be able to talk with people that have the same focus is refreshing.  My job was basically to network with the mission people and to let the reps from different colleges know that we offered turbine training at a low cost for their students.  I also met some wonderful people that encourage me about our support raising.  As some of you already know that we are only at 25% of the needed support level that we need to be at.  These veteran missions told me that they had been in many hard situations but every time the Lord would provide just enough to see their needs met.  Those words were helpful to me to stop stressing about what we were going to do about deputation while in North Dakota, since not much interest was generated from different emails and phone calls.  Our support will come from the Lord and I should not be concerned about thinking of what people would be able to "afford" to support us financially.  All that is needed is trust what we do will please the Lord and He will meet our needs.