What does it look like to be a Missionary Pilot in Indonesia?

Ever wonder what it would look like to be a missionary pilot in Indonesia?  So do I!  So I asked one of the Mission Aviation Fellowship pilots and this is what Isaac from Palangkaraya gave me.

Palangkaraya is a city located in the interior of the Island of Borneo

-A Day with a Missionary Pilot-

Story used with Permission

Morning pre-flight of the aircraft

By the time I got to the hangar at 7 a.m. on Monday things were in full swing for me to cancel the days scheduled flights and pick up two different patients.  The plan was to fly an hour north and pick up a stroke victim in the town of Puruk Cahu, then fly the 1 ½ hrs south to the big city of Banjarmasin and meet the ambulance there.  Fly home, refuel, then fly 50 minutes northwest to the village of Tumbang Miri to pick up an old man who was critically ill and bring him back here to Palangkaraya.  The weather started off ok, but quickly turned ugly but workable.  I landed at the first destination and we loaded the patient into the plane.  A pretty large group of people were there helping and saying their goodbyes.  Most (if not all) were Muslim.  Just before I got into the plane to start up I decide to ask if it was ok if I prayed for him.  They heartily agreed and so I prayed:

Me- “Father, thank you for good weather so that I could get here to pick up this sick man.”

The crowd- “Amen, amen!”

Me- “Father please give us good weather and bless our flight to Banjarmasin.”

The crowd- “Amen, amen!”

Me- “Please bless this man so that he will get healthy quickly.”

The crowd- “Amen, amen!”

Me- “And thank you for new life in Jesus Christ, and in his name I pray, amen.”

The crowd- (silence…)

            Ha!  I think that last part threw them for a loop.  After departing, I had to wrestle with the weather a bit as it kept getting worse the farther south I flew.  I was worried that I wasn’t going to have good enough weather to land in.  The river we use in Banjarmasin is huge!  It’s like the Columbia River near Astoria.  But for the second time now, God blew the weather away right over the section of river I use.  

Weather moving in

Seriously, this is the second time I have been down there with a patient in my airplane, completely surrounded by rotten weather and massive rain, commercial airliners circling in a holding pattern waiting for the rain to clear away from the paved airport 15 miles away,

Glorious area of calm amid the rain storms raging around

and I have this weird glorious area of calm to land and taxi in!  I wish you could see it!  So after getting the patient loaded into the ambulance, saying goodbyes to the folks on the rickety little dock (it starts to sink when too many people are on it), getting my picture taken with however-many people and kids, I blasted off and headed back home.  

Kids love getting their pictures

Patient getting helped to the ambulance

 Blasting off for home again

            I landed back at Palangkaraya and, thanks to our amazing Indonesian staff, I was able to takeoff 15 minutes later.  The weather was a lot better going northwest which was nice after battling bad weather for the last 2 ½ hours.  I landed at a Tumbang Miri, a challenging little village on the corner of a quickly flowing river.
 

Self-docked on the opposite side of the river

The dock that I have used in the past wasn’t there (I learned later that it was sold and moved down river a few villages), so I self-docked on a nice dock on the opposite side of the river from the village.  After yelling across the river to explain that I couldn’t park at the their dock (because my wing and tail would hit the outhouse on the dock) they decided that they could use a boat to bring the patient to me.  A few minutes later an old man was brought in a boat over to my side of the river, I had them tie up on my float, and we quickly got him loaded into the boat.  

Patient being carried to the boat so he could cross the river to the float plane

Part of loading and unloading patients is removing the door of the airplane.  This is easily done as only three pins need to be removed to get the door off.  However, this time I had to walk across the little cable bridging the front of the floats with each other, with the door in my hand. 

River Water...can't see below 4 inches.

 One of the dudes on the dock suggested, “Don’t fall off and lose the door.”  Right, don’t fall off.  And don’t drop the door into the river with zero visibility….  Good. 

Ok, so we finally got everyone ready, I prayed again as before, then took off for Palangkaraya.  On my way home the weather in Palangkaraya went very bad; thunderstorms, huge rain, and angry wind. 

"Working" the weather and trying to get to back to Palangkaraya

When I was about 20 minutes from home base I ran into the wall of angry weather charging at me from the southeast!  I quickly turned around and headed northwest again.  I was right over the Rungan River and was able to find a nice stretch of river to land on.  I had seen a dock/house earlier (I was scoping out places and ideas the closer I got to the wall of rain and clouds) and landed near it in the hope that we could park there to wait out the weather.  I landed, unlatched my door (standard procedure), and began to taxi towards the house.

The wall of rain has arrived

At least it is dry inside the aircraft

 All of a sudden my door blew open, the water went rough, and the trees bent and waived like crazy in the just-arrived wind!  I knew I couldn’t dock at the house now, and I couldn’t beach the plane (plan B), so I turned around and started a slow taxi down the Rungan River.  I’ve been on this river before in a boat.  It was so peaceful and beautiful and calm and serene that day, with tea-colored water reflecting the green rainforest on both sides.  Now, I am taxiing an airplane down the brown wind-waved river being battered by wind, huge rain, and watching the treetops disappear in fast moving cloud.  

Taxiing on the brown wind-waved river

With a dying man lying on the floor.  And his very concerned wife, son and sister looking at me.  I ended up taxiing on the river for about 40 minutes, when finally I felt that the wind had died down enough and the overcast had risen enough to depart the river for home.

The patient endures the long taxi to wait out the storm 

Taking off and trying to reach home for the second time

I took off and enjoyed about 10 minutes of comparatively nice weather.  Then I hit a second wall of angry clouds, rain and wind.  This time I was 4 miles from our river.  I slowed down and took my time probing into the mess, ready to turn around any second.  I was able to get to our stretch of river (our “runway”) but the crosswind and rain were too much. 

Stretch of straight river

I opted to fly away from home (again) and was able to land on a straight section of river very close to home (as the crow/floatplane flies) but a jaunt as the river winds its’ way around.  I was able to step taxi (high-speed taxi) for about 7 minutes until I was finally able to park in our slip and unload my poor patient.  The planned 50-minute flight ended up being 1 hr and 45 minutes, with 2 landings and an unplanned “scenic” tour of the Rungan River. 

God is wild and amazing!  I love his weather, the display of his power!  I also appreciate when he gives me safe haven on stretches of his rivers!  I am blessed to be here doing what I know I can’t do without his strength and protection.  Why did he put a fire in my heart to serve him overseas?  I have no idea, but I am so thankful that he has given me the faith to follow him wherever he leads us.  Please pray for us as we serve Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in Central Kalimantan.  And know that he has a plan for you too; ask him what it is and be open to whatever he says to you.

 -End-

Here is a great video of the float plane operations in Palangkaraya

This is just one part of the larger program that Mission Aviation Fellowship has in Indonesia.  Even though we don't know where we will be assigned yet we are excited to see where and how God is going to use us to further His Kingdom with the tool of aviation.

In His Hands,

Tyler & Renae Schmidt