Jim Manley claims two professional passions - flying and writing. He flew instruction, air taxi and air-attack for the US Forest Service before joining MAF. Then he served 17 years in Ecuador as a pilot, radio tech and program manager. He’s also published numerous articles and his first book, Call For News, came off the presses in Dec 2010.Medical evacuation flights really hurt during my first term. Once turned loose with an airplane in the jungle, I felt I had to be both counselor and pilot. During orientation phase I could busy myself preparing the airplane to receive the patient. The instructor pilot handled talking with the village, the family, and supervising gentle […]
As the newest pilot on MAF’s Ecuador program in the late 1980s, advancing God’s Kingdom excited me. Yet, a hold-over from commercial pilot culture still nagged—having and keeping enough of the “Right Stuff” inside.
I paid close attention to Gene Jordan, my checkout pilot, but new information inundated me—tricks of 130 unique airstrips, radio Spanish, hangar […]
Wings perform marvelous feats. With them we soar like eagles and race with the wind. Without them we wish. With them we cross continents, leap oceans, and vault mountains. Without them we walk.
Wings perform marvelous feats. Photo by Jim Manley.
We tried for a long, long time to understand them, to imitate them. But, […]
Every station on the main radio network reported low ceilings and rain. But our home base, Shell, Ecuador, looked fine sitting high above the jungle. I switched to the older, short-wave network to reach stations sequestered in hidden mountain valleys. My destination, Yaapi, reported rain most of the night, but a clear morning with bright […]
David McCleery, MAF’s Latin America Regional Director, just shared with me an unusual ministry report from the Shuar tribe, an indigenous group I flew for in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle. One of their pastors might’ve seen it this way …
Felipe watched out the airplane window as the tire struck the airstrip’s dirt and started spinning. He […]
While still in Ecuador, a late afternoon sun burned white. Good weather over the jungle allowed one more flight. I taxied to the runway, passengers eager for home.
Before that, Pancho and helpers moved and gassed my airplane. They loaded cargo and seated passengers. They answered my radioed position reports. After each flight they unloaded and […]