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 […]
The security situation where we live degraded last week, here in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s all “part of doing business” for overseas missionaries, but still there is something inside our human hearts which reminds us that this unrest isn’t normal. It’s also a good reaffirmation of one of the reasons why we are […]
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 […]
It took me almost four hours flying over 300 mph just to get across one corner of the country—Democratic Republic of Congo. Talk about vast!
The long flight from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi was possible at this speed thanks to MAF’s Pilatus PC12. Normally it would take all day to make the journey in a Cessna airplane, let […]
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 […]