Saturday, October 31, 2009

Home and Hangar Update

Karen's in PA enjoying a "girl's weekend" with her cousins and sister and I'm getting ready to head up to the mission to lead a tour for a prospective candidate. We're having some rain showers today. Tomorrow I'll teach the young adult Sunday school class and play the drums with the worship team. Here's an update from the hangar floor:

The Brazilian 206 Restoration Moves Ahead

Purchased in pieces in Alaska and trucked down to our hangar last year, restoration of the Cessna 206 for ministry in Brazil has been limited due to more pressing manpower requirements. With return to service of Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 and with the Honduran 206 project nearly completed, work on the Brazilian 206 has moved to the front of the production schedule.

And because we do our work "labor free," airplanes that were scrap, or should be scrapped, are able to be restored and returned to mission service in "like new" condition for far less than what the respective mission would pay to purchase a comparably configured replacement airplane.

Ian, Josh, and Paul are focused on getting this airplane back in the sky. It's quite the project as you'll see from the photos below. The photos are indicative of the level of maintenance we're regularly involved with here at MMS.

The goal is to have this aircraft ready for return to service by the end of March 2010.

The airplane arrives from Alaska.

Paul works with the control cables.

Josh fabricates new "skin" as part of repair.

Ian pulls rivets in a repair to one of the 206's two cargo doors.

There are still many parts to inventory, clean, and inspect before learning what components will need to be fabricated in-house or purchased from outside vendors.

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