Installing the Amphibious Floats on the Asas 206

A major milestone was reached in the Asas 206 restoration project with the installation of the amphibious floats! This airplane will be operated from the liquid runway of the Amazon River and will taxi in and out of the river on a ramp that leads to the Asas de Socorro maintenance base in Manaus. We hope you enjoy the video.

Video: Here's What's Happening in the Hangar

I shot this on a hangar walk-through last week. With five missionary aircraft in various stages of inspection, repair, and modification, our guys are keeping rather busy.



Not only that, but the Cessna 207 arrived from Africa on Friday!

The 207 arrives from Gabon, Africa.

Unloading the Cessna 207.

Saturday Morning View

Saturday morning greetings from Coshocton, Ohio. We're enjoying a 24 hour break between arctic weather patterns. It's going to hit 42 today with the next weather coming in tomorrow with the high forecast for Monday at 19 degrees. 19 degrees with snow. I know that'll be warmer than some other parts of the US but it's still cold to this raised-in-Southern-California boy.

Pre-Christmas errands and some minor house projects seem to be the plan for my day. Karen's working on our finances. She's also baking some apple, raisin & nut muffins which are smelling rather good right now. I should know how they taste in the next few minutes.

They tasted as good as they smelled. Wish you could have been here.

Tucker and Tanner are doing well. They love the snow. They race outside and try to eat it all. This time of year their outside world becomes one giant snow cone.

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated.

But if you don't mind, I'll embed a little video project that has languished unfinished since September. This morning I finally had the time, concept, and motivation to complete it.

For your viewing pleasure: "Into The Salsa Garden"

December Newsletter

Hello Everyone,

Here's our latest Coshocton Flyer! Just click on the image to enlarge the newsletter.

First Snow and A Video Hangar Update

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, but today we're having our first snow of the winter. It's light, flurries really, but snow is snow. Karen's really excited. Tucker and Tanner are really excited. I'm not really excited.

BUT there are exciting things going on up at MMS!

Here's a little video project that will fill in some history as both spar straps are now in place and the guys are prepping the engine compartments for engine installation. In this clip Jim, Terry, and Mike were making major progress with securing the left spar strap in place.



In other projects, Ian is shooting paint on the amphibious floats for the Brazilian 206; Jim and Paul G. are inspecting and repairing a Cessna 172 for ministry; Mike has just started an annual inspection on a SR-22; Andy and Mark are continuing the engine compartment work on the Cessna 402; Dale is conducting an annual inspection on a local airplane and following up on all the paperwork and problem-solving involved with bringing a containerized airplane from Africa into the US; and Scott, Paul J., Terry, and Chuck are hard at work on completing all the modifications and repairs on the Navajo used for ministry in Alaska.

Thanks for your prayers and gifts as Karen and I continue to prepare people and planes for worldwide mission service.

Video: Cessna 402 Project Part 6

Here's Part 6 of the ongoing Cessna 402 project. With the spar straps installed, the guys are getting the engine compartments prepared to set the engines back in place.

Back From Vacation

Well, we're back safe, sound, and refreshed from our week away in southern Ohio. We rested, read, put jigsaw puzzles together, walked, enjoyed each other and talked about how God is working in our lives, marriage, and ministry. Thanks for your prayers.

We thought you might enjoy some photos.

Here's the cabin from above on the driveway.

The cabin from below. Yes that's a hot tub on the deck.

The view from the front window with the fishing pond through the trees.

The first of three puzzles we completed.

The second of the puzzles.

Karen relaxes on the sun porch.

We had a fire to roast hot dogs one night.

Enjoying the fire. Enjoying each other.

Taking A Break

Karen and I will be "unplugged" for the next week at a remote cabin in southern Ohio. Tucker and Tanner are staying behind to watch the house. We're getting away for a time of isolation and rest.

But before we leave, I need to run into MMS for a meeting first thing this morning, and Karen has a dentist appointment. After that we're on the road. Everything's packed (games, jig saw puzzles, snacks, books, food, clothes), we just need to load it all in the car and head south.

We're excited about the trip. It's been quite a while since just the two of us have gone anywhere by ourselves without any ministry commitment to meet, ministry need to fill, or performance expectations to satisfy.

Thanks for your prayers as we rest. Please pray that we'll enjoy each other and that God will take vacation with us, too. We're expecting to meet Him there.

A Saturday in November & Mission Video

Hello Everyone,

29 degree greetings from Coshocton, Ohio. It seems Saturdays are becoming my day to blog. That's okay.

Home
As this year rapidly draws to a close and Karen and I look ahead, we look to establish some different routines. Over the past year, our ministry to the Fresno Bible Church young adults in leading them through Steve McVey's Grace walk and Andrew Murray's Abiding in Christ, has impacted us deeply, given us new understanding of God and the possibilities in growing to know Him, and opened our eyes and hearts to desire an intimacy with Him we could have never before imagined. We're still trying to grasp it all and are trusting God to incorporate these Scriptural truths into the very essence of our souls. Its so exciting to learn there really IS more to God and faith than the every day grind we'd become so accustomed to and entrenched in.

I could run a list of the books and people The Spirit has used in our lives over the past three years, and is using, to re-shape our faith but now isn't the time. However, I will mention two more books, that are real and vibrant in our lives right now: The Complete Green Letters, by Miles J. Stanford; and Mansions of the Heart, by R. Thomas Ashbrook.

The Mission
Things at MMS are changing, too. The mission is entering its third year of organizational evaluation and reorganization. It has been, and continues to be, an amazing process where God is clearly at work reshaping and refreshing a solid, proven, and well-respected ministry to better meet the needs of a dramatically changing mission environment. This God-process is causing each one of us to dig deep within and determine on the most intimate personal levels whether or not we trust Him enough to handle every little detail of mission administration and operation. I can never get far away from Proverbs 3:5-6. I guess if I have a "life verse" that would be it.

On the technical side at MMS, the guys are tearing into the Arctic Barnabas Navajo. Here's a video I put together to begin documenting the project and a couple snapshots.

A week ago.

As of Thursday.

Replacing belly skins on the Navajo

Test Flight of LAMP's Cessna 337

I just finished editing the video of Friday's test flight of LAMP's Cessna 337. The test flight went very well and, as test flights are supposed to do, revealed some minor adjustments which needed to be made before the airplane could return to mission service.

The guys worked late into Saturday evening eliminating the "squawks" enabling the aircraft to return to missionary service Sunday morning. This airplane will soon be back in northern Canada expanding God's Kingdom across four provinces.



Enjoy the video!

End of October: Saturday Update

Here At Home
We're enjoying a slow start to our Saturday. It's 31 degrees outside, the sky is clear and the sun's just rising over the hill to our east. Karen's in the basement exercising. The dogs are curled up and asleep in their bean-bag beds. I did my workout earlier, have had my devotions, and am enjoying a pot of fresh-ground, fresh-brewed coffee. For the first Saturday in quite a while, we don't have any expectations we need to meet or ministry to fulfill or house projects to attend to. It almost feels like a vacation day.

Tucker

Tanner

The biggest question we face right now is what to have for breakfast...that's kind of refreshing. I believe Karen's going to make blue-berry muffins.

One of Karen's homemade muffins...

At The Hangar
The Cessna 337 didn't fly on Thursday but it did make its first test flight on Friday. The flight went very well. I shot video but didn't end up having the time to edit the clips. Fridays at the mission have a way of getting very, very short very quickly for some reason. There' s still 8 hours in the work day, but time always runs out before the task list does. And on Fridays, everyone also has weekly clean-up responsibilities. I clean the administrative area. Lord willing I'll put that video together when I get up to the shop on Monday and will have it posted shortly thereafter.

I'm currently involved in the application process with a young couple, am still supervising five families raising support, am producing short videos for the mission and some of the families in the mission, am updating orientation materials in preparation for the Swanson family's arrival from England, sent the December GroundCrew off to our graphic artist, recently re-wrote our training agreement with MAF-UK, met with my candidate evaluation team to debrief the four evaluations we conducted in 2010, and am involved with our leadership team in discussions related to operations in 2011. Actually, I spent a good part of Friday (when not shooting 337 video) reviewing and updating my binder related to all the BHS, CIS, ICE, and SEVIS regulations regarding my responsibility for our international apprentices.

Karen worked her usual Thursday for me and her Friday handling the MMS receipting and mailing list. She also supervised the stuffing/mailing of the 2011 MMS pocket calendar mailing. Those of you who have donated to MMS over the past year will soon receive your 2011 pocket calendars. Thank you to Dana, Sherry, Rachel, and Laurie who helped label, stuff, and stamp the envelopes!

At Fresno Bible Church
Karen just rotated off worship team, I'm still playing the drums, and Karen and I are about to wrap up 12 months of leading the young adult Sunday school class. We have four more chapters to go in order to complete discussion of Abiding in Christ, by Andrew Murray. Prior to starting Murray's book, we went through Steve McVey's Grace Walk.

We both continue to disciple individuals from church.

Thank You!
Thanks for your prayers, your friendship, and your gifts. We're blessed to be here in Coshocton serving on your behalf. We look forward to finishing 2010 well and being prepared for what God will reveal in 2011. We greatly appreciate having you with us each step of the way. And don't be afraid to stop by for some homemade muffins!

Muffins!

Oh, those muffins...

Cessna 337 Rear Engine Installation

I shot these clips prior to the last video posted of the Cessna 337's engine runs and taxi test, but never had the chance to go back and edit these clips until recently. So, even though the airplane is going to be test flown later today, here's an earlier record of Scott and Paul installing the rear engine. I did add in some of the previous test run footage at the end.



Right now the guys are "swarming" the 337 while Scott puts the finalizing the mountain of paperwork that accompanies every aircraft project. Ian, Andy, Josh, and Jim are down there taking care of all the small details before they roll the aircraft into the fall sunlight and prep it for its test flight later this afternoon.

This airplane will be used for ministry in northern Canada.

The Arctic Barnabas Navajo Arrives from Alaska

Here's a snapshot of the Arctic Barnabas Piper Navajo as it pulled onto our ramp this afternoon.

The Arctic Barnabas Piper Navajo

Arctic Barnabas flew their Navajo down from Alaska so we could replace the windows and windscreen, replace the belly skins, remove an engine and ship it out for overhaul, remove its flaps and elevators so a specialty shop can repair them, repair the engine cowling, install a new crew door, and conduct an annual inspection. We've committed to have all this completed and the airplane back in service in three months, by the end of January 2011.

Ian checks some details on GCI's King Air.

Late last week, GCI flew their King Air down for a wash. Here's Ian checking some details before washing the airplane. The airplane in the foreground is Pfeifer Evangelical Association's Piper Aztec which was in for an oil change and to have an instrument replaced.

Indications of Fall

We've had our first frost warnings of the season. As I drove off to the mission yesterday morning, our neighbor was outside scraping the ice from the windshield of her car. After living my first five years in Coshocton without a garage, I've praised the Lord nearly each morning over the past eight years that we've been blessed to have one. As a guy raised near the beach in Southern California, it's rather depressing to stand outside in freezing temps, in the dark, dressed in several layers of clothing, just to scrape ice off the windshield before going to work. Not an issue when you can park inside a garage. Praise the Lord for garages, all you His people!

Dad & Jane were out for a visit. We had a nice week together exploring local and regional culture, eating at Tom's Ice Cream Bowl, spending time in Charm, lunching at Grandma's Homestead, browsing at Lehman's Hardware, and eating more ice cream at Hartzler's Family Dairy. We even went south to try Jack's Steakhouse and to ride the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway. Tip on the railway...it depends on how one defines "scenic" as to whether or not the railway is as advertised and if you have any loose teeth...don't get on the train...they'll be knocked out by the rough track...

Locally, the Coshocton County Fair and the Apple Butter Stirring Festival are over, the Fall Foliage Tours have ended, and the natives are closing down most tourist related activities in preparation for winter.

We are getting a new pizza parlor in town...Little Cesar's lopped19 feet of the Family Video outlet to put in a storefront. Putting a pizza parlor in Coshocton is like putting another crater on the moon...this town must already have more pizza parlors per-capita than any other town in the US. We will soon have 15 pizza retailers for less than 11,ooo residents. There's some sort of odd ratio in Coshocton that demands more pizza for less people. In the nearly 14 years I've lived here I only know of two pizza places that started and closed. At least in Coshocton itself, pizza is more Midwestern than meat and potatoes...unless you're ordering a meat and potato pizza...

Karen and I are doing well, are 3 weeks into an exercise/diet program that we're actually enjoying (only gained 3 pounds during Dad & Jane's visit), and Tucker and Tanner are fine.

Thanks for making our ministry possible through your friendship, gifts, and prayers.

An Update From The Hangar

Wings With The Word's spar strap installation is in the home stretch. Once this strap is fully secured, the next steps will be to finish updating the wing wiring and re-install the engines.

Jim and Andy work on the right wing spar strap while Mike pulls wires through the left wing root.

Gospel Carrier International's King Air was in for a phase inspection. The inspection is complete and the airplane returned to mission service yesterday afternoon.

Ian inspects the King Air's right engine.

The Cessna 337 project continues toward completion. Paul J. and Scott are taking care of the final systems squawks before replacing the airplane's interior prior to its scheduled test flight next week.

Scott and Paul with the 337.

Pfeifer Evangelical Association flew their Aztec in for an oil change this morning. While the airplane was here it was decided to keep it for an additional repair. Lord willing the airplane will be back in service this Friday.

John Pfeifer talks with Terry about aircraft repairs.

You can see we're enjoying some very nice fall weather right now. Karen and I have been rather busy on several fronts lately and we hope to be a bit more bloggy over the next few weeks. Thanks for your patience, your prayers and your gifts that enable us to serve!

Roll-out, Run-up, and Taxi Test of LAMPs Cessna 337

King Air Phase Inspection

Gospel Carrier International's King Air 200 is back in our hangar for a "phase inspection." A phase inspection is performing an annual inspection in "phases" over an extended period of time. Phase inspections are an efficient way to maximize the airplane's availability through less down-time while meeting all the safety and maintenance criteria in an ongoing manner.

Performing these inspections for GCI (and other mission operators) provides our apprentice mechanics with unsurpassed experience working on high-technology airplanes, under real production pressures, in positions demanding a high level of personal responsibility.

When our mechanics finish their thirty months of apprenticeship they've already experienced two and a half years of missionary service, have over 4,800 hours of experience responding to and managing maintenance events of all shape and size, and are uniquely prepared to meet the challenges of cross-cultural service in the mission aviation community worldwide.

Here's a video clip of the guys in the early stages of the GCI phase inspection.

Saturday at 368 McClain

We were blessed with an unstructured Saturday. Tanner and I got up early and took our customary 3 mile walk first thing. After it was coffee on the deck (warm sun, cool breeze) and study time. I'm currently working my way through three books: Abiding in Christ, The Complete Green Letters, and Spiritual Mentoring. Karen and I are leading the young adults through Abiding in Christ Sunday mornings.

After that Karen and I ran to Auer Hardware (I needed an exterior exhaust fixture for a fan I'm putting together to vent a small spray booth in the basement) and Aldi's (Karen needed two metal shelves that were on sale) and stopped by a friend's house to visit and play with their dog.

Coming home I put the vent on the fan assembly and then worked on missionary stuff (record keeping, note writing, emailing, support tracking) while Karen worked in the basement doing laundry, sorting "keep/don't keep" items, rearranging, and building then filling the two, 5 tier shelves from Aldi.

Once I finished the missionary stuff, I trimmed Tanner's nails, and headed outside to mow, edge, and trim the yard. Now it's time for dinner and a movie. We do Netflix which seems to serve us rather well.

Speaking of movies...we went on a "date" last night and watched our first 3D movie: Legend of the Guardians. It's that animated owl movie. The 3D effects were great and the computer generated images were fantastic but the story was really weak.

The movie seemed like a patchwork of Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo, Surf's Up, and Star Wars....a lot of the movie reminded us of the other movies.. and if any one of those owls would have said, "gizzard" one more time I would have walked out. You know, like "trust your gizzard, boy" or "he has a lot of gizzard" or "may the gizzard be with you"... It was a certainly an enjoyable experience, but I wouldn't rush out to watch the film for the plot.

We did have dinner at Aunt Anne's Pretzels which is always fun. I'm a Pretzel Dog fan and coming from Lancaster, PA, Karen's a big pretzel fan.

Things up at MMS have been really busy, somewhat stressful, and everyone seems to be running flat out. The Cessna 337 is nearly finished and Williams Chang is bringing his King Air in on Monday for another "phase inspection." These are always an "all hands on deck" experience with lots of things to get done in a short amount of time.

Thanks for your prayers that enable Karen and I to provide the administrative support that keeps our mechanics focused on airplanes!

Video: A-10 Repaired and Returned to Service

The Air Force mechanics completed their repair of the hydraulic leak on the A-1o's left main landing gear late last evening. Before returning the aircraft to service they needed to test the repair by jacking the aircraft off the ground and then raising and lowering the landing gear.

When it came time to "swing the gear" the Air Force team honored MMS by inviting Dwight to conduct the test.

Air Force mechanics jack the A-10 off the ground.

Dwight prepares to raise and lower the landing gear.

MMS Hosts an A-10 Thunderbolt

It seems that after the airshow one of the Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts developed a hydraulic leak on its left main landing gear. Imagine our surprise when we came in Monday morning to find a ground-attack fighter inside Hangar C. Maybe I should say found it "filling" Hangar C.

The Air Force brought in a crew of mechanics to return the aircraft to service and they've been making the repair for two days now. This afternoon they hope to do a "gear swing" to test the repair and, if all goes well, return to their base.

Here's a video of the A-10 giving a flight demonstration Friday evening.

Here's the A-10 inside Hangar C.

Here's the A-10 outside the hangar.

If all goes well this afternoon, I'll be able to post the gear swing and maybe a departure video tomorrow. We'll see...

Birds of a Different Feather at MMS

Friday evening several "birds of a different feather" came to roost overnight in Hangar C. With "Wings Over Coshocton," the Coshocton County bi-annual airshow, kicking off the next morning, MMS opened Hangar C so the air show pilots could store their airplanes indoors. These aren't your typical missionary aircraft!

Prior to pulling their aircraft onto our ramp and positioning them in our hangar, each pilot flew a good portion of their aerobatic routine for a select audience of press representatives, VIPs and maybe a missionary or two who had chosen to hang around after hours.

The Air Force brought two A-10s as part of the show. We'll have more on the A-10 in tomorrow's post.

Dave Dacy's Super Stearman in action.

Super Stearman at Hangar C.

Iron Eagles in action.

One of the Super Christen Eagle 1 aircraft flown by the Iron Eagle Aerobatic Team taxis up to Hangar C.

Pitts Special outside Hangar C.

An Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt takes off from Coshocton.

Our Latest "Coshocton Flyer" Newsletter

Here's our latest newsletter! Just click on the image to enlarge the pages.

Saturday's Final Salsa Session for 2010

It wasn't the largest producing tomato crop of the year but with all said and done, we did end up with 40 pints. We even did a little bit of pickling as well. We started early with the slicing, dicing, chopping, cleaning, and blanching. Everything went smooth and we even experimented with the third batch of the day. Short of tomatoes we added two cups of fresh peaches...left over from the peach jam session the night before. With all that taken care of we picked the remaining onion; jalapeno, banana, and bell pepper slices; and three cucumbers.

Crop on the counter.

Additional ingredients in the crisper.

The stove is ready to cook three batches of salsa.

Here's a clip of Karen in her Salsa Kitchen

Finished products.

We'll let you know how the peach salsa came out.

Home Made Peach Jam Before Salsa Session?

Karen's in a canning frenzy right now. Everything's ready to go for the last salsa session tomorrow and she's in the kitchen right now whipping up some fresh peach jam...oh man...

Karen gets organized

a little lemon juice on eight cups of fresh peaches

Eleven cups of sugar!!

And you have 13 half-pints of Karen's Penn State Peach Jam...OH YEAH...