First of all, yes, I did pass my oral and practical tests last week. On Thursday at about 2:30 pm I officially became a certificated FAA Mechanic with my Airframe and Powerplant ratings! This is the culmination of two and half years of working towards the 4,800 hours of experience needed to take the tests. During this time I worked on the following aircraft and engines: Acrosport; Aerostar 601P; Airbus AS350-B2; American Champion 8GCBC; Barrows Bearhawk; Beechcraft models 200, BE77; Cessna models 172, 182, 206, 210; GippsAero GA8 Airvan; Maule 5; Mooney 231; Pilatus PC6; Piper models PA23, PA24, PA32, PA 46; Taylorcraft BL-65; Continental 0-520, IO-520, TSIO-520, IO-550; Lycoming O-360, O-540, IO-540; Pratt & Whitney PT6
Riveting in floor reinforcements so we can install crash rated seats in a Mercy Air helicopter. Rigging a PT6A-137 on a King Air 200 in MMS Aviation’s hangar. Airbus AS350-B2 that will be used in mission work in Africa. Installing a Garmin autopilot in Zambia on an MMS Aviation “Rapid Response” trip to Flying Mission Zambia. Learning to time magnetos to engines on this Bearhawk bound for Haiti. Applying UV blocker to the fabric on the Bearhawk. Gluing Poly-Fiber fabric onto the Bearhawk fuselage. Assembling the crankcase on an engine used in Guatemala. Performing dimensional inspections on an engine overhaul bound for Guatemala.
The cool thing is that those aircraft and engines represent a tool that we repaired and pout back into the hands of a missionary who needs it to do their job. It wasn’t just a classroom project, it was a life changing tool doing work in the real world. I wasn’t just going to school, I was serving mission worldwide while I learned. Cool!
Obviously our family couldn’t have done this without all our supporters out there who have prayed for us and financially given to us. We are grateful. We never would have became qualified to serve at Samaritan Aviation if it wasn’t for our experience at MMS Aviation. We had a lot of of people investing their finances in a self-doubting wanna-be mechanic who had no aviation background whatsoever. It really is amazing we ever raised enough support to do this. Thank God! We’re grateful for all the great people at MMS for their patience and direction as well.
I’m especially grateful that the test is over. I think it was the most stressful experience of my life. My wedding was pretty stressful but I knew that by the time the day was over, no matter whatever went wrong, I’d be married. There were no guarantees on this one. It was on my head not to do anything dumb. I still managed to do some dumb things but Chuck, my examiner, was pretty merciful.
What’s next?
Next we focus on raising our support quota for Samaritan Aviation. If you’re currently supporting us at MMS Aviation, we would appreciate it greatly if you continued with us as we transitioned to Samaritan Aviation! When you sign up for Samaritan we will cancel your commitment at MMS Aviation. Feel free to contact us and let us know that you switched that way we’re all on the same page.
Our support link for Samaritan Aviation is right here.
Many people have asked if we need to raise more support to go to Samaritan Aviation.
The answer is yes. Overseas service is quite a bit more expensive and isn’t likely to get cheaper anytime soon. We need to raise $2,500 more per month. Our quota is $7,500 per month. Yes, stop telling me that’s a lot of money. I know that! But I thought raising support for MMS Aviation was impossible yet here we are. He did it before and we’re trusting He can do it again. Thank you for considering partnering with us as we travel as far away as we can to bring the Good News of his salvation to people who the world has forgotten.
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