A rare December treat

November was a cold, windy, wet month with snow and ice and frigid temps. As the month ran out and December began there has been a noticeable change in the weather here in Coshocton. The temperatures have started to be noticeably above normal for most of the month so far. This is a rare treat for us to be working in these mild temps. It is a rare occasion when we can be working in the hangar with the doors opened and have no need for a heavy jacket. The temps. have been hovering in the mid 50's. What a blessing but we know it will turn quickly.

Ahhh!!! December 15th, 2014- 55 degrees

The Angel takes flight

After a long awaited finish of the Angel project, we saw the completion of that project Wednesday before thanksgiving. Everyone huddled somewhere on or around the aircraft turning and cranking of wrenches, measuring and checking instruments until those wonderful words appeared, "we need to take it outside and test run." Wow it is really outside and running. This was the finest display of team work I have seen in a long time. Everyone pitched in and did their part to complete the task they were given. A day of test flights was next on the schedule. Greg, the pilot of the Angel for South America Missions was ready with Chuck as his copilot. They hit the open skies to bore a few holes in it. After a couple of hours of flying they were ready to land and call it a day.

The next day was a wrap up day as Dennis looked over all of the paper work. Greg was busy putting his flight plan together and finalizing the last of the preparations. Jim was in the hangar doing one final check of everything on the plane and after a couple of hours the hangar door was opened up and the angel was ready to fly. Greg with his bright smile said his goodbyes and climbed into the cockpit. The engines were fired up all checks were in place and off Greg went to fuel the plane and set for the runway. We all gathered to the runway off hangar A and waved our goodbyes as the Angel was now in flight to start its journey towards its new home in Bolivia. Another project completed and ready to serve. We sure are blessed to get to serve the Lord in mission aviation. Apprentice Aaron Hammitt put this video time lapse together of all the hard work and team work on the Angel project. Here is a link to that video https://vimeo.com/113106742

Project manager Terry McClary discussing the plan of action with Greg for the test flight

Greg and Chuck doing their preflight inspection and plan of action before hitting the skies

Clear!!

Greg is taxiing to the run way for his departure

The Angel is now in flight

The joy of completion

At the end of last week we had the privilege to say good bye to one our projects. We have completed the New Tribes Mission Aviation (NTMA) 206 Cessna which is now working it's way down to Brazil.

This airplane was brought to MMS for installation of a high frequency radio. While it was here we also helped NTMA obtain their export certificate of airworthiness.

It is traveling now on it's long journey piloted by Charlie with his mild manner and big warming smile. The plane will end its long journey in the western part of Brazil. Charlie and his wife will be helping start a new flight program once there. The people of Cruzeiro Do Sul in the province of Acre are awaiting this airplane to arrive and be available as an air ambulance and cargo as needed.

Following is a map of Brazil and some pictures of this project.

Mike is preparing the wire harness for the radio installation

Mike checking the diagram for the antenna installation

Charlie steps out after the last check ride to get ready for his journey

Heading to the runway

Charlie as he begins his journey and we watch from the ground thankful for the work we were able to perform for the Lord.

The Apprentice women

Guest post by Laurie McClary, Co-Leader for Apprentice Women:

The Apprentice Women

(Top left to right, Laurie, Abrielle, Tara, Juli,

Bottom left to right Mary and Kris) not pictured Anita

Hanging out with these women is great fun and the first and third Monday of each month I get to do just that.

However, it is more then just hanging out. When we meet we have an agenda centered on a mission statement.

Our Mission Statement: To have the women grounded in their faith and to have the tools to thrive wherever they are and with whatever they encounter.

With this vision in mind our meetings are full of a variety of activities and guest speakers. This past Monday one of the apprentice women, Abrielle, led the meeting. She is pictured above on the right.

Abrielle gave a brief teaching on contentment. This was centered on the Bible verse:

“I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

Philippians 4:11

She specifically spoke about the act of reflection to assess where we are in our contentment. We were then led through a reflective exercise were we each personally finished these sentences:

The Lord has called me to….

During this time I am learning…

I can serve Him by..

Following this insightful activity Abrielle had us play a game that was a spin off from charades.  As you can imagine lots of laughter was brought on as muddled through.

Then, as at each meeting, we enjoy time of fellowship around the table while we eat a delicious dessert and drink a yummy beverage.

We each left feeling supported and cared for as we continue to get to know God more during this interesting time in our lives.

Getting all wire up

Have you ever walked into the inside of an airplane or airliner and wondered where do all these wires go? Or who puts all these wires in here? Well maybe it is just me but I have done that. Intrigued by how things fit together I wonder how do they make that work?

 When airplanes meet electronics it is known as avionics. This is a very specialized area of "preparing planes" and a vital step in properly preparing an airplane for mission service.

We are very blessed to have staff who are very gifted to be able to do this kind of work. They can do anything from configuring radios and antennas to controls, switches, fuses and breakers as well as run any wiring that needs to be done. They have a very good handle on how each instrument works and why.

 As each electrical part has to be wired and configured from schematics to actual wiring these avionics experts work the system through making sure that every wire, lead, connector. fuse, breaker, LED, radio, antenna, gauge, and their mounts is meeting the requirements of that aircraft. Below are some pictures of some of this important work that an avionics expert does.

Jim is setting the proper location for the new style ELT(emergency location transmitter) antenna as Dwight looks on.

And there you have it. The proper location has been located.

Mike is preparing wire harnesses and labeling each wire as it goes into the bundle.

As Mike finishes the numbering he places it into the proper numbered location on the connector.

Here is the finished wire bundle. This one is for the transponder and encoder.

O.K. lets be honest that really looks confusing. Each instrument has it's own bundle properly connected.

Mike is preparing the GPS harness and inspecting it before installation.

Richard Downing gets a face lift

As you drive your car along Airport rd. in Coshocton you notice the long winding sharp ledged densely forested and shaded terrain. You will peak the road at a 90 degree right hand turn as you sweep by the gate and chain link fence at the opening of the top of the hill and run out of road at the square beautiful brick building. You look up and the smiling words Richard Downing airport stare back at you.

MMS Aviation is proudly located at this airport by God's design. We have a wonderful relationship with the airport administration and work well together with them. This past month the airport was closed due to the long straight 5000' runway in need of resurfacing repairs and remarking of the taxi ways. It was amazing to watch these professionals strip the old surface and prepare it for the new surface and then resurface all 5000' feet. Truck after truck lining up to dump their load until every square inch was redone.

 Being at the top of the hill has it's working advantages. Being October and the change of seasons displaying a beautiful explosion of reds, yellows, and oranges to the scene as the days stroll along. Below are a few pictures of the repaving  and turning of the colors.

The resurfacing crew working hard on the 5000' runway

A view of the colors off the south end of the runway taken from the taxiway by the hangar

A view of the fresh runway southend and coloring in the trees

The Togo is being prepared to gogo

Here at the hangar I have been hearing about the Togo and when is the Togo going to get its parts and get overhauled? So what is a Togo? Or a better  question would be where is Togo? Togo is a small country in the west Africa region reaching down to the coast and is slenderly seated between Ghana and Benin.

 I was not sure at first what a Togo was, I thought it was a type of aircraft engine that I had never heard of and that we were working on one. After further investigation I found out that it was the name of a country in west Africa and that is where the engine is going to after we are finished with it.

 The Togo engine is for a 206 Cessna that is being used for mission service with ABWE or Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.To find out more about ABWE and their ministry just click on the highlighted link.

 Here at MMS we have this engine in for an overhaul, this basically means that everything in the engine has been inspected and verified to be within serviceable condition or replaced with new parts. Josh who is our engine shop supervisor is heading up the project. He has been getting some help from Sarah Morris of Compass Aviation this past week. Sarah is working with Josh to gain some more engine experience that she can take with her on the world wide mission field.  We are very blessed to get to be a part of preparing airplanes and people. We truly do impact the world right here from Ohio. You will find below some pictures of this engine as well as a related map of Togo.

 

A view from the engine stand. A beautiful work of art in progress.

Josh is working on the quill shaft and Sarah is studying the cylinder and valve placement.

How is that valve coming Sarah?

Josh teaching Sarah how to properly hone out the cylinder.

Preparing people....

One of the crucial parts of MMS is the "preparing people" part. There are generally two parts to this, candidacy and apprenticeship. As God starts to work in peoples lives and they start to inquire about becoming a missionary with MMS, we help them through this process of application and evaluation into the process of raising support, where God carves away at them and builds their character and equips them for the task that God has given them. We work closely with candidates raising support building their understanding and responsibility through scripture and guidance from the Human Resources Director. 

The second part of "preparing people" is when they reach the point of 100% financial support they are cleared to begin at MMS in the apprenticeship program or advanced skills building process if they are certificated already. Once they are at the hangar they are transferred to the director of training and he will start to work with them in order to build their skills and knowledge so that they become a useful tool on the mission field. Once they have completed this they move on to one of the 165 Christian missions flight organizations around the world.So we "prepare people" for the spiritual side as well as the mechanical side of missionary aviation maintenance.

 Some will move on to become pilots as well, through a partnership with MAG or Mission Air Group. We love what we do here knowing that we are making a difference with the gospel being shared all over the world due to the efforts of all who support MMS and the hard work of the staff of MMS. Here is a glimpse of the "preparing people" side of what we do. The below pictures are a glimpse of evaluation of a possible future apprentice going through evaluation to possible candidacy and two apprentices who are here gaining the necessary knowledge.

 Here Ryan is scraping paint during his evaluation

Josh teaching Ryan about engines and testing his knowledge

Masking for painting details is an exact science

Jim showing how to wire gauges properly and testing Ryan's knowledge

Mike is finishing up with some brake work for evaluation

Our director of training Bob Schwartz is showing the apprentices how a magneto works

Bob is checking their work on the magneto

Glen and Aaron are now ready to rebuild their own magneto

The MAG is stripped to perfection

 We have many different ministries that we serve. One of these ministries that we are serving also happens to be a partner in raising up missionaries with us here at MMS. Mission Air Group also known as MAG has one of their Cessna 206's here for maintenance repairs. We are currently working on stripping the paint from all of the body of the aircraft. The wings, fuselage, tail sections and many small intricate parts need to be stripped of their outer coating down to the bare metal. This is a very tedious event. Every rivet every crevasse between skin pieces needs to be completely scrubbed free of debris so that the metal can be prepared for the new paint scheme to adhere to it.

In the same way Christ is doing the same thing to us who have given our lives to him. When we receive Christ he takes us apart and starts to work on our imperfections until we are finely polished and useful in his hands. He then puts us back together and paints us white as snow. Jesus is our shop foreman and he chooses us to do his work. We are his hands and feet on this earth.

Just as an airplane is refurbished by a team of qualified mechanics we work together to accomplish God's work on this earth. This is where MAG comes in to play. Here at MMS we are "preparing people and airplanes for world wide missionary service". As we build up mechanics we recognize that we need a partner who will provide the necessary skills for those God has called to be pilots as well. We are working together to accomplish the great commission. What a blessing to have a partnership like this. We are blessed to get to do the maintenance on this airplane as well. The 206 that you see pictured below is an air ambulance that is going to Rus Rus, Honduras. For more information about MAG you can go to Mission Air Group.

The 206 Cessna from Honduras when it arrived here at MMS

A stripping agent is applied and then covered in plastic

Aaron is removing the dissolved paint after the thinner was applied

Here is the fuselage about 90% complete

Many intricate small pieces ready to be stripped and polished

Unity in the body

 Dear MMS,
    Your picture in the April Ground Crew newsletter illustrated the complexity of your work.
    You have that stabilizer torn down to its basic frame.
    The picture and caption also brought to mind our extended discussion on the Cessna 206/207. 
    The critical nature of your work which is, for most people, unseen service illustrates the complexity of how God works in our world.
    First, much of the critical spiritual work we do on our own lives is unseen by almost everyone but God.
    Second, the interrelatedness of our service for the Lord, where each one has a part & God brings them all together, is amazing. 
    Your unseen work will enable this plane to fly.  This will allow supplies and people to travel where they could not otherwise go.
    This will allow face to face interaction and ministry which could not have taken place in any other way.
    Peoples' lives will be changed through this interaction and ministry.  And they will change others.
    Only God can coordinate all of this.
  
This is an email that one of our staff has received from a pastor who supports our ministry here at MMS.
The body of Christ is to have unity if we are to accomplish the work that has been set out for us to do.
In the same way the body of an airplane must also work together for it to perform well in the air. From the struts to the stabilizers to the skins and rivets they all play a vital role in the strength and flexibility of the body so that under pressure and stresses they hold up well to perform their tasks that they have been given.

 Every mission aircraft at every location around the world is unique in the environment that it is to operate in. The pictures of the airplane below are from the MAF or Mission Aviation Fellowship Cessna 206 going to Suriname and coming from Indonesia. This particular airplane was used in 2004 to distribute supplies after the Tsunami had devastated much of that area. For more on Mission Aviation Fellowship and their ministry you can go to Mission Aviation Fellowship to explore this wonderful ministry that we serve. Below is a glimpse at some of the body of the 206 being worked on.

Chuck is having a riveting experience with the right wing

Some of the wing skin needed to be replaced

Phil is inspecting a stabilizer part before installation to the fuselage

Preparations are  being made for the fuel bladder installation

Final prep work of the fuselage before it is painted