Tuesday, December 16, 2014

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

Thursday, December 11, 2014

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