What Does It Take?

What does it take to be a mission pilot/mechanic?

Each organization will have their own particular requirements when it comes to flight experience and ratings.  A rough average is currently 500 hours total time with commercial instrument license.  Most organizations still require an A& P as well.

There are variations and exceptions, so check them out individually on our Members Page.

Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

Beyond that, organizations will generally be looking for the following KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes)

All skills and attitudes are applicable to flight and maintenance;
flight-specific items are marked with an asterisk (*).

KNOWLEDGE

1. General aviation knowledge (flight). Including, but not limited to: 14 CFR Part 91, airspace, aircraft POH, weather, aerodynamics, weight and balance, aircraft systems, navigation, operations at uncontrolled airfields, etc.
2. General maintenance knowledge (maintenance). Including, but not limited to: knowledge and use of tools, knowledge and use of available resources such as AC-43, service bulletins, parts and overhaul manuals. In addition, a close look is taken at the applicant’s inspection and  troubleshooting procedures, skills, etc.

Skills

1. Aircraft handling.* VFR and IFR; at various speeds and in various configurations.
2. Navigation.* Most notably, VFR, DR and pilotage navigation skills.
3. Aeronautical decision making. Makes correct decisions in an appropriate manner and timely fashion.
4. Judgment. Appropriately compares and evaluates courses of action.
5. Aptitude for learning. Has the ability to learn new skills and information.
6. Situational awareness. Accurately perceives what is happening with oneself, the aircraft (during flight or maintenance) and the environment, in the short-term past, present and near future.
7. Integration. Appropriately integrates and applies knowledge, skills and experience. Commonly referred to as adaptability when applying past aeronautical experience to a new situation.
8. Performance under pressure. Carries out activities appropriately when under pressure or stress.
9. Resource management. Uses resources effectively to accomplish tasks.
10. Task management. Prioritizes and accomplishes multiple tasks in a timely manner. Commonly referred to as multitasking.
11. Functions within limitations. Recognizes personal and organizational limitations, establishes appropriate margins and consistently functions within those margins.
12. Risk management. Appropriately recognizes, evaluates and mitigates risk.
13. Self assessment. Accurately assesses one’s own skills and performance.
14. Planning. Makes and adapts plans, including for contingencies.
15. Adaptable. Is able to change activities in response to changing circumstances.
16. Interpersonal skills. Relates to all people appropriately.

Attitudes

1. Hazardous attitudes. Does not exhibit attitudes that lead to dangerous behavior.
2. Safety-conscious. Places a high value on safety.
3. Conservative. Exercises moderation and/or caution when making decisions.
4. Professional. Is thorough, responsible, reliable and conscientious; maintains high standards.
5. Self-controlled. Exercises restraint over one’s actions and desires. Adheres to standards, procedures and regulations.
6. Integrity. Does what is right, even when alone.
7. PIC Mentality.* Is in command of all aspects of flight.
8. Teachable. Is willing to be taught.
9. Inquisitive. Has a desire to learn.
10. Initiative. Looks for what needs to be done and does it.
11. Self-confidence. Has the appropriate level of confidence in one’s knowledge and abilities.

* Items noted with an asterisk relate to pilot-specific attributes.  All others apply to both pilots and mechanics.

Mission aviation pilots put faith in their wings

You expect commercial pilots operating in the bush to face certain occupational challenges: Unimproved airstrips. Mechanical problems encountered in remote locations. Lack of navaids and weather reports. But for one class of bush pilot, such hazards don’t always top the list of dangers.

“During the Ebola outbreak in October of ’07, we went into the hot zone two and three times a day,” said David Francis, a Cessna TU206 pilot from Memphis, Tenn., who operates out of Ndolo Airport (FZAB) in Kinshasa, the Congo. “Nobody else would fly in there. Even the UN pilots refused. They didn’t want to go into a contagious area. We just see this as firmly within our mission.”

But what kind of mission would require that kind of commitment and potential sacrifice?

“Helping relieve suffering,” Francis said. “That’s why God put us here.

The mission, simply put, is mission aviation: pilots, deeply committed to their religious beliefs, flying in support of missionary and humanitarian activities around the globe. In addition to the challenges associated with bush flying, over the years mission aviation pilots have contended with armed insurgencies, government harassment, civil unrest, natural disasters and even death at the hands of indigenous peoples they seek to help.

The global mission

Dozens of missionary aviation organizations operate around the globe. The International Association of Missionary Aviation in Worthington, Minn. (this website) counts some 50 in its membership, according to president Chuck Daly. Francis, the pilot in the Congo, flies for Mission Aviation Fellowship ( www.maf.org), based in Nampa, Idaho, one of the oldest and largest such organizations. Operating in Africa, Asia and the Americas, its 130 aircraft conducted more than 88,000 flights last year, serving some 3,000 locations, the great majority of them remote and otherwise inaccessible.

“The kind of environment we fly in is hostile, not just in the air and in the airstrips, but in the countries in which our people are based,” said John Boyd, MAF president and himself a former mission aviation pilot. “Most of the time you’re living in situations with no running water, no constant electricity, no telephone, no shops. You have none of the support you would have grown up with here in the U.S.”

MAF’s roots go back to World War II, an outgrowth of prayer meetings held by a small group of pilots operating in the Pacific theater. The gatherings gave rise to the Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship, MAF’s predecessor organization, launched in 1945. The following year the organization began missionary work in Mexico with its first airplane, a 1933 Waco

Initially operations were focused solely on the ministry, such as bringing translated Bibles to remote villages and transporting missionaries to their posts. But In the decades since, the scope and scale of MAF’s operations have grown dramatically.

“Basically, you become the logistics system of the country,” said Harry Berghuis, a Papua, Indonesia-based MAF pilot from Holland. “Everything that needs to be transported has to be done by the airplane. We form a big part of that.”
“Typically in a week we’re flying a mixture of freight, medicines and parts to the interior stations, and we do the mail delivery as well to a lot of the small villages,” said Francis of his work in Africa. “And we’re flying sick people in and out of the villages to better equipped hospitals, and flying missionaries and pastors.”

MAF also transports personnel from NGOs (non-governmental organizations) such as the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. But make no mistake: spiritually rewarding though it may be, there is nothing glamorous about this work.

“It’s not about just jumping in your airplane and having a jolly for a couple of hours,” Boyd said. “You’re going out of eight to ten tiny airstrips a day, loading and unloading in 110 degree heat, flying around weather and over mountain ranges.”

Candidate requirements

Because of the demands of this calling, both in the air and on the ground, prospective MAF pilots are carefully screened and evaluated. All MAF pilot/mechanics must complete a minimum of 400 hours of flight time, and hold instrument and commercial ratings. And because they are expected to maintain and repair as well as fly the airplanes, they must also have an A&P (airframe and powerplant) license. Twelve credit hours of biblical training is another requirement. MAF also evaluates prospective pilots and their spouses – who will be stationed with them, along with their children, during the two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half year terms they are expected to serve – to ensure they are psychologically fit to handle life in the field.

“It’s not for everybody,” said Brent Palmer, another Papua, Indonesia-based MAF pilot. “I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. There are people who come out with good faith and they can’t hack it. The stress, the remoteness, the difficulty in living, whatever it is, it was just not what they expected.’’

Another requirement of missionary life further filters out all but the most committed: Missionary pilots are expected to raise the money to underwrite their service, typically from their church, community, and other sponsors. MAF pilot salaries are pegged to the cost of living in the country of operation. A pilot with a family of four earns an average $2,627 per month.

All applicants accepted for consideration undergo a technical evaluation at MAF headquarters. The evaluation includes ten hours, divided between flight time in a turbocharged Cessna TU206 to check their piloting abilities, and in a simulator to test instrument flight skills. That’s followed by a practical examination of their A&P talents. Thirteen to fifteen pilots undergo technical evaluation annually, and about 10 go on to the next phase, technical standardization training.

“Attitude is everything,” said Dave Ringenberg, an MAF instructor pilot. “It’s easy to teach a skill. It’s harder to teach an attitude.”

Training

Technical standardization consists of 40 hours of ground school followed by 30 hours of flight in a C-TU206 equipped with Garmin GNS 430 IFR-certified panel-mounted GPS, a Codan HF radio (used for transmitting position reports to a base station) and STOL kits. During this training pilots learn the standard procedures MAF uses everywhere it operates, focusing on three key areas: checklists, dealing with terrain, and making stabilized, power-on approaches.
“A written checklist is used for all phases of flight and preflight for MAF operations,” said Ringenberg.

The training location takes advantage of Idaho’s wealth of challenging back-country strips, giving trainees a taste of the kind of terrain and rugged landing sites they’ll encounter in the field. These operations also hammer home why power-on approaches are a necessity for bush ops: shifting winds and up- and downdrafts require power management to negotiate while maintaining a precise approach angle and airspeed. The end result is a predictable touchdown point.
Given the training, commitment and skill required for this kind of aviating, it’s noteworthy that many who find their way into MAF were not pilots when they decided to enter this line of work.

“I had a desire to be in full time ministry, the Lord just hadn’t shown me what it was going to look like yet,” said Texas-born Palmer, who before coming to MAF was a software engineer for Morristown, NJ-based Honeywell International, working on TCAS II, the airline collision avoidance device. “Right after I got married I heard about mission aviation, how they could use airplanes in ministry. I wasn’t even a pilot.”

“We asked the Lord what he wanted us to do,” said Berghuis of he and his wife, Willie. “And over and over it came to our attention there was a shortage of pilots in mission work. We thought, ‘Hey, maybe this is it,’ and decided if the Lord wanted us to do that, he’d show us how. We don’t have to worry about the details.” According to Berghuis, support just seemed to fall into place. “He provided in a miraculous way,” Berghuis said.

Even Ringenberg, the instructor pilot, heard the call of his faith before that of the sky. “I had a desire to serve God, but I didn’t know how. One day a friend encouraged me to be a missionary,” Ringenberg said. “That same friend encouraged me to look into aviation. I never thought of that before.”

Education of a missionary pilot

A number of Bible colleges offer aviation programs, enabling students to graduate with all the ratings, licenses, and religious training a mission aviation career requires. But it seems each pilot finds his own path to the left seat, and each represents a tale of persistence and faith rewarded. Palmer, after four years at Honeywell and a lot of soul searching with his wife, Melanie, and church members, enrolled in LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, a Christian school with a mission aviation program. In three years he had his requisite licenses and a bachelor of science degree and a minor in Bible studies.

“That got me about 250 hours of flight time,” Palmer said. “MAF required 400, so I had to get another 150 hours.”

Palmer went back to work as a programmer and convinced his company to give him the cash equivalent of an airplane ticket when he had to travel on business. He used the money toward the rental of a Piper Warrior and flew himself on the trips, building up hours while he honed the pilotage navigational skills of a missionary aviator.

“I flew from east Texas to Toronto, Ontario, and I never turned on a nav radio,” Palmer said. “I flew the whole trip 1,000 feet AGL (above ground level). I had drawn exactly on the sectionals where I was going to go – you have to recognize every landmark you fly over.”

Palmer was accepted for his technical evaluation by MAF with 401.2 hours total time. He passed the flying evaluation with glowing reviews but failed the maintenance check.

“That was pretty devastating at first,” Palmer recalled. “They said to go work for a year as an aircraft mechanic and come back. But I was over 30 at that point. I had been working on this goal for many years.”

After considering his situation, the evaluation team told Palmer to get a C-206 service and parts manuals, study hard, and get some A&P work. Six months later Palmer came back and passed the maintenance exam, and then the month-long technical standardization course.

“From there they put you on a pretty well thought out regime preparing you to get overseas,” Palmer said.

Field conditions

But the novice’s training is far from over. After arriving on station, pilots often spend months before they fly. Rigorous language instruction and cultural orientation courses come first. Flying begins only after the pilot and his family are settled and integrated into the community. It commences with more training, applying the standard operating procedures learned in Idaho to the specific locations in which they fly. Typically MAF operates out of one or more main bases in a given country, from where pilots access to a network of remote locations. MAF operates both C-TU206s and the turbine powered C-208 Cessna Caravan.

The en route terrain often has no distinct features: no roads, power lines, or human settlements to help with pilotage. Everyone involved in mission aviation acknowledges that GPS with moving map displays has revolutionized the task of navigating in these remote landscapes.

“The GPS has allowed us to operate with more precision and safety, and with a lot less stress,” said Francis. “I don’t have to get down so low and look at all the individual river bends, the little-bitty landmarks they had to use in past, just to keep from being disoriented. We can get above the cloud layers.”

Francis, by the way, came to mission aviation after 17 years of designing advanced military aircraft for Lockheed Martin, the Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor. “Be prepared to follow God’s leading – no matter what stage in life you may be in,” he said of his late start as a missionary pilot. “Don’t be surprised if that path may make some big turns along the way.”

Guidance from above notwithstanding, MAF pilots must be prepared to fly all their routes without GPS. Equipment failures have occurred in the field, and the units have to be considered as back-up gear. Pilots typically use ONC charts for navigation, and in the parts of the world where MAF operates, large swaths of the charts may be blank, accompanied by a simple printed legend noting that relief data is unavailable; the pilots are operating in uncharted territory.

The airstrips are typically hacked out of jungle, sometimes on mountainsides. Cleared areas can be little more than 1,000 feet in length, and sloped 20 degrees or more. Rain can render them unusable with no visual indication. Swirling gusts created by orographic lifting can routinely render strips unusable after midmorning. Some are tucked into valleys so steep and narrow that a mile out on final the pilot is committed to landing; there’s not enough lateral room for a 180 degree turn, and the terrain ahead rises too steeply to outclimb.

“You take a pilot who hasn’t been exposed (to such conditions) into those strips, he’ll be blown away,” said Berghuis. “We can do it because of our training. And even more important is the proper decision-making. You have to be able to decide, ‘Is it safe to land?’”

Keeping the faith

Truly the dedication and sacrifice mission pilots routinely make is a testament to their tremendous conviction. Yet some might contend all pilots are creatures of faith. How can one not believe in the miraculous if he is willing to bet his life time and again that a hunk of metal weighing more than a ton can move through the sky, seemingly impervious to gravity’s pull? And most aviators regard the cockpit as a sanctuary, and flight as a spiritual experience. How else to explain the aviator’s axiom, “God is my co-pilot”?

Boyd chuckles when asked for comment about that phrase, and whether it carries increased weight for mission aviation pilots.

“We tend to believe that very openly at MAF,” Boyd said. “I have been a pilot and have been in situations where I can honestly testify I know God was with me. Certain things happened and otherwise I would not have survived. And there are many instances daily where we can truthfully testify that is a distinct feeling, call it what you will. (But) you try not be flippant about it. (MAF) pilots have lost their lives.”

And not just in accidents. In 1956, missionary pilot Nate Saint and four colleagues were killed in Ecuador by the Auca Indians they had come to help. News of the tragedy spread worldwide, drawing attention to missionary aviation and bringing more volunteers and supporters. (Seven of the nine Indians who attacked the missionaries and many of the tribe members subsequently converted to Christianity.) No MAF pilot has been lost in more than a decade, but overall, 18 have died in accidents.

“And the question is,” Boyd continued, “‘Where was God then?’ As Christians we have to say that is part of God’s plan.”

However one regards the plans and designs of the divine, MAF and its brethren organizations are witnessing an increase in mission aviation. And that is a blessing for the multitudes who depend on the aerial lifeline they provide.
“We think that missionary aviation is going to be around for a long time,” said Ringenberg. “There will always be people in need in remote locations around the world, and people who want to serve God by serving people.”

_____________________________________

By James Wynbrandt
Reprinted with permission of Pilot Magazine.

First term missionary family adventures

Guyana

Adventure (verb):
1.  an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
2.  an exciting or remarkable experience

There is no question that our family’s first year in Guyana met all of the definitions of the word adventure. By God’s grace we (the Wickwire Family) have come through relatively unscathed.  As for exciting and remarkable, we could write a book, and perhaps almost have if we look back at the stories posted on the website.

So what are some of the highlights and challenges?  Waking up with a rat sitting on the headboard six inches from my head; chasing a snake down the stairs and out of the house with a broom; discovering that by closing our eyes and using our imaginations, a lot of local foods can taste a lot like something familiar at home.  For example: breadfruit fries = French fried potatoes; cooked ripe plantain = apples in oatmeal; soursop = sorbet; whipped coconut milk = whipped cream; dried five finger (starfruit) = raisins and so on.

Making close friends among the local people takes time.  This has been particularly difficult for Jacob and Zack as they interact with the local boys.  We come from such different life experiences and world views. The people are wonderful though; nearly everyone knows us and greets us cheerfully. We struggle to learn everyone’s names or at least recognize who they are.  They assume we remember everyone. I will often get phone calls that start like this: “This is the mother of the girl that fly with you in the yellow plane, she ready to go outback.”  Often it can take quite some time to ascertain who they are talking about, where they are, and where they need to go.

The monthly AWA boat trips 30 miles up the Barima River to the village of Blackwater have been very rewarding. We have watched the villagers become a more cohesive group as they grow in the understanding of the message of salvation. They now meet every Sabbath with the guidance of a resident Bible/health worker we placed there. Just this week we took delivery of a brand new 24-foot dugout canoe that will be used to transport the Bible worker to homes as well as collect people for meetings at the church.

The impact of AWA’s yellow, Cessna 182 airplane on people’s lives has been immeasurable. I would love to post a list of how many lives have been saved, but that is impossible to know. However, this is what we can state for certain: 207 patients were transported to advanced medical care, 63 of which were critical cases where loss of life or limb was probable; 107 Guyana Ministry of Health personnel were taken for clinics, vaccinations or patient care; 131 patients who had completed treatments were returned to as close to their home villages as we could take them. Church workers, ministry and outreach personnel and AWA’s Wings for Humanity staff accounted for 110 seats. In total for the last 12 months (August 2007 to August 2008), we carried 763 passengers on over 450 flights logging just over 400 flight hours, all with one Cessna 182 and two pilots.

One recent case involved a 12 year-old boy named Godfrey Rammit from a village called Red Hill. He had a compound fracture of the radius and ulna, and it is common to see people here with permanent disabilities from fractures that don’t get properly set.  Godfrey was being sent to Georgetown alone. He had never been to the city before and was ill-equipped to deal with getting through the system of complete treatment. Our AWA Guyana Project team was concerned that he could simply fall through the cracks.

Laura LaBore, AWA’s Guyana Project pilot/nurse, asked for permission to send him to Davis Memorial Hospital under Davis Interior Medical Emergency Service (DIMES) program, which provides free treatment for patients from remote communities. The initial attempt to set the fracture was unsuccessful so he had to have surgery to have pins and screws put in place and then a cast.  He spent a few days at the hospital before we could take him back to Mabaruma, where he spent a few weeks hanging around the local hospital very patiently.  We then flew him back to Georgetown where he spent another couple of weeks at the Amerindian Hostel until he was able to get the pins removed. At that time, AWA’s Guyana Project team and its yellow Cessna 182 took him back to Mabaruma where he was able to catch a boat back home. It was a long process, but in the end our team sent a boy back home fully recovered and able to live a normal life with no disability.

After one year in Guyana, we are looking forward to God’s plan for us and his work here.

Liberty University Aviation Video

Here is a recently produced video that gives a good overview of the flight program offered by IAMA member school, Liberty University.

http://www.vimeo.com/4873244

Mission Aviation Training Academy Video

Here is MATA’s current video.  They provide flight, maintenance and Bible training for prospective missionary pilot/mechanic candidates.  Enjoy!

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

Iama Spotlight: LeTourneau University

LeTourneau University’s School of Aeronautical Science offers a broad degree in aviation from a Christian perspective in five majors and 14 total degree concentrations, including mission aviation.

We offer a study of aviation that includes all the elements from design, electronics, air traffic control, computer science, mechanics, technology and flight.

Our solid, hands-on degree concentrations teach the skills and knowledge students need to be successful in the aviation industry. Our state-of-the-art airplanes and labs use the very latest technology: electronics, composite materials, computer software and jet engines. LETU’s aviation program is primarily designed for those who wish to become experts and leaders in the aviation industry.

IAMA Spotlight: Brigade Air

Brigade Air implements a Christian youth mentoring curriculum and mission aviation camping program with the goal of encouraging young people to seriously consider God’s calling on their lives to serve in the arena of missionary aviation. Brigade Air is unique in this nationwide effort.

Brigade Air was established on June 1, 2000, with Bruce Wolff as the Director.To date, Brigade Air has educated over 1300 campers in a total of 74 summer camp weeks over the last seven years.

Here is just one Brigade Air Testimonial (visit their website to read more):

Hello Mr. Wolff,

It’s Tyler! I am all signed up and really excited for the Brigade Air camp this year. I have invited a friend to come as well, however he has not signed up yet. This will probably be my last year as I plan to attend LeTourneau University next year after I graduate High School. But, before I get into any of that, I have some important news that you might want to hear.

This last week was my spring vacation from school, and after many days of rain and clouds, I was relieved to find some clear weather to fly in and enjoy. I have been talking and struggling with my parents for over a year now to let me solo, but this past week I finally got the go ahead! My parents and I prayed for my safety before I flew. We prayed that this experience would be a large step toward my future goal to serve Christ. And after that, my instructor and I flew a few laps around the pattern. He instructed me to park the plane so that he could hop out, and then he shook my hand and said go have fun! I was only allowed to do three touch and goes in the pattern, but I still had the time of my life! The Cessna 152 Flying Fortress that I was flying screamed at Mach 2 without my instructor in the seat! When I landed, they cut off my shirt tail (which I suppose is now a dying custom of many flight schools). I now have that shirt tail, and I will forever remember April fools day 2005, for it was the day I soloed.

Hope that we have everything worked out for the camp this summer. Are we going to have two planes again as well as multiple CFI’s? Sounds like this year’s camp will be the best. I am going to make it my best because, like I said before, it might be the last one I go to for a very long time. But don’t worry, because once I get my commercial pilot’s license, high performance endorsement, multi-engine IFR rating, and maybe my CFI, I will be flying across the jungles of South America delivering the greatness of God’s news to the eyes and ears of the un-reached.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Tyler!

Here is short introductory video from Brigade Air founder, Bruce Wolff:

http://www.brigadeair.org/flashmedia/BA_PPT2.flv

IAMA Spotlight: United Indian Mission

UIM Aviation is the aviation ministry of UIM International.

Our purpose is to develop reproducing, culturally-relevant churches among Native Americans and Hispanics in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

UIM Aviation accomplishes this goal through a variety of means and partnerships with other like-minded organizations to minister to people living in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.  UIM Aviation is dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Christ and helping develop God’s church around the world

New Tribes Video

This video production about New Tribes Aviation will give you a good overall picture of what they do.

JAARS Video

Here’s a helicopter ride video from JAARS DAY 2009

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