"From the Logbook"

Many pilots have posts on their blogs and such that describe some of their flights. We pilots keep a record of all of our flights and usually have a little note about what was noteworthy about the flight. We call this our logbook, so when we share about our flights, it is common to title the article as I have done.

I have intended to blog more frequently about my flights, but those who know me well, don´t expect frequent postings, because I am a procrastinator of the first class.

But, never-the-less, here I am. I am going to try to post the pictures in the order that I write about them, but I haven´t gotten that to work well in the past on this blog.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a number of flights for a camp/spiritual retreat that Compassion International puts on every year. I flew dozens of kids out from the jungle and then a week later, flew them back in. It is a very exciting time for them, and I really enjoy being a part of that ministry because I have friends here and in the jungle who are church leaders because of these camps. I have been dubious about ministries like Compassion International in the past, but I whole-heartedly support the activities here in Ecuador. Learn how a little help can go a very long way by visiting their website.

On some of the same flights going in to pick up kids for the camp, I was able to fly in some of the church leaders for these comunities who were out in the city for a conference. I am very excited to see what God is doing in some of these indigenous churches. They younger people are really taking responsibility for their communities spiritual growth where they have traditionally waited for a missionary or visiting pastor to come.

These type of flights are some of what I consider to be "missionary" flights, because we are flying in direct support of missionary efforts. I really enjoy those and they are very fulfilling to me. But we do all sorts of other flying which helps to pay to subsidize the cost of the missionary flights. We fly Air Ambulance for the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health. We fly medical teams in and out of the jungle for regular, non-emergency health care. We fly tourists, volcanologists (I almost wrote "vulcanologists!"), teachers, community development workers, and many other regular passengers that live out in the jungle and need to travel for business or personal reasons. This is also fulfilling work because I get to interact directly with people and treat them with the respect and care that they rarely get from other aviation companies.

These last two days were especially full for me. I´ll give a short run-down of my activities that may only interest aviation buffs!

In the last two days, I logged 9.4 hours. I landed 25 times, carried over 40 passengers and a little over 3000 pounds of cargo. You can see where I travelled by visiting this link. I carried doctors, teachers, indigenous missionaries, a kid with a broken arm and a guy wanting to go out to the city to visit his sick wife in the hospital. I got to stay overnight at one of the communities to continue planning a mission´s trip I will be hosting in May. The weather was bad in Shell the next morning, so I took advantage and took a short canoe trip up the river! The last time I did this, I was the passenger and my friend did the work. This time I insisted he sit while I did the work!

The next picture is what I get to look at on my way to work sometimes when the skies are clear. This happens about 2 or 3 times a month, so it is not all the time! The picture hardly does the view justice, but it is still very pretty!

Finally, I wanted to brag a little and show you what the view is like from my office window! I love my job!!!!