Scott's Birthday and a Baby Visit

Our son, Scott celebrated his 32nd Birthday on Sunday. We along with his grandparents and sister went to help him and Stephanie celebrate.

Later we went to the hospital to visit our baby granddaughter. You may remember that she was born prematurely on October 31.  She remains in the hospital in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Stephanie, Kiara and Scott (December)

 
It has been a rough road for her with two emergency surgeries to repair perforations in her intestine. Some days have been rough, but many days have been good. She has grown (in the past three months) from 2 lbs 6 oz to 6 lbs 5 oz.  We look forward to the day when she can come home.  At least one more surgery is in her future before she can be released.  Please enjoy the video below of her past three months. Your prayers for her in the days ahead would very much be appreciated.

Please disregard the videos that follow. We have no control over what You Tube offers in the line up of videos.

Snow - The Beauty and the Work

Friday morning we woke up to frigid temperatures.

For those of our readers who measure in Celsius, the temperature was -16°.

The Friday night snowfall presented a winter wonderland this morning.

.........And lots of work for Dwight as he cleared the snow around our cars.  Thankfully a neighbor cleared off (with his tractor) the 4 inches of snow that had accumulated on our driveway. Thankful for great neighbors like Chuck!

Dwight at "Snow's Gym"

Back in Service

Missionary pilot, Steve Straw, tells about the first flight to the Bongolo Hospital after repair of the Cessna 207 at MMS Aviation and its return to Gabon. We are thrilled that it is now back in service.

Check out Steve's blog about that first flight. Click here.

Catch Up

MMS Aviation is closed during the week between Christmas and the New Year. This give the opportunity for families to travel back home for the holidays.

Inventory is on the agenda when everyone returns. That's right, every nut,bolt and screw needs to be counted. Some parts are too plentiful and small and those are weighed. Not fun but necessary.

(In both pictures above) Jim counts CherryMAX rivets. They are like high class pop rivets and are quite expensive.

Mike compares the number in the box to the quantity on the inventory sheet. They are supposed to agree.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the office people are lined up to see the CFO, Mary for their financial questions

Having fun with the line-up outside the CFO's office.

By mid-week, inventory, review of the MMS Standard Operating Manual, and recurrent training on the repair station manuals were completed.  That let mechanics get back to work on airplanes and everything at MMS Aviation get back to normal.

Trans- Atlantic Flight

Many of us at MMS Aviation have been following a Cessna 207 on it's journey from the United States to Gabon, Africa.  The plane came to MMS in a sea/land container needing repair after a mishap. MMS invested many man hours in the repair of this missionary airplane and friends and churches are praying for its safe journey as it flies home.

The damaged airplane under repair

You can follow the airplane's journey as it flies back to Gabon. A skilled pilot from Weaver Aero is piloting the "ferry flight" and you can check out the trip on missionary pilot, Steve Straw's blog. http://gabonpilot.blogspot.com

Another Mechanic Certificate Issued

A few days ago, on the shortest daylight day of the year, I finished administering Andy Porter's FAA Oral & Practical Mechanic exams.  Andy and I began the testing process on December 20th.  He answered 176 oral questions without access to any reference material.  Following the oral questions, Andy completed practical projects covering all 44 subject areas in the general, airframe, and powerplant exams.  It was a pretty intense ten and a half hours of testing, and Andy came through with flying colors.  Andy completed MMS Aviation's aircraft mechanic apprenticeship earlier this month and, being from England, actually came through the exam with flying colours.)

Andy accepts his temporary FAA aircraft mechanic certificate, December 21, 2011.  (Upon reviewing the paperwork I submit, the FAA issues the permanent certificate.)