Recent Happenings



 Just a glimpse into some work going on in the hangar.  This Cessna airplane owned by MAF Mission Aviation Fellowship, has been used in ministry in several countries - Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. What a history for this airplane! MMS personnel are restoring it for continued use by MAF.

 

Putting the big pieces back together 

Not long after the wings were re-installed on the MAF plane, Dwight went to Venice, Florida to help conduct a governance workshop for the Board of Directors of Agape Flights.  This ministry provides a valuable purchasing and shipping service for quite a number of missionaries in the Caribbean and parts of the Bahamas.

Over the past several years, David Green, a retired CEO who lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, developed what he calls Values Driven Governance to help Boards better govern the organizations entrusted to them.



Workshop facilitators listen carefully, speak when necessary, and write a lot of ideas on flip charts and marker boards. A Board of Directors needs to come to its own conclusions.



He's not angry, folks, he's just concentrating!  And trying to quickly distill lots of words into a succinct phrase for the flip chart, not changing what the speaker said.

Dwight and Michael Stroh, CEO of the International Association of Missionary Aviation, assisted David with this intense three days of Board training.  The MMS Aviation Board went through a workshop like this last April and MMS will realize the benefits of better governance well into the future.  The MMS Board recognizes that Dwight's participation in these Board training workshops is another way MMS can serve the missionary aviation community.

Back at the MMS facility in Coshocton, preparation of people and planes for worldwide missionary service continues daily.

Enjoying Family

The recent holidays provided a  lot of family time. My (Rena) brother, Bill and sister-in-law, Deborah had recently returned from a 2 year commitment in India. It was great to have them here. 
The Sunday before Christmas provided a time we could all be together at one time.  So of course a family picture was in order.

 

 

 

            Back row: Stephanie, Scott and Kiara Jarboe, Jen and Jason Robinson                            

Middle row: Dwight, Rena Jarboe, Mae and Bill Tarter, Bill and Deborah Tarter

Front: Javin and Chanelle Robinson

"It's been a long time since I've seen my Uncle Jason!"

Kiara laughing with Chanelle and Javin

Happy Family

 

Party hats found in the Christmas "Crackers"

Wait, the football game is almost done -then we can open gifts!

It snowed Christmas night and then again two days later. So snow play was in order.

Couldn't resist this video of our littlest granddaughter on the move this last weekend.

Second Honduras Trip - A Bit More

As I mentioned in my last blog I was in Honduras October 16-23.  The reason was to help Alas de Socorro with a major inspection of one of their planes.  The morning I left I took a few pictures of the hospital there in Ahuas, Honduras.

 I have no doubt you can read the sign, however in (my) English language version it says, "Moravian Evangelical Clinic, Ahuas".  I've referred to it as a hospital because they do surgery and house patients and do lots of "hospitally" things there, but you can call it a clinic if you like.

In two weeks they will celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the hospital.  I know that because of the date on the front of this building and some folks were talking about the celebration.

 

 The facility has electrical power 24 hours a day.  What looks like a porch roof in the center of this picture is a solar panel array.

 

 The solar panels keep eight big lead-acid batteries charged and the electricity is converted to 120 volt AC by inverters.  There are diesel powered generators that run a while each night to keep the batteries charged.

Dr. and Mrs. Benno Marx are on the hospital staff and hosted me for lunch each day.  They live in this house.  Last week Dr. Marx told me in an email they were doing appendectomies along with ever-present treatment of malaria patients.

Back at the hangar, the flight on which I'd start my trip home was waiting for weather to improve at our destination.  Enough time had been planned into the schedule that I wasn't in much danger of missing my flight back to the US.

It was a good trip.

Second Honduras Trip This Year

October 16th I got up very early, O-dark-thirty I think, and drove an hour and a half to the the Port Columbus International Airport.  It was the first leg of my journey to Ahuas, Honduras.  There I was to assist Alas de Socorro personnel with a major inspection of a Cessna model 206.  After 1,000 hours of flight time it's a really good idea to inspect a plane much more thoroughly than is done on more routine 100 hour inspection interval.

Ahuas (ah-wass) is in eastern Honduras and the two Alas de Socorro Cessnas primarily support a mission hospital there.  Alas de Socorro (Wings of Aid/Help in English) is a charitable organization chartered in Honduras with all Honduran staff and leadership. 

Most general aviation airplanes are simply referred to by their registration letters and HR-AUS, or "Uniform Sierra", was the subject of the 1,000 hour inspection.  When I arrived most of the disassembly for inspection was done.

During the week there were flights to bring seriously ill people to the hospital.  One flight took a patient on to a larger hospital better equipped to treat the patient's condition.  Here the pilot deplanes from "Juliet Whiskey" (HR-AJW) after that flight.

With the tail feathers removed, mechanic's helper, Weily, cleans minor surface corrosion from the aluminum skin.  The planes are well maintained but a 1,000 hour inspection is a good time to attend to the details.  I inspected primary structure.  Because of my structural repair experience, I helped replace a number of loose rivets and install a service kit on the horizontal stabilizer.  One day during which the mosquitoes were particularly obnoxious, we stayed indoors and I gave Alas' Director, George, a refresher course in finding regulatory and technical data on the Internet.  Especially important was how to keep up with Airworthiness Directives that identify unsafe conditions in aircraft.

George (left) was my host.  He trained as a pilot and mechanic at Moody Aviation and worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship for several years.  Wayne does quite a bit of the flying and helps George with maintenance also.  The plane behind them, "Juliet Whiskey", was refurbished at MMS Aviation a few years ago.  George, Wayne and Weily are all from the region of Honduras where they serve.

I arrived back home in Coshocton, Ohio October 23rd.  Getting home is always the best part of the trip.

Washington Slept Here

Yesterday morning a pilot friend, John, who has an airstrip near Coshocton called me.  He asked if if a friend of his who was delivering a plane to an airshow in Fort Wayne, Indiana could put it in the MMS hangar for a night.  It is a rather rare World War II era P-51-C Mustang fighter plane painted in the colors of a Tuskegee Airmen squadron.  Fortunately there was space available so I told John we'd be happy to hangar the plane.



Getting fuel on the ramp between the MMS hangars

The weather was a bit rainy yesterday afternoon, but between showers the P-51 was fueled for today's departure.  I'd called my daughter, Jen, thinking it would be a chance for Chanelle and Javin to connect with a bit of history, and invited them to come see the plane. 




Jen, Chanelle, Jason and Javin with the P-51-C

After a few pictures were taken it started raining again and Jason helped the pilot and me push the fighter into the hangar.  The pilot, who is an airline pilot in his day job, invited me into the cockpit for a picture.  Even though I was pretty wet, I didn't decline the offer.



My left hand is on the throttle, right hand on the (joy) stick, and my index finger on the trigger.

After the fog lifted this morning it was perfect weather for flying and the Mustang headed west.



Towed out of the hangar into the bright sunlight

This P-51-C travels with an exhibit honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and their service in World War II.  You can learn more about the exhibit at http://www.redtail.org/.  Without success I went online to find out if this particular plane had actually been flown by the Tuskegee airmen.  Regardless, it represents a significant bit of history and it was fun to have hosted it last night.

As I (Rena who has an afternoon break) sit in the shade of the MASA (Missionary Aviation Support Association) tent, there is a constant stream of airplane traffic overhead. AirVenture, Oshkosh is the busiest airport in the world for one week in July every year. Demonstrations, exhibitors, stunt fliers is the order of the day. People are here from all over the world.
The community of missionary aviation gathers during this time as well, to aquaint the world of missionary aviation, recruit and witness to those who come through our tents. A lot of networking also happens between the missions as we work for the common goal of reaching the lost for Christ.

Dwight and Rena, Ryan, Chuck and Jim

The banner in front of the tent goes up

We discovered a DC-3 that came through our hanger some years ago. MMS facilitated getting it changed from Canadian registry to US registry with some modifications. We learned it had carreid some famous passengers - the Queen of England and Sir Winston Churchill. AND the "famous" Dwight Jarboe's signature is in the logbook! Ha!

Dwight talks with an inquirer

While I was typing, the Good Year Blimp flew over the tent - so I've included this too!