A plane For Edwin to Fly

In 2015 David Gates sent out letters to about 11,000 Cessna 182 owners  asking to see if they would be interested in donating their plane to GMI for use in mission service as is typically that case very few responded to the letters but some did. One such case was a Mormon family in Wyoming. They had just purchased a Cessna 210 Centurion and had this older Cessna 182, 2668G, which they were discussing what they should do with it. One day the wife came is waving the letter and showed it to her husband. It was David’s letter. They agreed that it just might be the best option for use of the plane.

After talking with David they invited him to come and see the plane. They also wanted to make sure that this was the right organization to donate to. After a very short time they were comfortably please with David as a Christian and knew that the plane would be put to very good use. In December of 2015 David flew the plane to Illinois and then after Christmas he flew it on down to Collegedale TN. I got to be there to help welcome them back, and put the plane in the hanger next to Todd Anderson’s plane, 9113M. The next day while I was helping clean up some seat frames for Todd Anderson, David came into the hanger and spoke with me. He offered to let me use this beautiful airplane in my training, to try and finish My instrument rating. He also offered to let me stay in one of the apartments they have at the GMI offices in Collegedale. Then one morning at breakfast not long after; he asked how I would like to continue flying 2668G in Guyana. WOW!!! How cool is that!!! I continued to fly the plane for about 15 hours there in January.

At the end of January the annual inspection was due. 

A mechanic started in on the inspection in February. Given the time that had transpired since the last time the engine was overhauled they decided to pull the cylinders and really look over the engine. During the process they discovered that major components like the cam shaft and timing gears were severely worn. The crank shaft had significant scoring on the rod journals and all the lifters were beyond repair. The new cylinders have already been purchased which is the biggest expense of an overhaul usually. The mechanic is looking for good used timing gears and a good used cam shaft. It is cheaper than buying factory new parts. We are estimating that finishing the engine will cost about $8000. There are also some modifications that need to happen in order to get the most use out of the airplane.

It needs a Sportsman’s STOL kit and wing extensions.

The Sportsman’s kit is about $1500 and the Wing X is also $1500.

We can delay a little on some of the other modifications like the larger nose fork and tires, but it would be good to get those done too. They can however be done here in Guyana. Now that 9113M is here and is working hard we want to turn our focus to getting N2668G ready to go. It is needed very soon as we now have 3 pilots and soon to have a fourth within the month. Here at the flight base the phone rings frequently, people asking “when is James going to be flying next?” “Is there space for me on the next flight?” “Is James back yet?” We need this plane in the very near future. Please pray with us as we shift our focus to getting this next plane ready to serve. If you choose to help financially with this project, please let me know that the money is specifically for 2668G so it doesn’t get incorporated into the normal operating fund

First Day Of Mission Flying!!!

Wednesday, October 26, was my first day flying in the interior of Guyana. It is a thrilling feeling to realize that this is what I’ve always dreamed of doing, and now here I am actually living my dream! We had 4 stops to make; Chenepau, Paramakatoi, Monkey Mountain, and Lethem, before heading back to Ogle airport in Georgetown.

Tuesday (the 25th) James and I had started out to fly this route. James had received word that Lincoln, with his family, had arrived in the town of Lethem after traveling through Brazil. Lincoln is an Amerindian (Guyanese Native American) from Paruima who received his pilot’s training in Bolivia. He and his family needed transportation up to Georgetown where they could get supplies together to go out to Paruima, where he will be training with James on the local runways as well.

We had the plane loaded up, fueled up, and ready to go. We said a prayer, and then fired up the engine. It did not want to run well. It was coughing and sputtering at idle and then it sputtered to a stop. We tried again. James pushed up the throttle a bit, then a little more. It ran smoother, however the manifold pressure didn’t look right, then he noticed that the manifold pressure was indicating inversely of what it should. When we pushed in on the throttle the numbers went down instead of up. Eh????  He shut it down. We climbed out and walked over to the hanger where they teach aviation mechanics. Fortunately, here at Ogle airport, the aviation mechanics' school does a lot of free labor; we just have to supply the parts. James asked the instructor about the odd engine behavior. The instructor suggested doing the full run up checklist. He thought that maybe too much water had made its way past the sumps, and into the carburetor, before we had done our pre-flight check. After the run up check the odd behavior was still very much present if not worse. We watched the engine monitor and noticed that the temps for cylinder number 5 were abnormally low. Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) was less than 200F and Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) was also less than 200F. Normal CHT is about 300-425F and EGT is about 1000F or maybe a little hotter. We suspected a dead cylinder. Not a happy thought. We taxied back over to the hanger. 

With the students, we dove in, checking spark plugs and the cylinder compression. We checked the filter screens and drained the carburetor. EVERYTHING checked out perfect. Now what?!?!? As we were working on putting it all back in place and torquing bolts and plugs, one of the students reached up and touched an intake hose clamp…it moved. In fact it moved a lot. He also noted that another clamp was loose on the other side. Only those two clamps were loose, but we tightened all of them just to be safe. Something as simple as a hose clamp had allowed air to by-pass the carburetor and fuel. This was giving the odd readings on the manifold pressure, and a no fuel condition for cylinder number 5. We started the engine and it ran beautifully. The instructor also adjusted the idle a bit. He said that it is not uncommon for a new engine to have some issues pop up as it “wears in”, particularly in these few early hours. It was now too late in the afternoon to make the flight so we delayed until Wednesday.

Wednesday we got airborne and winged our way across the jungle. James is a great instructor; describing the processes of who you talk to on the radios at different points in the flight. Airspaces are not organized the same way as the airspaces in USA. In some ways it is easier because there are only 6-8 frequencies that are mostly used. In other ways it is more challenging in that there is little to no radar coverage. It is all based on reporting points. “Niner-1-1-3-Mike report crossing ____” “Niner-1-1-3-Mike what is your ETA at ____” It is also interesting that you need to know what all the other planes are doing in the area. IE: We have to take note that a Cessna Caravan “Tango-Kilo” just departed Paramakatoi 13 mins ago and headed for Eugene Correia (Ogle Airport) at 8,500'. Pilots are constantly relaying information for each other. If we are out of range of the main control area, but “Tango-Kilo” is in range, he forwards our flight plan information to air traffic control.

 We flew over Kaieteur Falls the world’s highest single drop waterfall, then on to Chenepau to leave some supplies for the church.

It was a little intimidating looking at the terrain coming up to meet us. As we neared Chenepau I noted mountains on the east side of the runway. We had to make the approach from the SE next to the mountain and skim the trees and try to touch down as close to the runway threshold as possible. WOW!!! Oh!! Wait, hit the brakes. Whew…. Up to this point the shortest runway I had ever used was the Dog Iron Ranch runway at Will Rodger’s birth place museum in Oklahoma. It was 1800’ and it had felt short. This was 1200’!

No time to waste. We unloaded and taxied back out and, HUMMM now to take off of this strip…
On the climb out we had to turn to avoid another mountain not far off the departure end of the runway. It was a short 15 minute hop to Paramakatoi (PK) which is nestled up even closer to the mountain. I had a hard time spotting the runway at first. At this one the mountain is on the south side with a smaller knoll almost in the approach path. Let’s just say I had to keep drying my palms as I worked my way down to set up a solid approach path; right turn to parallel the runway, then descending left turn around the knoll, and between the knoll and another hill. James said “this one is paved, careful of the ravine at the approach end.” As I surveyed the view out the front I thought “OH you mean AT the approach end. Don’t even think about touching down early…”  I was trying not to remember James Harris’ story about branches in the wheels as I skimmed over the tree tops. Touchdown!!!! Paved??? Well kinda… layers of tar and quarter sized gravel… at least the gravel isn’t going to get sucked up into the prop. PK’s runway is only 1100’, but being paved you can stop quicker. 

We off loaded a suitcase of Sabbath School felts to the church, and some clothes for distribution. Then out we rolled again. Off to Monkey Mountain, another 15 minutes or so.

This one wasn’t so bad. Again it was nestled against the mountains but nothing too crazy to have to dodge. The runway had an uphill component and… a bent up airplane parked off to the south side of the runway 2/3rds of the way down, offering a silent word of caution to the next pilot. We pulled off in the parking area and shut down the engine. Here we wanted to check on a Bible worker and leave some food supplies and some cash, as well as some Sabbath School felts for the local church. He and his wife were 
already at the airstrip with their backpacks and suit cases… eh? “We are here to get a plane ride to Georgetown. My eyes so bad I see doubles and triples, and this spot on my ear it no heal many months.” (That is the gist of what he said. I’m still trying to figure out the accents that are used here.) James was thinking that we could help him out with his ticket on one of the small commercially operated flights. As we were discussing it, another gentleman strode over and informed us that there were no further scheduled flights until Friday. We made room in the plane for the two passengers after delivering the non perishable food items to their house not too far distant.

We also had an extra can of gas. We put the gas in the wing to keep the weight somewhat forward. Otherwise the can full of gas would have ended up in the luggage compartment shifting the weight further aft. We would fly them to Lethem further south; to where there is a bus that could take them to Georgetown. We couldn’t take them to Georgetown ourselves because we already had Lincoln and his family that needed to go from Lethem to Georgetown and they were already waiting on us. We loaded up and taxied out. We made a quick check of the engine monitor and the related systems-everything was in the green. We lined up for takeoff from the 1200’ gravel uphill runway. There was that bent up airplane in the weeds again, silently reminding us…

James verbally walked me through the take off abort process, and helped me select a good go/no-go point on the runway. Off we went, easing the throttle forward so as to reduce the number of rocks and sand getting pulled into the prop. The numbers looked good well before the abort point and the 235 hp pulled us airborne. We worked our way south following Brazil’s eastern border. A direct route would have put us in Brazilian airspace, something we did not have clearance to do. Soon we were arriving in Lethem. WOW a beautiful paved runway of 3000’!!! Dirt taxi ways, but-hey I’ll take the paved runway.

Jacob is in the fore ground talking with me, and the Bible worker and his wife in the background

After we landed we were met by Jacob, a worker at our TV station in Lethem.

We had with us his long awaited trumpet that he was so anxious for. I don’t know the full story of how it came to be at the flight base in Georgetown, but now he has his very own trumpet. I was able to give him a few pointers on how to care for and play it, as he had only played one once. I will have another chance to work with him when he comes to Paruima in two weeks for the youth congress.

Lincoln, his wife, and their two boys, ages 6 months and 3 years, arrived and loaded up. Since Lincoln is also a pilot and needs to gain experience as a pilot in Guyana he flew the return trip. I hadn’t given much thought to the ride back. I just thought I would climb in the back seat and away we would go…

Whoever thought of putting a back window in the Cessna 182, was not thinking of tall people. I rode all the way back either resting my chin on my hands with my elbows on my knees or with the left ear of my headset on my shoulder…  (Sunday I climbed into the back seat of 8704T, the Cessna 182 that has been here working the last several years. It is 13 years older and does not have the back window. I have 3” above my head even while sitting up very straight.)

I spent the trip back either trying to nap a little or entertaining the 3 year old boy, Nathan.

We arrived in good time, and put the plane away. What adventures await with the next flight? Only God knows and He is the one that brought us here in the first place, we are here at His bidding. We have to learn to recognize His still small voice telling us how and when to go out and to come in. Pray for us as we have so much to learn.