Flight Training and Chicken Pot Pie

Last week was an exciting training week for Dave.  First, they went to a dry lake bed and tested the limits of the Cessna 206.  They practiced hitting narrow touchdown spots and seeing how fast they could get stopped.  They also practiced air drops, seeing if they could control the airplane and place the package in the drop zone...it is harder than it looks.

Air drop at the dry lake bed

Then, Dave practiced taking off and landing at sloped airstrips.  Imagine landing an airplane going up a ski slope... or taking off going down one!  On Friday, I got to go with Dave and his instructor out to the mountains where he practiced landing on airstrips that were about as wide as the landing gear.  As they were talking about the location of the airstrip from the air, I kept looking out the window thinking "where is it?".  Not only were these landing strips very narrow, they were very short.  The second one we went to had what they call a "blind approach" meaning you can't see it until you are coming in to land.

Walking the airstrip

Touching down in the zone

Here is a video of Dave doing an aborted take-off, a short field take-off, and a landing from the inside (check out the landing strip from the air!).

Jill rolling out her home made pie crust

On Monday, while Dave was practicing his instrument flying in the simulator (the airport was shut down for maintenance), I donned an apron and went to a cooking class.  We practiced cooking from scratch when you have to make do without convenience foods.  Think about how often you just open a can of tomato paste or cream of something soup for a recipe, or pop open a can of biscuits when you are cooking.  We cooked with leeks, yucca, papaya, plantain, and jicama (lots of new stuff for me) and made our own sauces, crust, and dough.  In the end (4.5 hours later), we had an awesome chicken pot pie, oatmeal rolls, and fruit salad...Yum!

Where are you again?

That has been a common question we have heard over the past few months…and not without reason, because more than once I have woken up wondering what state we were in.  After our road trip east, we have actually settled down a little.  In mid-August we began our trek to Idaho to begin what they call Standardization and Orientation Training here at MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho… So for those who have asked…we are in Idaho.

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

Now when making the 1400 mile drive from Texas to Idaho, there has to be a little fun to break up the driving.  On our second day of driving we stopped for several hours and spent some time at Mesa Verde National Park where we took a hike back in time visiting the cliff dwellings where the ancient Anasazi lived almost 1400 years ago.  We climbed ladders and ducked through tunnels to get to the dwellings and even climbed down in a kiva built by these ancient people.  Then after driving through beautiful Utah, we drove by waterfalls in Idaho called Thousand Springs, and finally arrived in Nampa.  We were privileged to stay with some wonderful folks, Greg and Micki Blair, for a few days while waiting to get into an apartment here at MAF headquarters.  Now in the apartments, we have been able to unpack our suitcases and settle in for a while.  It has been great staying with all of our wonderful friends and family, but I won’t lie, it has been nice not being someone’s “company”.

 

 

For two months Dave will be “standardized” in all things maintenance and flying.  He has already wrapped up ground school and all of his maintenance training and has just begun flying.  Since we have been fundraising, he hasn’t had the opportunity to fly, so pray that he gets back into the groove quickly and is able to learn all of the new material they are throwing at him.  MAF requires all of their pilots to wear a helmet while flying, so it was pretty exciting for Dave to get his new custom-fit helmet!  Once Standardization training is over, we will both go through Orientation training which will deal with more cultural issues. 

Dave trying on his new helmet

 

So you may be asking what I have been doing while Dave is turning a wrench or up in the air flying.  I have continued to work on our ministry support as well as our pre-departure checklist items.  Our passports are renewed, we are almost done with all of our travel immunizations, and other travel paperwork is in the works.  Please continue to pray that we will find someone to share a shipping container with to Mozambique.  We are trying to figure out exactly what we need to take with us (and calculate volume and weight) while still purchasing items we know we need to get in the States versus Africa. 

I have also been busy learning Portuguese.   I have been using Rosetta Stone for Brazilian Portuguese which I have been told is like learning British English and then coming to the United States… but if you could hear my twangy-Texas-with-a-hint-of-Spanish accent, you would know that I’m going to sound funny anyway!  We will be going through a culture/language acquisition program in Mozambique when we first arrive in January and then will work with a tutor after that, so hopefully this will just be a good start.

Boise Balloon Festival

While in Idaho, we also have been trying to enjoy the state with a little free fun on the weekend.  On Labor Day weekend we went to see a “night glow” event at the Boise Balloon Festival, where they inflated and lit up all the hot air balloons.  Muito bom.  We also did a little hiking and geocaching in the foothills of Boise (found 5 caches and 3 rattlesnakes) on our day off. 

Geocaching in the Boise Foothills

 Last weekend we helped with an MAF event called “Ride 2 Fly”.  Several motorcycle organizations and individual riders met up at MAF headquarters and drove out to an airstrip in Garden Valley, Idaho up in the mountains.  An MAF Cessna 206 (what Dave will be flying in Mozambique) also flew out there for a demonstration.  We also helped with a mock medical emergency where I got to be the snakebite victim desperately needing a medical evacuation.  While we had a fun time with it, it is important to remember that every day MAF is flying people with real medical emergencies in very remote areas almost all over the world.

Lastly, if we haven’t said it recently, thank you again for your continued prayers and support! Obrigado!

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