SUBJECT: Over the Sea and over the Woods

AUTHOR: David Gates, his wife Becky, and three of their five children - Katie, Carlos, and Kristopher, work together with Becky's parents, sister and family, in a medical aviation program in the jungles of Guyana, South America.

DATE: July 4, 1997

How much there is for which to be grateful. The so long awaited event has become a reality. Our small medical plane is now in Guyana and has begun to serve the interior. In the first four days of after its arrival, it has already flown three trips,

Plane Tail Lettering in Place

two hundred miles deep into Kaikan and Paruima. Four more are scheduled for next week. The white plane, painted with yellow and red stripes, black registration, and green lettering (colors of the Guyanese flag) looks very much at home parked beside the large mango trees in Kaikan. God's hand has certainly been evident during the ferry flight down and in helping to obtain the permission to operate the plane within the hinterlands of the vast country of Guyana.

During six months in Kentucky (August - February), it had received a newly overhauled engine, a new paint job, some sheet metal work, some radio installations. Following came four months at the Andrews University Airpark where nearly a thousand man-hours of labor were invested in electrical, sheet metal, mechanical, upholstery, and HF radio work. Its stay at Andrews served to encourage many a student pilot/mechanic that mission aviation is still alive today. After the final adjustment had been made and the plane was physically ready for the flight, two days followed to fill out the logbook entries and completed the appropriate FAA paperwork on work and alterations. I want to reiterate my thanks to each of the many persons who put so much of themselves into this project. I pray God will bless you and use the experience to fan the flame of mission service in each of you.

Two weeks ago today, I left Andrews University with the plane, heading South to our family farm in Dongola, Illinois. Heavy head winds were but a foretaste of what we were to experience during the next 4 days. Picking up Leif Aaen, a recent graduate from the Andrews Aviation Maintenance school, and co-pilot during our trip, we made a quick trip to Kentucky to correct some radio problems, and then flew back to Illinois before Sabbath at sundown. A special dedication service held by the Marion SDA church (my home church) followed on Sabbath afternoon at the Marion airport. Due to heavy rains Saturday night, the ferry tank and packing of the plane took place on Sunday. By 5:30pm Sunday afternoon, the plane was ready for the flight to Miami. We had carefully weighed every item before placing it in the aircraft so we knew our exact weight and balance data. Just for the sake of feeling out the configuration, I took of by myself off our grass strip on the farm and flew it around the pattern, testing the handling characteristics. I was satisfied, so I landed to pick up Leif. As we gathered around the plane for our final word of prayer, one of our Mennonite neighbor families drove up with their children to see the plane. They joined us in a special prayer of thanks, and petition for God's care during the many hours required to fly the plane all the way to South America. We then taxied to the top of our grass runway (since it slants slightly downhill) and made a clean departure at about 6:00pm.

Our first fuel stop was in Chattanooga, TN at 10:30 pm. For the first time, we filled not only our wing tanks, but our 15 gal ferry tank as well. The weather was beautiful all the way down to Florida, so we then took off for a long all-night flight to Orlando. Touching down at 5:00am, we headed to the pilot's lounge where two soft couches and a dark room provided

Attracting other pilots in Orlando

us with 5 hours of wonderful sleep. As we preflighted the plane for the next leg to Miami, several pilots came over to us wanted to talk about the Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service which they had seen written on the tail. They were quite enthusiastic and said they had visited Guyana several times and took pictures of Leif and I standing beside the plane. Summer afternoon weather had closed in before we reached Miami, so we had to convert over to an instrument flight plan in order to continue on to Opa Locka International airport in Miami. We had several hours of running around to do in Miami, including a stop at the Inter-american Division to cash a check for the flight, so we decided to spend the night and depart the US bright and early on Tuesday morning. At the Division offices, we met Elder Israel Leito our Division President, who promptly took us back to his office to hear the details about our proposed flight. He was reminded us that he and Elder Folkenburg would soon be coming to see us in January. How special it is to have the encouragement of our church leaders. Not every mission aviation service enjoys that same privilege.

At Opa Locka airport, we filled the plane with fuel at 6:00am. The lineman who took care of us was very kind and even offered to run an errand to Wallmart for me and mail me some spare parts I needed for my electric shaver. The offices inside were dark due to a water leak which had caused a black out. I filed my flight plan in the dark, and paid for the fuel in the dim office. By 7:00am we were airborne in route to Stella Maris, a small island in the Bahamas. Our life jackets and two single-man life rafts were within easy reach. As we were overflying Nassau, the air traffic control told us that there was a message from Miami, that we had left our passports back at the airport. However, I checked and found that I had not. The passports were safely

Final Approach at Grand Turk

in my fanny pack, so we continued our flight, somewhat confused by the message. We refueled in Stella Maris and Leif loaned me the money to pay for the fuel in order to avoid digging through the cargo in search of the small brief case with the cash. At Grand Turk, we did have to use our cash, so we pulled everything out looking for the small brief case. Panic hit as we realized that what had been left behind had not been the passports, but the briefcase with $2000 in cash. I must have left it behind in the darkened office somewhere. They normally don't accept credit card fuel purchases in Grand Turk, but did so after a motorcycle trip to the bank. Instead of spending the night in Grand Turk, we opted to head on out for Puerto Rico, where it would be easier to deal with the lost brief case. I was feeling quite sick in my stomach, but felt much better after turning it over to our Heavenly Father just before starting our engine. He was in charge of this whole project anyway, and in spite of our human deficiencies, it would be He who would see it through to its completion.

It was a rather lonely 5 hour flight to Puerto Rico that night. The weather was good, and we were in constant radio contact with radar contact during the last half of the flight. Due to the late hour, it was necessary to land at San Juan International airport for proper customs and immigration clearance. As soon as we got out to a pay phone, I called Miami Aviation Corporation in Opa Locka since they were open 24 hours. I anxiously waited to find out the verdict regarding my brief case. Where had I left it? Where had it been found? Was the cash still in place? The man on duty said that there was a note on the desk stating that the briefcase had been left on the counter when I had paid for my fuel. The manager had found it, opened it, had seen the

San Juan, Puerto Rico

cash, and immediately stuck it in the safe. Everything was secure. Praise the Lord! I was to call back in the morning to speak with the manager and make arrangements for the briefcase to be picked up. I slept well that night. The next morning, the manager and secretary counted the money together and verified the whole $2000 was present. They then converted the cash into Money Orders, and FedExed the whole brief case to me in Puerto Rico. The manager treated the whole thing as a priority and went out of her way to deal expeditiously with the matter, all at no charge for the running around and work it caused. She said that they would do the same for any of their other customers. What a wonderful way to run a business. If you ever fly into Opa Locka airport, get your fuel at Miami Aviation Corporation. My father took advantage to FedEx some maps and a tailwheel to me that had been left behind in Illinois. We lost one day in Puerto Rico because of the wait on the FedEx, but took advantage to pick up some needed supplies and stock our food for the trip.

In order to get to Guyana by Friday, we had some serious flying ahead of us, so we should have left early. However, the FedEx plane was delayed and we didn't get our deliveries until 11:00am, so we didn't get off the ground until 12:30pm headed for Martinique. Due to a large ash cloud caused by the recent eruption of the volcano on Montserrat, we had to change our flight plan to a course East of the island chain, via St. Maarten and then South to Martinique. The 5-hour flight

Leif napping during the long flight

ended at sundown with a beautiful sunset in Fort-de-France. Once on the ground, I switched to French. The two men in the tower could hardly believe that our large wheeled, STOL taildragger with a big engine was really a Cessna 150. All they could say was "tres especial..oui..tres especial". The weather briefing, and filing of our instrument flight plan was all done in French too. It was so much fun. It has been said the French are not hospitable, but I must say that any attempt to speak French, even with a Spanish accent, is rewarded very highly.

The island following Martinique is St. Lucia, which has two high volcanic mountains called the "Pitons". They are very beautiful to see in good weather, but quiet unfriendly while overflying them at night in the rain. Even though we were nearly three thousand feet above their peaks, their up and down drafts still shot a bit of adrenaline through my nervous system. St. Vincent appeared out of the darkness with its specks of light along the coast. Those friendly lights gave way to darkness again as in the clouds we crossed paths with a couple of Liat Airline flights a thousand feet above and below us. Grenada finally made its appearance as a glow down through the fog and low-lying clouds. The next country was Trinidad, I was entering home territory now and it sure felt good. As the coastline of Trinidad began to show on the horizon, I began to get excited. I wondered what the control tower thought when he asked me for a position report and I reported overflying Maracas valley (where I taught at Caribbean Union College for four years). How would a foreign aircraft know the name of a specific valley, and that at night? After landing at 9:30pm we proceeded to clear customs and immigration which usually takes a couple of hours, and it did. I called Roland Thomson, Treasurer of the Caribbean Union and close friend, to come see the plane, help me refuel it, and asked for a place to spend the night. It was late but he came running out right away, excited about the new plane. When ready to taxi the plane over to the light airplane park for the night, I asked the tower for permission to taxi to NP (National Petroleum) for fuel. He said "you must have been in Trinidad before to ask that. You are cleared to taxi, and I guess you won't be needing any directions." I answered that I had lived in Trinidad for 4 years and had taught flying there too. "It is nice to be home again" I finished. It sure was.

We were in bed by 2:00am but unfortunately, we had to be up by 4:00am in order to get off the ground early for Guyana. We lifted off at 6:30am headed for Georgetown. Touchdown was 3.5 hours later at Cheddi Jagan International airport (previously called Timehri Intl). After a quick clearance from Customs and Immigration, Airport Information Service had to call the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) to get clearance for me to land at Ogle, the small local airport in downtown Georgetown. They gave the OK. Before takeoff, Leif and I had a special word of prayer, asking God to please prepare the way for us to fly into Kaikan that same day to be with the family for the weekend and for my daughter Katrina's and cousin Kristen's eight grade graduation on Monday evening. It would definitely take a miracle since such permission is rarely granted for many weeks to months after the plane's arrival. As expected, their were several dozen aircraft mechanics and pilots standing by to see the plane land and taxi in. It is not a common occurrence for a foreign plane to land at Ogle. The last time that had happened was probably when I had flown in a Trinidadian plane nearly 18 months previously. We stopped by to thank Ogle's administrator of allowing us permission to land and to make arrangements for future parking arrangements. When I mentioned that I hoped to fly to Kaikan that same day, he shook his head and said "I have been here a long time. Take my word for it, you will not be going anywhere for at least a week, if then." I conceded that he was probably right, but said I still planned to see the CAD about my request right away. "Park the plane first" he said, "that way you won't have to come back to tie the plane down when they say no."

Constantly praying that God would prepare the minds of the CAD authorities for my special request, I drove over with Pastor Cleo Quashie to the CAD, along with Leif. Since I expected some kind of delay, I asked them to leave me there and check back on me about an hour later. When I entered the offices of the CAD, I found everyone from the inspectors to the secretaries in a state of excitement. Everyone seemed to be celebrating the birthday of one of the workers. Cake and softdrink were on everyone's mind, and they were enjoying it too. One of the secretaries of the department greeted me kindly, and offered me her desk to sit at while I waited. Smiles were the standard for the day. When they were done, I was taken to the airworthiness inspector who advised me to leave the logbooks and come back a week later. I mentioned my hope for a flight into Kaikan the same day, and looking at the other inspector, they asked for 15 minutes to scan the logbooks. Fifteen minutes later, they said everything looked like it was in order and that they would give a green light to the airworthiness status. Next came an interview with the Licensing inspector and air safety inspector. Both of them agreed that it would probably be OK, but stated that since the Director himself just happened to be in the office, he would have to make the decision. I waited nervously for about 10 minutes, and then the licensing inspector came in to tell me that the Director himself considered the flight too dangerous and had denied my request. I asked for permission to see the Director myself since I had never met him. The Director's secretary invited me into the office and was bubbling over with good news about her latest visit to our Adventist hospital, Davis Memorial Hospital. She said she was so grateful for the good care she had received there from Dr. Lara, our Medical Director. She then stepped into the Director's office and got permission for me to talk to him. Mr. Moore, is a thin, quiet man. Now at all what I was expecting. I thanked him for the privilege of speaking directly to him. I told him that I actually lived in Kaikan and how I had not seen the family for nearly two months, and that

Out of Georgetown for Kaikan

my daughter's graduation was on Monday. I recounted how I had landed there many times before in both Islanders and Cessna 206s. I was very familiar with both the route and the airfield itself. I asked for reconsideration. "Your confidence is evident, and contagious. You have my permission to make the flight. Please be careful."

Filing my flight plan to Kaikan, I was aware of the many whispers going around. Most couldn't believe that the plane that had just arrived was on its way to Kaikan. Pilots in the air congratulated me on the flight provided me with weather updates. They assured that though the weather wasn't very good en route, it was fine at the destination. As we began our descent into Kaikan, I became quite emotional. As we touched down and taxied in, the whole village was waiting for the plane. Before I even unbuckled my belt and stepped out of the plane, most of the men of the village had already stepped up and given me a hug. We immediately gathered everyone around for a prayer of thanksgiving. My voice broke several times as poured out our gratefulness to our Heavenly Father for the joy and reality of having our medical plane finally at home in Kaikan. We

At home in Kaikan in time for Sabbath

also welcomed the Sabbath, only 20 minutes away. After we pushed the plane into its tie down position, I couldn't help noticing how satisfied and happy the plane looked next to the mango trees. Thank you so much Lord for such a wonderful homecoming.

Thank you all of you who through prayers and support have made this great event possible. In a few weeks I will follow up with a progress report as we put together our new medical aviation program here. Please continue remembering us daily in your prayers.

David

You may write to David at: gates@andrews.edu

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