More flying pictures!

Landing at 27K- Georgetown, KY

The bunkers we saw near Richmond, KY

One of the KY bourbon distilleries.

Spring (not so much of a) Break!

Well this past week I had spring break, but it ended up being not much of a break. I was busy everyday doing all kinds of things including projects, papers, and homework. I did get to hang out with friends, go to Marengo Caves, and run the Rodes City 10k race. 

In Marengo Caves, Indiana

Another highlight of the week was flying a total of 7 hours! These flights brought me just shy of 80 hours! On Tuesday, I flew to Frankfort, down south to a little airport in the middle of Lake Cumberland, where there were horses grazing next to the runway, and then all the way back up to Clarksville (100+ nautical miles!). When I got back to the Louisville area I flew past Clarksville and circled around Henryville to see what the damage of the tornado from a few weeks ago looked like. This was the first time I had done a 100 mile cross country leg and it went great! It does however, get a bit boring and tiring when you aren’t talking with anyone and you are just going straight for 50 minutes. The weather was nice. A few clouds rolled in creating some turbulence and requiring me to stay below 2500 ft. I had flown this route in order to prepare myself for Wednesday, when I would take up a friend (Josh) from school.

Capitol building in Frankfort, KY

Wednesday rolled along and the weather was perfect for flying! Clear blue sky and nice warm temperature. You could definitely tell it was a good day for flying because when we were getting ready to take off there were 5 or 6 others doing the same thing and once we got up in the air there weren’t many quiet spots on the radio. I ended up changing the route a bit because I was tired from the day before and it would be more beneficial to do so. We flew to Frankfort then hopped over to Georgetown where we stopped for a bit. The revised route, took us east of Lexington, over and around Madison/Richmond, KY, and then back west and up to Clarksville. Originally, we were going to land at Bardstown but due to lack of time I decided not to go there. Around Richmond there was a bunker site for something, so we explored that area to see what we could find. Overall, it was a great flight. Towards the end we had some moderate turbulence. It was great to get back in the seat again and go flying.

 

            Some more flying news on my end: I have begun searching for aircraft maintenance schools to go to after I graduate from U of L next May. I will need to get my maintenance certificate in order to fly as a missionary pilot and so I will attend a school somewhere (yet to be determined) for about 2 years. During this time I will go through the mechanics program and build up flying hours and experience. God has been showing me where to go with my future studies and I continue to trust Him in where He is leading me. God has also put an opportunity in my lap to be able to learn mechanics before going to school for it. I will be working with the mechanic for Louisville Aviation over the next year on projects he does. I will get to help him with the maintenance on the airplanes and simply just learn more about how planes work and how to fix them if they don’t. This won’t be a paid job or anything like that, it is more for experience and learning and it will be beneficial for when I go to school for it. I am excited to be taking the next step towards missionary aviation! God has blessed me with this opportunity and I am following Him for His glory, not mine! I want to serve people as Christ served us ultimately with His death on the cross. In order to be right with God we need to repent of our sins, be forgiven, and put our whole trust in God, and in return we get to live eternally with Him and serve Him! How great is that!

Louisville, KY

Romans 12:2 stuck out to me today, 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

We need to be transformed by Christ and accept the Holy Spirit, then we can discern what God has in store for us and where He is leading us.

Fly with Christ,
Helen

Night Flight Not Night Fright

Flying can be sometimes nerve-wracking and can make you anxious. At least it is sometimes like this for me, mostly because I am not very experienced yet. Usually when I got flying, as I am driving to the airport, I am a bit nervous and anxious. But when I get to the airport I am more relaxed and less nervous. These worries come because of not a lot of experience and not flying very often at the moment. However, once I get in the cockpit and simply go through the procedures on my check list I get comfortable with the task at hand and just go for it.

Runway at night. The four lights in a row on either side of the runway are the glide slope indicators (Red/White).
Click on the picture to see the lights blink to signify the direction of the runway.

In order to stay current as a pilot you must fly and do at least 2 full stop landings at night within 90 days of the last time you flew at night. Tonight, that is what I did. I had never gone on a night flight solo and I hadn’t done night flying in a while, so I was a bit nervous. But when I got to the airport and got ready to take off I just took a deep breath and told myself that “I can do this”. Take off and pattern maneuvers were fine and then I started my descent. Everything went superbly! I kept a steady descent rate at -500 feet per minute and my airspeed was a constant 70 knots and everything went well. I turned on the last leg and my glide slope was just a bit high so I tweaked my pitch and got on track with the correct glide slope. It’s better to be high than to be “red over red you’re dead!” There are lights that help you see how high or low you are when approaching the runway. All white lights means too high, a red and white light means you are on glide slope (where you’re supposed to be) and all red lights mean you are too low and so you need to increase your altitude. As I got down to the ground I eased back and had a nice and smooth touchdown. I was surprised that it went so well and happy that it did. I continued practicing landings at Bowman for a while and then hopped on over to Clarksville. The interesting thing about night flying is trying to find the airport in the dark between all the other light of the city. Usually airports have a blinking white and green light that signifies where it is located so all you have to do is look in the general direction of the airport until you can spot the beacon and then fly to it. I landed a couple more times at Clarksville and got gas and then got home (Bowman) just before the tower closed. It was a great night for flying since the moon was out and the weather was perfect. After my first landing went well I knew the rest of the flight would do the same. The best thing about night flying is the view- you can see for miles and you see all the little golden lights shining that light up the city. 

Back at the hangar- wrapped up for the night.

            One thing I now know is that worrying does no good! I was nervous before my flight but I just took it one step at time and trusted in God. That’s the amazing thing about having Christ as your personal savior! He takes all your worries away no matter how small or big they are. If you trust in him fully then he will help you through the tough times and will help you overcome fears as well as anxiety. No matter what you are going through, God understands and He will help you if you rely on him. If there is no one to talk to about your worries there is always God- He will answer your prayers.

Philippians 4:6-8

Matthew 6:25-34

Trust in Christ, walk with Christ, fly with Christ, and ask Him to come into your life!

Helen

A Purpose Driven Life

What a great month it has been! God has been blessing my life as well as others abundantly and I give praise to Him for that. Just this past week my sister (Else) and her husband (Norm) came to Louisville to surprise our mom for her 50^th birthday! It was great to spend quality time with the family as a whole, back together again. Now, the house is empty once again. Else and Norm left in the middle of the week and just this morning (5am) Koos left to go back to Vietnam for a year and a half. It is so great to see God working in our lives and that He allows us to travel to many places in order to do His work! It is sad to see Koos leave but I’m so thankful that he has found a place to serve. It is also a testimony of how we should leave our plans up to God and our wishes and that we shouldn’t try and take control! Koos, like me, is super outdoorsy and we could live in a tent for a year in the middle of a jungle if we had to. But God has other plans for Koos- those being to live in the middle of a city with 6 million people! Our mission field, wherever we may be, will take us out of our comfort zones but it creates a bond between you and God that you will trust Him in any circumstance.

           

Finding out what God has in plan for you is half the battle. It is not up to us to plan where our lives are going to be and how perfect they will be. God can flip that in a second. Our lives are to follow Christ wherever He leads us. I continue to seek guidance in what I will do in my life. I believe God is calling me in to the mission field as a pilot and will work out all the kinks as I come to them. For instance where to go to mechanics school. I would love to live out west somewhere but I know that it is all in good timing and that God will take me where I need to go. The other day I got to meet a new friend, Sarah, who is interested in missionary aviation! I am so excited and thankful that God put her in my life to encourage and to share with.

            One more great thing that God is doing in my life is a GIS project. GIS (Global Information Systems) is a map making tool and I am currently taking a class to learn how to use it. I am working on a large project for MAF Lesotho where I map out all the airports, health clinics, what the terrain is like, and other factors. This will help them to see where the best place would be to put a new airstrip. God has given Koos this ability (to use GIS) to teach me so that I may be able to use this skill in the future. I enjoy all the little things God is doing in my life.

            Prayer and faith are the keys to living a life according to God’s will. Please pray for:

~ Koos as he is travelling to Vietnam as well as his ministry and teaching in Hanoi.

~ Me- guidance in where to go in the future, what to study, and to grow in my faith in the Lord.

~ Missionaries and to be missionaries- that they would put their full trust in God that He will lead them.

 

Take a moment out of your busy day to read these verses and pray about what God’s purpose is for your life.

Jeremiah 1:5-7

Psalm 57:2       

Proverbs 19:21 

Psalm139:13, 16-17 

1 Corinthians 4:12

Remember... we are the little lion and God is the big one. He is in charge, teaching us everything we need to know and leading us wherever  we need to go!

 Fly with Christ,

Helen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tis the season!

Well here comes the cold weather! (Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere) ‘Tis also the season for prayer and praise! Praise that Christmas is almost here and that we get to celebrate Jesus’ birth! That God came into the world as a man.

Last week I met with Mark Hogg the director of EDGE Outreach. EDGE is an organization that works to install water purification systems as well as to teach the people in the villages how to build the systems, how to get clean drinking water and how to do basic sanitization. It was neat to see how easy their systems are. Tanks and PVC pipes are usually purchased in the country that the teams are in and the filtration systems are brought in from the US. The filtration system uses salt to sanitize the water. EDGE works primarily in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India and they send teams there for usually 2 weeks at a time to install the systems and to teach the people. They also send out individuals who will take the systems to other countries in which they themselves are missionaries or have contacts. They are a Christian organization, however, sharing the gospel is not their first priority, which is disappointing.

            I went to speak with them to see if they worked with pilots in anyway. They had not specifically worked with pilots before but had heard about MAF and had previously tried to get involved with them. I am going to try to work out how I can incorporate EDGE with aviation. I will talk with MAF and see what they say and hopefully I could install the water purification system in Lesotho since I already have contacts there. Please pray that things will work out clearly, or if they are not meant to be that I will be able to see that door closed. One other problem that we would have to find the solution to would be temperature. In the winter (July-August) Lesotho is usually around freezing, and since these water systems have been only installed in warm countries we’ll have to figure out if the temperature is a major factor.

            Pray that I will be able to trust in God to open doors and lead me in the right direction with this project. Also, pray that I will be able to work out more of my flying plans. I intend to get my instrument rating in the next year or so and I just need to work on when I will be able to spend the most time and effort on it.

            So in summary here are the things I hope to be working with next year- Please pray for these:

            ~ EDGE- and water purification systems

            ~MAF in Lesotho and possibly installing the water system

            ~ Instrument rating- working on it over the summer or sooner

~ Summer- flying hours build up or mission trip or both if timing works out. I would love to spend a whole summer (winter) in Lesotho but that may not be possible.

            I’m looking to God for guidance on where I should go and what I should do in the next couple of years.

Here are a couple videos that I think will be enjoyable for you.

 MAF Lesotho- Airborn Newborn

Christmas Mystery 

Charlie Brown: The Meaning of Christmas 

Fly with Christ,

Helen

           

“911- What is your emergency?”

This past Friday I had the privilege of flying with an air medical team in a helicopter. I visited our friends in Morehead, KY a month or two ago and found out that they live next to a helicopter base. We went across the road to the base and met one of the pilots. He told me about their ride-along program that they offer to medical students at the hospital next door. It gives the students an opportunity to see if they would like to do emergency care through flying as a flight nurse or paramedic. Since I was a pilot and not a med student I still could go with them to see what the flying aspect of the team was like. So I emailed the people and we arranged a date that I could come and ride with them for a whole day.

            I drove from Louisville to Morehead (~2 hours) on Thursday night and spent the night with our friends, the Mansfields (check out Aaron Mansfield's blog- Eclogues), and then in the morning around 8am I went over to the base. We started right away and were up in the air within 15 minutes of me getting there. In the morning they did a drill at a high school about 10 minutes (flight) away. At the school they staged an accident and students played the roles of people injured in the cars. They had actually collided the cars and put dummies in there and a few students who had fake blood and injuries. The EMS, fire department, coroner, the air medical team (PHI), and police were all involved and they responded to the emergency as if it were a real one. We (in the helicopter) were waiting at the nearby airport for them to call us and when they did we lifted up and within a couple minutes we were sitting in the parking lot of the high school. They put the “injured” student on the stretcher and then loaded them in the helicopter. Officially, if it were a real accident they would lift off right away and go to the hospital, but this time we just stayed on the ground and then unloaded the patient.

PHI 1 Morehead, KY

            After the first drill we (PHI air medical team) went and got gas just in case if there was a real emergency that we would be prepared and then came back and did another drill pretty much the same way as the first one. It was really neat to see how they would respond in an emergency and what they do. It was also awesome to be in a helicopter for the first time! It’s neat how you go up straight and then you’re in the air rather than having to have a runway.

The difference between helicopters and planes is that

1. The ride is bumpier (the blades hit the air a certain way which causes the aircraft to shake),

2. A helicopter requires less room to take off and so is beneficial because they can land anywhere but can’t go as far on a tank of fuel, and

3. Planes are better for long distances but have limited landing areas.

After doing the drills we returned to base in Morehead and then the team did paperwork and/or took naps. The medical personnel on the team work 24hour shifts while the pilot works 12. On that shift if they get a call they go to it but the rest of the time they are just waiting, doing paperwork, or taking a short nap since their shift is so long and they need to be awake during the night.

            It was such a great experience to see how a helicopter works and how the air medical team works. Depending on where I eventually go in my flying career I may add a rotor wing (helicopter) certificate to what I have.

 Fly (in a plane or helicopter or anything) with Christ,

Helen

Pressing On

Veterans day: Thank you to all the veterans out there! Especially the pilots! We couldn't have come this far without you all and we greatly appreciate it. May God continue to bless your lives as he has already done so far.

Take a look at this link- it's about a WWII African American Pilot who stood up against segregation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15615290

In other news, Here's a verse that sticks in my mind-

Philippians 3:14  

^"14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

 As I suffered through a mini marathon this morning I was reminded of when Paul talks about running to win the prize. Even if you are not in first place, you can still win the prize- the prize of Christ! That he came to earth to save us from our sins and died on the cross bearing our punishment and suffering. So no matter how much you're suffering, we have Christ to thank for saving us from eternal suffering!