S.M.A.T.!!!

I am now officially accepted into S.M.A.T. (School of Missionary Aviation Technology)!!!!!

God has blessed this process of applying for schools in so many ways and I praise and thank Him for everything!

SMAT is in Ionia, Michigan (just 30 miles- ~50km) from Grand Rapids and I will be moving there in August of this year. The program will allow me to get my Airframe and Powerplant Aviation Mechanics License in 1 year. The classes will be Monday through Friday from 7-3pm everyday.

School of Missionary Aviation Technology

After I graduate from SMAT I plan on moving out west, possibly to Colorado or to Nampa, Idaho to gain experience and flight hours in different terrain. If I move to Nampa I would begin training with MAF and go through their application process. However, these plans are only tentative and God will show me where He wants me to go as He has done over the past 3-4 years.

Here's a little timeline of what God has been doing in my life in the past 4-5 years.

May 2009- Graduated High School.
August 2009- Freshman (1st year) at UofL- Studies: Veterinary Track.
Spring 2010- Got a C in Biology, lost interest in Biology/ studying.
Early Summer 2010- God puts it on my heart to become a pilot while I was running one day.
June-July 2010- Worked as a camp counselor at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp.

August 2011- Sophomore (2nd year) at UofL- Studies: Transitioning to Liberal Studies Major- "Missionary Aviation"- Geography minor and concentrations in Religious studies and Health Education; Flying on the side.
September 2010- Began taking flying lessons.
April 2011- First solo flight!
June 2011- Passed my Private Pilot Checkride- Official pilot now!
June- July 2011- Mission trip to South Africa and Lesotho (worked with MAF)- God gives me a heart for Lesotho.

August 2011- Junior (3rd year) at UofL- Studies: Official Liberal Studies Major- Missionary Aviation.
June 2012- 100 flight hours!
June 2012- Began Instrument flying training.

August 2012- Senior (4th & last year) at UofL- Studies: Missionary Aviation.
August-November 2012- Searching for schools to attend for earning my aviation mechanics license.
November 2012- Passed my Instrument Checkride- Officially an Instrument rated Private pilot.
November 2012- Applied to Redstone College (aviation mechanics school) in Denver, CO.
December 2012- Accepted into Redstone; visiting Else and Norm in Colorado with the whole family and a surprise visit from Koos!
January 1-15, 2013- God puts it on my heart through the wise words of family to apply to SMAT and go there instead because it is missionary oriented, less expensive, and faster (1 year instead of 2).
January 2013- Began Commercial flying training- high powered aircraft and different maneuvers.
January 31, 2013- Officially accepted into SMAT!!!

..... Future.....
February- May 2013- Earn my commercial flying license.
February- August 2013- Find more scholarships and funding for school.
May 2013- Graduate from UofL with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
June-July 2013- Travel to Africa for vacation/ visit family.
August 2013-August 2014- Attend SMAT
September 2013-.... Fly and gain experience/ hours, work as a mechanic somewhere?, begin training with MAF, and be sent out into the mission field. God has it planned out- I know it!

The plane I am flying in now for Commercial training- Piper Cherokee Arrow 28R-200

The plane I want to be flying in one day! One of the Lesotho MAF planes. Photo form Kimberly Baker (MAF Missionary)

FLY WITH CHRIST!!!
Helen

Birthday blessings!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KOOS!

 

Today is my best brother's birthday! Right now he's traveling back to Vietnam after his surprise Christmas visit in Denver! God is so great and blesses us with being able to come together for the holidays and enjoy each others company.

For Koos's birthday present I decided to donate money to MAF. Currently in Lesotho they are trying to build a new hangar. The MAF team has all the paperwork finished and has the legal rights and the land to build the hangar. Now all they are waiting for are the funds.
Visit https://www.maf.org/gc/maintain-the-fleet/build-a-hangar#.UOt5m3fx9qM and check out the story behind building a new hangar. And even though Christmas is over, donating in honor of someone is a great gift for an upcoming birthday or special event. This is just one of the ways you can help MAF and the missionaries.
Let us pray fervently that the money can be raised to build this hangar so that the work of MAF can continue to flourish throughout the world! I'll keep you posted on how the project is going.

Another news bulletin: I heard back from the MAF team in Lesotho about me coming over the summer. Unfortunately, I would not be able to fly much because 1) I would need to go through the MAF acceptance phase and flight tests and 2) they are going to be short of pilots for a little while so the flights may be full often. However, I may be able to work on different projects including helping/ learning maintenance or maybe even helping build the hangar if they get enough funds before I go in the summer.
Pray that God will provide in any way so that we can further his kingdom!

Lesotho MAF base, hangar, and fleet.

Fly with Christ,
Helen

New Years Eve Eve Update 2012!

Well it's been a wonderful time here in Colorado so far! Tomorrow (New Years Eve) I get to go on a long cross country flight through the mountains! God's beautiful creation is so magnificent and so evident here in Denver.

My family on top of Windy Peak in Golden Gate Canyon Park, Colorado.

As I am looking for where to go, God is showing more and more of where I should go. Today I visited a church near Redstone College in Denver and also drove around to some of the apartments around there.
One major new development in my plans for the future is going to S.M.A.T. (School of Missionary Aviation Technology) in Ionia, Michigan. This program allows me to get my A&P mechanic's license in 1 year and it is completely missionary minded which is a tremendous benefit. I am beginning to apply to S.M.A.T. and continuing praying for guidance of where to go for my training. With going to S.M.A.T. I would have the summer free to either find a flying job or go to Lesotho on a 6-8 week mission trip if possible and if God leads me there.
Please pray for these up coming weeks and months as I make my decision and look at more at my options and visit S.M.A.T.
Fly with Christ,
Helen

Christmas Cornucopia

Lots of updating overdue!

Well I'll start with the most current and work my way from there.
After a long 16 hour drive to Denver with my parents and 2 puppies we made it to my sister and brother in law's house. To my surprise, Koos was there!!!!  He flew in yesterday from Vietnam to surprise us and is spending Christmas and New Years with the whole family! All 6 of us (Theo, Mom, Norm, Else, Koos, and me)! God is so gracious an d protects us wherever and whenever we travel!

Rocky Mountains in Aurora, Colorado

Next up: Map making! My maps made it to Lesotho! MAF Lesotho is using the maps and this is another wonderful way that God works in our lives. Unfortunately, the large map got ruined in a torrential downpour and so will have to be reprinted.

Schools and scholarships: I got my official acceptance letter to Redstone College in Colorado! As of now, I am still applying to other aviation schools in case I could get a full ride scholarship somewhere else. God has been and will definitely provide for me as I decide where to go for school. I am looking into other scholarships as well to help fund my schooling. You can be in prayer about my decisions for the future. If I go to Redstone I will start on June 25th and would move a couple weeks before hand. If I go to another school I would start in August most likely and am thinking about going on a mission trip during the summer or working on building up flight hours. Please be in prayer for guidance from God on what He has in store for me in the future.

Flying: Since my checkride I had not been able to go flying much mostly because of school and final exams. However, I did get to fly in IFR (Instrument/ poor visibility) weather one day and went on a night flight another. On my IFR flight, I went with my instructor, and we flew to Lexington, Clark County, and back to Bowman Field (Louisville). On our way in to Lexington we were almost being "run over" by some planes that were faster than us so we simply had to get out of their way and turn around to land again. On our way in to land at Clark county the visibility was quite low but we popped out of the clouds to see the airport. At Bowman field we had to go down to the very minimum allowed altitude on the approach (about 200 feet above the runway elevation) because the base of the clouds were right at that level (300 feet above the runway). Without that extra 100 feet where we popped out and could see the airport we would not have been able to land and would have had to divert back to Clark County. God certainly kept us safe during that flight!
On my short night flight, I just hopped over to Clark County to do landings in order to stay current. It was such a beautiful clear night and God's wonder was shown in many aspects. Before I got in the plane I saw a meteor (which I always miss) and when I came back I saw another one. It was so cool to see and experience God's creation of day and night, the stars, and the moon, and the vast sky.  I find night flying the most wonderful time to fly. There is a certain peacefulness about flying on a clear night with hardly any traffic around and just the black sky and a million lights twinkling above and below you. The best part is when you take off, you are rolling down the lit runway but all around is darkness, as soon as you lift off hundreds of lights fill your window and as you gain more altitude you see more and more of the sea of gold and white lights. God is so evident to me in nature whether it is in the day or the night.

What night flying looks like (taken from someone else).

Christmas is here! It is so wonderful to know that God governs our lives and that he sent His son for us- to save us from our sins! God has everything in control and all we have to do is obey Him, worship and praise Him, and thank Him!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA
Merry Christmas everyone!
Fly with Christ,
Helen

Checkride: COMPLETE!!!

I PASSED MY INSTRUMENT CHECKRIDE!! 

God is so wonderful and has given me the ability to fly and to pass my exams successfully!
At first I was super nervous and this past week I was studying every moment I could get. When I got to the test site I was relaxed and the examiner was super nice and friendly and made it go smoothly. I had the same examiner for my private pilot checkride so I knew what it would be like. We first filled out some standard paperwork and then transitioned into the oral part of the test. I had to do some pre-flight planning to an airport but we were not actually going to fly there. We talked over the route I picked, what would happen if I lost communication, what if the weather was really bad, and about altitudes on the "highway" on our route. We also looked at some approach charts and such and discussed them. The oral part took about 1.5 to 2 hours and then I drove back over to the hangar and got the plane ready and taxied back to pick up my examiner (other end of the airport).

The radar was out at Bowman (LOU) and Standiford (SDF) so we could not get flight following as we had planned. So the examiner just went through a clearance as if he were the tower. We then taxied to the active runway and took off! Once we were over the river and in Indiana we did some steep turns, unusual attitudes, holding patterns and general navigation. After that we did 2 approaches into Clark County (JVY) and they went perfect! The wind was strong and it was turbulent around the lower altitudes but not too bad. When we were heading East/ Northeast we had a tailwind that gave us about ~130 kts of ground speed (150mph/ 240kph) and then when we reversed direction (Southwest) we were going at about 70 knots (ground speed- 80 mph/ 130kph). Once we finished the approaches at JVY we began an approach into LOU and followed it home. That was the end of the exam!! I PASSED! :) Afterwards I met Lee (my instructor) at the hangar and we talked about the test and how it went. In other aviation news: I sent in a scholarship application so pray that God will provide in any way he chooses!

Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O LORD, and I will sing praises to Your name. Psalm 18:49

What's next you say?...

Well first, papers and tests that are due for school. I will probably fly once in awhile when I get the chance and do some cross country trips here and there. When it gets to be colder/ worse weather I'll go fly with Lee in the winter. I will also begin working on my commercial pilot's license which includes longer flights, more maneuvers, 100+ hours cross country flights, and 20+ hours with an instructor. I will expand on this in a later blog. 

But for now, I'm going to enjoy some freedom from studying, after I finish writing 3 papers due on or before Wednesday! 

Fly with Christ,

Helen

Instrument Checkride!

Well it's finally here! I will be taking my instrument practical test at the end of the week!
The checkride is where I have an examiner sitting next to me and testing me on maneuvers, approaches, and everything I've learned thus far. It's like a driver's license test where you have to parallel park and back up except a lot harder. There is also an oral part of the test which will be done at the same time/ before we go up in the air. When I pass my test, I will be instrument rated which means I will be able to fly in bad/ marginal weather by reference to instruments. This is one of the 3 major parts of the licenses/ experience I need to get to qualify to be a missionary pilot. After this I will begin to work on my Commercial pilot's license which builds on to what I know.
You can be praying for me that my test will go well, and that I wont be anxious but well prepared!
I'll keep you posted on what happens!
Fly with Christ,

Helen

And off they go!!

Last spring (January- May 2012) I took a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) class and learned how to make maps. We had a large project to do throughout the semester incorporating what we had learned. I used that project to make a map for Lesotho MAF. Now, 5 months later the maps I made are on their way to Lesotho! I sent them to a MAF Lesotho pilot, Danny Hulls, who is in the states till the end of October when he will return to Lesotho. MAF Lesotho will get a large map (3.5 ft x 3ft) and a fold up map (26 in x 20 in).

The maps ready to be rolled up and sent off.

Tracking confirmation of the maps! They are getting sent to Danny who will take them to Lesotho.

With this project I mapped out where all the existing airstrips were located as well as where possible new airstrips could be built if there were a need. Also incorporated in the map are many towns and villages and you can see if a town has access to an airstrip or a medical clinic. I defined access as being a town within an 8km or 5 mile radius of an airstrip. With this map the MAF team in Lesotho can assess where there are fewer people being reached physically via airplane as well as spiritually. The possible locations are ranked from poor to excellent based on how many villages and towns are around the area as well as the surrounding terrain and roads. The MAF team could take these maps to the Lesotho government and propose to build airstrips in the best possible location and possibly get grant to do this. It is in the Lord's hand what happens with these maps and it is to His glory that missionaries can go into remote areas and spread the gospel!

 

Missionaries are all over the world both far and near! I recently found out that one of the people who fly out of Bowman field is a missionary pilot with Agape Flights ( http://www.agapeflights.com/) which fly to Haiti and in and around the Caribbean Sea. I get to meet with him soon and learn more about what he does and how God has been working through him. 

Here's a link to MAF's frequently asked questions http://www.maf.org/serve/overseas/faq#.UHsPeFEutUN in case you were curious about MAF and the process of becoming a missionary pilot with them. For the pilot requirements, most missionary aviation organizations have similar requirements. 

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8   

 

^{Fly with Christ,}

^Helen