Brian and Bailey Pruett
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One Step Closer to Flight

September 28, 2010 by Brian and Bailey Pruett

The airplane is tied down in the turnaround area looking down the departure path of the airstrip..
The airplane is tied down in the turnaround area looking down the departure path of the airstrip..

Last weekend Brian drove with a truck full of tools and construction supplies to the tribe where our airplane is still tied down and guarded. It has sat in the jungle for over a month. He arrived just as it was getting dark and hiked down to the village in the rain on a slippery red clay trail. For those of you who have ever hiked the steep route on Bishop’s Peak in San Luis Obispo it’s a lot like that…only on “ice…and in the dark…and in the jungle.”

He arrived safely, got a good night’s rest and an early start on the inspection the next day. He needed to determine that the airplane would be safe to fly after installing just a new propeller. The hope is to fly the plane 35 minutes away to a location where more thorough repairs can be performed. While in the tribe, Brian removed the damaged prop and performed an inspection on the crankshaft and engine. It was determined that the engine is in excellent condition so the next step can now be taken and Brian and Garry can hike an airworthy propeller into the tribe next week.

It sounds simple, but getting a propeller in means trucking it in via 4×4 and then hiking it down that same trail without damaging it. WooHoo! Please pray for wisdom and safety as we as a team continue to work at getting our plane repaired in an efficient and safe manner.

Brian had an audience that watched his every move. Not pictured are more than 30 other spectators.
The airplane is tied down in the turnaround area looking down the departure path of the airstrip..
Inspecting to see if the crankshaft is warped.
Inspecting the propeller flange on the crankshaft.
Performing a thorough inspection of the engine before we go to the trouble of hiking another propeller into the tribe.
Finding new uses for the windsock. The plane isn’t needing it…
Brian brought all the aircraft manuals and specifications in electronic format on the laptop.
It was sad to see spider webs on the plane.

Filed Under: Ministry, Shop Talk, Uncategorized

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Trackbacks

  1. How to Replace a Propeller in the Jungle | Brian and Bailey Pruett says:
    November 5, 2010 at 7:15 PM

    […] an effort to speed the process of getting the airplane back in the air, we determined it would be safe to fly the airplane out of the tribal airstrip where it has been sitting if we could borrow and install an airworthy […]

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