{"id":23,"date":"2010-08-28T10:47:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T14:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/?p=23"},"modified":"2010-08-29T01:39:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-29T05:39:12","slug":"midnight-wake-up-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/2010\/08\/28\/midnight-wake-up-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Wake-Up Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Day in the Life of a Missionary Pilot:<\/span><\/p>\n

As we shared with many of you during our time in the States recently, I have the privilege of flying for a Baptist mission hospital here in Indonesia.\u00a0 We take medical teams into remote villages to care for the physical and spiritual needs of those who are quite isolated.\u00a0 Recently I flew a young family from the hospital to a village just 25 minutes away.\u00a0 By land this trip would have taken 2 or 3 days.\u00a0 Marno and his wife are both nurses and were moving to the village for a 4 month stay to serve in a clinic that is usually only staffed for a few days each month.\u00a0 Even though their baby was suffering from an ear ache they made the trip on schedule, leaving the safety net of the hospital in order to serve those who have no hospital or healthcare nearby. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fast forward 3 1\/2 days:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

12:15 a.m. \u2013 Rain has been falling for over 5 hours.\u00a0 I am awakened by my cell phone which has just received a text message from the hospital asking if I can fly back to the village to pick up this family in the morning.\u00a0 The baby has gotten worse, not better, and the parents want to get back to the hospital to have a doctor care for the child.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

12:16 a.m. \u2013 I write back to say that we would be ready to fly the next morning if needed<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

12:19 a.m. \u2013 my phone begins to ring.\u00a0 I rush to another room before answering to try to avoid waking Cindy (on her birthday)\u2026too late<\/strong>.\u00a0 It\u2019s Marno calling to ask what time the plane can arrive to pick them up (it\u2019s amazing how a cell phone signal is available these days in places with no roads or electricity).\u00a0 They need to plan ahead since the hike from the clinic to the airstrip is over an hour long.\u00a0 I tell him I can be there by 8 a.m. if the weather is decent.\u00a0 As I lay my head back onto the pillow I pray for this family in their distress; I eventually fall back to sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

5:00 a.m. \u2013 my alarm awakes me and I ready myself for the day.\u00a0 I am so blessed to have a wonderful wife who lovingly cooks me eggs and toasts some home made wheat bread for a scrumptious before dawn breakfast (even on her birthday<\/strong>).<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

6:05 a.m. \u2013 I leave on my motorcycle headed to the airport located 10 miles away.\u00a0 The rain has stopped but fog is covering the city and I know my departure will be delayed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

6:30 a.m. \u2013 walking into the pilot\u2019s briefing office I see another air traffic controller friend whom I haven\u2019t seen since returning to Indonesia in December.\u00a0 I fill out my flight plan and chat with him for a couple of minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

6:40 a.m. \u2013 I am at the hangar now and Marno calls from the village to say they are leaving to hike to the airstrip.\u00a0 I tell him that we have fog at the airport and won\u2019t be able to leave until later.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:00 a.m. \u2013 I turn on the HF radio for the missionaries\u2019 morning report; I am available in case anyone has a question about up and coming flights.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I then fuel the airplane and finish the pre-flight inspection.\u00a0 Still waiting on the weather to improve, I answer a couple of emails from missionaries who are requesting flights in the coming weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:57 a.m. \u2013 Marno calls from along the trail.\u00a0 The cell phone signal is weak but I understand that the weather is questionable.\u00a0 We agree to call again in 20 minutes. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

8:15 a.m. \u2013 The fog has lifted and clouds have separated.\u00a0 I make calls to get weather reports from my other 2 destinations.\u00a0 At the airstrip next to the mission hospital it is sunny but Marno says it is cloudy and a little windy along the trail as he and his wife and baby hike towards the airstrip.\u00a0 I decide to depart and tell Marno that if the weather isn\u2019t good enough I will land at a nearby airstrip and wait for conditions to improve. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

8:36 a.m. \u2013 I have just taken off and I climb to 3,000 feet. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

8:40 a.m. \u2013 I have switched from the tower controller to the departure controller and I now call on the plane\u2019s HF radio back to our hangar and give Lawrence a report.\u00a0 I give him my altitude, estimated time enroute, and fuel endurance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

8:56 a.m. \u2013 I give Lawrence a position report. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

9:14 a.m. – I\u2019ve been in between cloud layers as I approach the mountains to the north.\u00a0 Seeing that the clouds are quite high over the mountains I decide not to try to climb over them.\u00a0 I am just 20 miles from my destination.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I turn towards the west to overfly an airstrip at the foothills of the mountains which is just a couple of miles away.\u00a0 I have now descended to 2,000 feet and I turn back towards the north.\u00a0 The mountains are obscured with clouds as I try to make it up a mountain valley.\u00a0 I am beneath the clouds and need to climb back up to at least 2,700 feet in order to make it through to my destination, an airstrip at 1,350 feet above sea level.\u00a0 I slow the plane to 80 knots and lower 20 degrees of wing flaps as I begin to climb up again; this will allow me to make a tighter turn towards lower terrain should I have to turn around.\u00a0 As I approach the upsloping terrain I climb to the base of the clouds.\u00a0 I am now at 2,500 feet and can only see one very tiny hole showing a slightly brighter area ahead of me.\u00a0 However, wisdom dictates I turn around since the clouds are too low to provide a safe passage.\u00a0 Two minutes later I am on final approach at the airstrip I had just overflown.\u00a0 I make a radio call to Lawrence telling him I am landing. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

9:17 a.m. \u2013 after my wheels touch the ground and I get slowed down I call Lawrence on the radio to tell him I am on the ground.\u00a0 I read off the phone number for Marno and ask him to try to contact him and let him know I am waiting for the clouds to lift before making it the last several miles to pick him and his family up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

After shutting down the engine I am greeted by what seems like 100 children along with some of their parents.\u00a0 They have all come out to the airstrip to see the airplane.\u00a0 Today is an Indonesian holiday, Hari Nyepi, and there is no school.\u00a0 I am on the ground for a total of about an hour and 45 minutes.\u00a0 During that time I make calls back and forth checking on the weather at the airstrip I am trying to get to, I talk with one of the men, I admire the kids’ handmade toys.\u00a0 The latest is a kind of bamboo cannon that is just the thickness of a pencil and shoots \u2018spit wads\u2019.\u00a0 It makes a popping sound like a fire cracker and the villagers say it is \u2018exploding\u2019 but it has no gun powder, just air pressure<\/strong>.\u00a0 One boy has built a cute little car out of an old plastic oil can which he pulls around with a string.\u00a0 I then give the kids a short lesson in aircraft instrumentation, pointing out the altimeter, airspeed indicator, attitude gyro, nav heads, and compass. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"What<\/strong><\/strong>
What are all those knobs and dials Mr. Pilot?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

10:48 \u2013 The clouds have now lifted and I takeoff once again.\u00a0 Airborne, it is just an 8 minute flight to get to the village where Marno and his wife await the airplane. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"P1080504\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

10:56 a.m. \u2013 I have just landed.\u00a0 The airstrip is wet and I am thankful for the upslope that helped me to stop the airplane.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

11:12 a.m. \u2013 Marno and his family are now aboard and we taxi to the top of the airstrip for a downhill takeoff. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

11:28 a.m. \u2013 I make a position report to Lawrence.\u00a0 Just another 10 minutes will complete this 25 minute flight.\u00a0 By land, this trip would have taken at least 2 days consisting of hours of hiking, riding in a boat, and a bus ride; certainly not safe for a sick baby.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

11:38 a.m. \u2013 Marno, his wife, and baby step out of the airplane with looks of relief and thankfulness and I am greeted by a familiar face although I just can\u2019t quite place it.\u00a0 As it turns out, it is the wife of one of our church leaders, Pak Nada.\u00a0 We have been praying for Pak Nada for the past several days since we heard of his severe back problems.\u00a0 I discover that he has now spent 2 nights at the mission hospital next to the airstrip.\u00a0 His wife and son had not accompanied him to the hospital 2 days ago but rather had just arrived within the past hour.\u00a0 Pak Nada has just been told that he needs back surgery but that he needs to go to a different hospital for the procedure (back in the city where we\u2026and the airplane\u2026live).<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few minutes later Pak Nada arrives at the airstrip.\u00a0 He is walking but I can tell he is in much pain.\u00a0 Pak Nada and his family climb into the airplane.\u00a0 After giving a ‘passenger briefing’ (just like on the airlines except no oxygen masks, etc) we takeoff from this small airstrip surrounded by mountains.\u00a0 30 minutes later we arrive back in the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pak<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the coming days Pak Nada is able to get the surgery he needs.\u00a0 It was such a joy to see him in church a couple of weeks later as he gave a testimony to God’s provisions.\u00a0 Pak Nada is now back home where he teaches school children and leads a Bible study for seekers of truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s a day in the life of this missionary pilot (at least the first half of it).\u00a0 I am here to serve God by supporting the work of tribal church planting.\u00a0 Oftentimes that means giving emergency flights to sick people.\u00a0 Either way, it is a joy to serve the Lord in His ministry.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Day in the Life of a Missionary Pilot: As we shared with many of you during our time in the States recently, I have the privilege of flying for a Baptist mission hospital here in Indonesia.\u00a0 We take medical teams into remote villages to care for the physical and spiritual needs of those who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/daren-spence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}