It has been two long years since I have had the opportunity to do any significant maintenance on aircraft, but finally a couple of weeks ago I was able to get my hands dirty again! It was absolutely amazing how the Lord put the pieces together for this project.
NTM owns a Cessna 180 here in the Philippines that we are planning to sell in order to supply the remaining finances needed to ship our helicopter here. We have someone in the country who is very interested in purchasing it, but there were a couple of obstacles in the way. The airplane has been in storage for over a year and was due an inspection, and there were some problems with the propeller control system that needed to be addressed before we could sell it. Our Chief Pilot here asked if I, along with two other pilots here, could take a few days to travel 8 hours north to where the airplane was being stored and perform the inspection and maintenance that needed done. We had an 8′ long propeller, a large box of parts, our luggage, and some tools, so we decided our best plan would be to hire a van with a luggage rack and a driver to take us there. As we walked up to the NTM guest house where we were to meet the driver, it seemed a little odd that the rental van waiting there did not have a luggage rack on top, especially since we specifically mentioned three times that we needed one. Our concerns were verified when we discovered that, not only was that the van they had sent, it was the only one available that day, and there was no way the propeller would fit inside.
Welcome to the Philippines! We quickly re-thought our strategy and decided to take NTM’s Isuzu L-300, a little box van that we normally use for short runs around Manila. After checking the tires and fluids, we figured out a route that would avoid areas where the L-300’s license number was prohibited on that day of the week(a traffic reduction measure), and headed out. We drove through beautiful mountains and small towns and villages for about 8 Hours, arriving at the SIL center where we would be staying just in time for supper. After a quick meal, we started in on our project. Even after being washed earlier that day by a thoughtful hangar helper, the plane looked pretty sad. It had no propeller and every opening was stuffed with foam to keep out the birds and bugs. We worked ’til about 8:30 the first night, got a decent nights sleep, and started again about 5:30 the next morning. The Lord blessed our work incredibly, and after installing the propeller we tried running it. Amazingly it started almost immediately and purred like a kitten. Thankfully the new parts fixed the propeller problem and after three 15 hour days, we were able to head home confident that it was ready for a test flight and a ferry flight to the new owner. Please pray with us that God will smooth the way for the ferry flight approval. Also pray that the sale will go through quickly as much of NTM’s work in Northern Luzon will be suspended until we have the money to ship the helicopter and get it ready for service.
Josh