{"id":118,"date":"2010-08-23T06:50:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T10:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/?p=118"},"modified":"2010-08-23T07:04:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-23T11:04:23","slug":"a-o-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/2010\/08\/23\/a-o-g\/","title":{"rendered":"A.O.G."},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who don\u2019t know aircraft lingo, AOG stands for Aircraft On Ground.\u00a0 And that is what we are dealing with at our NTM Aviation hangar here in PNG.<\/p>\n

\"Paul
Paul & Marc removing the engine in preparation for transport to Australia. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in July Paul and the maintenance team were doing some routine inspections on our helicopter when they noticed signs of a problem.\u00a0 \u201cCan we fix it here?\u00a0 Do we have the parts\/equipment\/ability to fix it?\u201d\u00a0 After further investigation and consultations, it was determined that the engine needed to be shipped to an overhaul facility and fixed.\u00a0 Closest facility = Sydney, Australia!<\/p>\n

Wish that we could report that it only took a call to FedEX to get our 200 lb \u201cpackage\u201d shipped.\u00a0 A special shipping crate was first sent to us.\u00a0 In the mean time the engine needed to be removed and prepared.\u00a0 And due to the size of this crate, we actually had to fly the engine down to Port Morseby ourselves in our C-90.<\/p>\n

Off it went to Sydney and after clearing customs there, the team at Standard Aero have started working on it.\u00a0 Paul was even able to observe some of this before we returned to PNG. (See the next page for more info about why we were there.)<\/p>\n

\"Paul
Paul helping out in the Pal tribe. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So of course our helicopter sits and waits for the engine to return.\u00a0 Until then, we have been able to get most of our bush missionaries\u2019 flights done by our friends at SIL (Wycliffe) who are also located here in the highlands.<\/p>\n

The big prayer request is for September.\u00a0 There are many flights \u201con the books\u201d that can only be done by our helicopter due to scheduling conflicts.\u00a0 Not having it up and running by the end of next month will affect several bush missionaries as well as some work teams coming over to help out.<\/p>\n

One of the bush locations that will be affected by this is the work amongst the Pal people.\u00a0 (We mentioned them back in April as Paul was involved in helping this team with moving in).<\/p>\n

Please pray that Standard Areo can find all that needs to be replaced and be able to complete the work quickly.\u00a0 And please pray for a speedy shipping (and customs) process back to us here in PNG!<\/p>\n

Vocational Vacation<\/h2>\n

As many of you will recall, since his arrival to PNG in October 2006, Paul has been working on getting licensed on the helicopter turbine engine.\u00a0 A few weeks ago he was able to get one step closer!<\/p>\n

Together we flew down to Sydney Australia for Paul to take a two week course offered by Standard Aero.\u00a0 (That\u2019s the same folks who are overhauling our engine).\u00a0 At the end of the two weeks, he was tested on the information.\u00a0 Paul passed with flying colors!!<\/p>\n

\"AustraliaWe were tremendously blessed during this trip.\u00a0 On our way down we decided to spend a few days in Cairns (a northern tourist town in Australia).\u00a0 Here we were able to unwind some from the busy \u201cshort-staffed\u201d summer we had been dealing with.\u00a0 There is something refreshing about being able to stick you toes in the sand!!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Then we flew down to Sydney where we stayed with a good friend for the two weeks of Paul\u2019s class.\u00a0 Our friend lined up cars for Paul to drive and really spoiled us.\u00a0 During this time Andrea enjoyed some \u201cWestern\u201d freedoms such as shopping, long phone calls with family in the US, and strolling around \u201cThe Shire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since American licenses aren\u2019t recognized by PNG, this has been a long and expensive process.\u00a0 And now all that is basically left is for the proper paperwork to be submitted and for the PNG aviation authorities to grant his license.<\/p>\n

Please pray that this happens quickly as there is only one other NTM mechanic who is currently licensed to sign-off on helicopter engine work (and he happens to be on home assignment\/furlough).\u00a0 Until Paul gets licensed and\/or this co-worker returns, we have to go to a neighboring helicopter company to have any work signed off.<\/p>\n

Praises & Prayer Requests:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • PRAISE:\u00a0\u00a0 We were able to have a few days of rest before Paul started his class.<\/li>\n
  • PRAISE:\u00a0 The construction next door is complete.\u00a0 They sure did do a nice job!!\u00a0 Thanks for praying.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n
  • PRAISE:\u00a0 Paul passed his turbine engine course.<\/li>\n
  • PRAY:\u00a0\u00a0 Paul will be submitting the necessary paperwork with the PNG aviation authorities to get licensed in Allison 250 series turbine engines.\u00a0 Pray that it is accepted and processed quickly.<\/li>\n
  • PRAY:\u00a0 That the helicopter engine can be overhauled quickly and shipped back to us with minimal delays in customs.\u00a0 Pray also for the maintenance team as they then get the helicopter back online for the flights already scheduled.<\/li>\n
  • PRAISE\/PRAY:\u00a0 Many folks have arrived (some returning and some new) but we are still waiting for several more to come.\u00a0 (Specifically several who work in the hangar with us).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For those of you who don\u2019t know aircraft lingo, AOG stands for Aircraft On Ground.\u00a0 And that is what we are dealing with at our NTM Aviation hangar here in PNG. Back in July Paul and the maintenance team were doing some routine inspections on our helicopter when they noticed signs of a problem.\u00a0 \u201cCan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":[4,1777,690],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-ministry","category-ntm-aviation","category-update","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}