Ticking Clock

In past years, the holidays have meant life and work slowing down a bit for us.  But this year it's been the opposite.  

First of all, here in this base December is usually the busiest month of the year for flights.  Lots of the missionaries come out of the villages for Christmastime or get their flight of supplies taken to them.  So there are more flights, but also more flights mean more maintenance since each hour of flight brings the plane closer to mandatory inspections.  That, added to the SID inspection.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the SID inspection here before.  It's a VERY detailed inspection that Cesssna has recently required all older planes to undergo.  Since the planes at this base are from the 1970's, they definitely qualify!  The SID inspection project requires that almost the entire plane be taken apart as a result of all of the work needed to be done...it's very in depth!  And the deadline for it to be done is approaching...Dec 31st!

Come Jan 1, 2014 any plane that requires this inspection can not fly until it is done.  So, Jeyson has been leading up this project which has been going on since Oct.  They are first doing the whole inspection on just one of the planes (the one on the left).  It has to be done by Dec 31st so it can take over all of the flying and the plane on the right can undergo the same inspection over the first part of 2014.  Meanwhile, as I mentioned, the plane on the right, which IS flying currently, has needed the on-going regular interval inspections.

As the advent calendar ticks away, so do the days left for the project to be completed.  Long hours in the hangar and the first time at this challenging maintenance project...this has been a quite stressful time at our base as a result.  We absolutely don't want to have to cancel flights come Jan1st, so the pressure is on to do it quickly and do it well.

But even with the stress, we are SO incredibly thankful.  Thankful for the great amount of flights and maintenance we have to do each month, because with each flight we know that the Good News of Jesus Christ is reaching the ends of the earth!  And THAT is what Christmas is all about!  So it's been our most unusual Christmas so far, but at the same time, our most true Christmas.