Adelsbergers in Aviation

Last week

2012-01-30T08:59:00.002-06:00

Last week I worked on several different projects as we are trying to tie up some loose ends here in the hangar before we start another big project. I worked with Ben Fisher, one of MMS's newest apprentices. We installed two new antennas on top of Gospel Carrier Internationals King Air 200. Anytime you are working overhead you undoubtedly end up in a position like this. Ben is looking for a dropped screw. We ended up taking the center console loose and vacuuming the area. Not only did we find our missing screws but several other small pieces of this and that.

Noah has been working on his family life merit badge at home. We are having family meetings to discuss faith, drugs, money and other such topics. He had to also complete a project for the good of the family. I decided to let him put the upstairs bathroom back into service, It had mostly been a storage closet. So he is painting, caulking and cleaning.
It was harder than I thought it would be to see my tractor leave on the back of someone else's trailer, but it was necessary. I did not have the time or money to fix it or a suitable place to store it and it was just rotting in the field. So I let it go.
We are getting ready for the syrup season to start. The stove is ready as is my tank and filter/pump. I still need to finish my trailer and a bridge. I am hoping to maybe start tapping this weekend if the 10 day says that the weather will work with us. This year has been crazy for the weather. I don't even know if we'll get any syrup this year. I think the trees need to be frozen for it to work? Check back in a week or two to see how were doing. Josh

Klondike 2012

2012-01-24T05:58:00.003-06:00

Noah and I went camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend at the annual Klondike. I think 15 different troops showed up. The weather was much more cooperative this year than it was last. Just cold enough not to be muddy, just enough snow to help the sled run smoothly and warm enough to be comfortable , outside, all day and night and day and night and the next morning.

The Klondike is a competition between the troops with prizes and awards. In most Scouting competitions skills are whats being tested. So our boys were ready with knots, lashing, first aid, fire building, ect... but not this time. It was mostly races and boy did we have a heavy sled!
Between the races was lunch, a good time to sit down and enjoy a warm meal and a well earned rest.
Then back to the races. When it was all said and done we did not place, everyone was a little disappointed. We had placed in the last 4 competitions and had a streak going. But we are already planning for next year. I was talking around and got a set of snow ski's donated and Noah and I will be building a new sled this summer. I was hoping for an all composite, carbon fiber sled but that would end up costing over a thousand. So, back to reality and I'll search the web for some other light weight ideas.

520 wrap up

2012-01-20T09:20:00.003-06:00

Paul and I completed the test run on the engine with only a few minor adjustments. I am confident it made all 285 hp. It is hard for me to convey the feeling of pure, raw, power, that the engine produces, it is a beast.

While Paul wrapped the engine up for shipment I worked on paperwork. Trying to get all the necessary information off of our records and into the engine logbook took me two days on the computer and three different revisions. The owner picked up his engine, prop and accessories on Wensday.
Here the kids are unloading the trailer into our wood pile. All this wood is to be burned in the syrup stove over the length of a month or so. I'm guessing there is 8 cords or so and we'll burn it all and probably anything else we can find. I hope I have enough, but i doubt it. Keep watching syrup season starts next month.

Noah built this model of the Bismark for a home school project.

Thanks for checking in, God bless and stay warm. Josh

Asas 206 first service flight

2012-01-08T10:03:00.015-06:00

I copied this update of another blog belonging to Ryan Joy, a MMS graduate and Chief Mechanic for Asas de Socoro in the Amazon. The aircraft he is talking about is the one recently completed by MMS. This is the account of it's first service flight:

Good morning,

Last week I was invited to accompany one of our pilots Tim Ault in picking up a missionary from the interior of the Amazon. I don’t get many opportunities to go along and so I accepted the invitation. Our destination was an hour and a half flight Northeast of Manaus to a small village called Kassawa’. The people in the village have had the New Testament translated in there language Hixkariana but it is out of date and needs to be revised. There is a New Tribes Mission family and a single woman Maria that have been working on the revision for the last 10 years. During conversations to plan the trip we decided to use our newest Cessna 206 N5209X that had just arrived two weeks earlier to make the flight. With a better instrument panel, more comfortable seats that are safer in the event of an accident, a more powerful motor, and amphibious floats that allow the plane to land on water or land. The plane was an easy choice.
Tim and I departed from the hanger at 9:00 am and Tim wanting to practice landings in a short area (Kassawa’ has a river that has two bends one on each side of the village with rocks in the water making the landing area small.) we made 4 take-offs and landings in front of the Hanger. We then proceeded to the air club airport that is close to our house and again since the landing strip is very short Tim wanted to simulate short landings to see how the wheels that are deployed from floats would handle the strip in Kassawa’.(Rachel and the kids were able to watch us take off several times as we flew over the house) On the first landing the plane stopped in an adequate distance for Kassawa’ but what really caught my eye was the number of people that stopped what they were doing to admire the plane. In my experience any one that works in aviation usually will stop what they are doing to look anytime a plane is flying over and at an airport a new airplane will draw that much more attention. After making 4 take offs and landings with a crosswind no less we stopped to look at the weather and lots of people came around to admire the new plane. One of the guys asked if the plane was an H model ( The H model is the newest 206 model that is still in production) and other people asked other questions about the airplane. On a funny note when Tim and Marcio were bringing the plane down from the States they had bought some chocks with the manufacturers name on them. The name of the manufacturer is ASA and being that our mission name is ASAS someone thought we had personalized chocks made. He said “Where did you get those chocks they cost an arm and a leg here in Brazil to have made.”
After making a cursory look at the weather and filing a flight plan Tim said we were ready for departure. N5209X lifted off at about 11:30 am with two aboard heading Northwest at 90 knots. We were bucking a 15 knot head wind but the ride was smooth. The airplane is a pleasure to fly, many times Tim would take his hands off the control yoke and the plane would fly straight and level with no tendencies to one side or the other. The instrumentation is some of the best in terms of functioning that Tim has ever flown with. Normally here in Manaus we put up with instruments that have some bearing noise but none of that is evident in N5209X’s instruments. The engine monitor (MVP-50) is easy to read and once the pilot get used to it, it becomes very helpful during the flight as it gives a lot of information about how the engine is running. The engine runs as smoothly as a turbine with no vibration felt in the cabin and burns less fuel. Using the engine monitor we were able to make adjustments so that 12.5 gallons an hour were consumed at 75% Which is about a half to a gallon an hour less than the older original engine and we gain 10 horse power to boot. We finally arrived at Kassawa’ about ten minutes later than planed because of the head wind. It was my first time to visit the village but as with other villages the people were all out on the bank waiting for us. As we pulled up to the dock I was surprised at amount of cell phones that were filming our entrance. There were about 20 children and teens on the dock and several phones all taking pictures. (there is one phone in the village it is a payphone that sends its signal via satellite I don’t think there was cell phone coverage there. ) For the most part the villagers just watched us as we met Maria and loaded her bags. Some of them spoke Portuguese but for the most part they only speak their own language.
When it was time to go we climbed into the plane and I noticed that as with most runways we had obstacles that needed to be cleared. There are two bends in the river that limit the take of run but it is the rocks at the one end that really are the incentive to get off in a certain distance. there are are of coarse trees all around as well so Tim had to think out how we would take off. He spoke aloud “ok I want to be up on the step here. This will be our abort point. We will start our run around the bend and be off before the abort point.” I was thinking the whole time boy this looks like a short runway and those are tall trees. Maria the single missionary was very calm and so I chatted with her a little about how long she was there in the village to which she replied 10 years and that she was working on the revision of the New Testament. She said the people are very receptive to the gospel and that they also intermarry with the Wai-Wais a group of Indians that received the Bible in its entirety.
The Floats are incredible as they get up on the step almost immediately and with the more powerful engine the plane was off the water and into the air long before the abort point. On the way home Tim explained that he wanted to test the airplane and run one tank dry before switching to the other that way all the fuel would stay concentrated and it would actually be safer later on. I must admit I don’t like running the tank dry in my car let alone the airplane but curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see what would happen. (My life insurance in Christ is paid in full) The engine monitor shows when you get low on fuel by the number turning red on the screen and the numbers of gallons finally went to 0.0 and stayed there. We flew almost all the way home on that tank until we were on final and Tim said he needed to switch tanks for safety sake. We never did run the tank dry. We finally made it back to Manaus and instead of lowering a cart down the ramp to pull the plane up we motored up the ramp using the engine. It was a good trip, the plane proved that it will be a huge blessing in terms of comfort and safety and the smile on Maria's face as she stepped out on to solid ground was worth the trip in its self. I want to thank everyone that had a hand in putting this plane together. The pilots Tim and Marcio have already grown to appreciate the planes capabilities. The Lord has blessed Asas with this piece of equipment and me as well to be able to accompany the plane on it’s first mission flight.

Lord Bless you all and a Happy new year!

Ryan

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T13:16:00.004-06:00

Paul and I are back at it again after the holiday break. The engine Paul is building has been moved out of the build up room and into the run up test cell. Paul will complete assembling the engine on this stand and rig the engine to run. We'll run the engine together and get the fuel and oil pressures adjusted. After the run-in we'll crate the engine and get it and the paperwork ready to deliver to the owner.

While Paul has been working on the engine I have taken a small side job in the shop. This 172 was donated to Missionary Air Group (MAG) and they have asked us to get it ready to be a flight trainer. The work I'm doing is mostly cosmetic, painting different parts of the plane. You can see the tent I've built over the tail area.
And here you can see one half the horizontal that is waiting to be painted. I hope to be getting to it before the end of the week.
Here are another few pieces getting ready for paint. All the red paint needed to be repainted back to white. Whoever painted the red used spray paint and it has been a job getting it all off. I have been using paint thinner and rags to wipe the paint off one messy layer at a time. These pieces should be ready for paint next week.
I hope to be blogging more this coming year and doing a better job keeping everyone more informed at what is happening here at the hangar, on the farm out with scouts and whatever else we happen to get ourselves into.

Talk to you soon, Josh

IO-520

2011-12-15T13:34:00.002-06:00

The build up continues on the IO-520. We've got the internal steel in, the cylinders on and the case torqued. Paul is working on getting the oil cooler installed in the picture. We should be running the engine around the middle of January. I'll try to do video of the first run.

Sorry I don't have more, Josh

New projects arrive

2011-12-09T11:11:00.003-06:00

To start off the engine that Paul and I are working on is progressing. We got the crankcase back from the inspection/repair and set to work measuring and checking tolerances. The fit between the bearings and crank are between 5/10,000th of an inch to 5/1000 of an inch, that's not much! Any more or less and the engine will fail to preform to its rated horsepower, if it works at all.

We received 3 new projects this week, a 185 from Brazil (seen being unloaded), a 206 that was damaged by Hurricane Irene and and engine to overhaul. The engine is the one I took off CMML's 207 in Zambia earlier this year. It was disassembled and packaged in suitcases and brought to the states as luggage when John Louden and his family returned home for furlough.
And lastly, this is the Asas de Socorro's amphibious 206 leaving MMS after a year and a half of restoration and modification, in route to the Amazon.
May god bless you all this holiday season, Josh

I'm back

2011-12-02T14:26:00.003-06:00

I'm back and have actually been back for a while. Between the holidays and some time off I took I haven't done a good job keeping up my blog, we have no internet to speak of out at the house. Paul and I are still working on the an engine build and are almost done with everything except the measuring and building of the engine. Paul is seen below installing the cleaned pistons into the freshly honed cylinders, we also took time to lap the valves. The crankcase is on the way back from inspection and repair and it is the only thing missing right now. When we get the case back we will install the bearings and torque the case together. We'll then measure the bearings and compare to our crank in order to check our clearances. If all the math comes out we'll start reassembly next week.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

Missionary Flights International

2011-11-01T18:18:00.006-05:00

Paul Gettle and I have teamed up again on another rapid response trip, this time to MFI in Florida.

Missionary Flights International flies in support of missionaries in the Caribbean and Haiti. My last trip to MFI was right after the earth quake that devastated Haiti so badly. This time We are helping to get one of the radial DC-3's ready for sale. There are 3 main areas of corrosion.
The first is inside the left forward fuel tank bay area. I have been working on removing the corrosion in that area but it took a team of 4 people to open the floor inside the plane and remove the fuel tanks.
The rear vertical stabilizer has been removed to work on some corrosion in that area and the last is above the cargo door. I think that there are at least 6 different people working on the plane right now all working in different areas. The plane has a buyer lined up and we are just trying to take care of the concerns the next owner has.

Please pray about the work that is going on here and please remember to pray for Kristi and the kids. Kristi's back is still very sore. Thanks, Josh

"Pain"t ball

2011-10-30T16:31:00.002-05:00

It was Noah's birthday earlier this week and he got a Tippman A5 paintball gun. I set up a get together for Saturday and some friends were able to come.

Getting all the equipment out and set up to play is the first order of business. Guns are checked and tested. Safety equipment inspected for cracks and to make sure it fits right. Then the hoppers are loaded and the game is on. We play on our hill side so dominating the high ground is always the first part of any plan.This is Noah on the top of the hill looking down onto the playing field. Noah had a great time, his gun function flawlessly and he got to shoot his brother more that once which is a reward in and of itself.
Here's Luke, at 8 he is our youngest player. He sports a full helmet, body armor and gloves. His weapon of choice is a Tippman 98 custom. He more than holds his own on the field and even the older kids show him his dew respect. He is not afraid to empty his gun in your direction.
Micheal and Brian are brothers and practice together at home as a team. They get more playtime than my boys so they tend to win a few more of the rounds than Noah and Luke. This part of the field is the low section and is divided in two by the creek. When you play at our house you need to come ready to get wet and muddy. Micheal and Brian both have the A5 markers.

In the end everyone lost count of who won what, but keeping score was never that important, having fun was and fun was had by everyone. Josh

Yesterday

2011-10-26T10:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days where alot happens in a very short amount of time.

Noah and Rowan were promoted to First Class and received the patch and neckerchief denoting their rank. After the Court of Honor the Boy Scouts preformed a flag retiring ceremony and invited Luke to help them since he was in uniform.
Before all awards and ceremony the kids and I were working in the garden digging sweet potatoes. They were the largest we have ever grown. Some of them could be entire meals in and of themselves.

Kristi's back is doing better now that she is going in regularly for traction. We continue to hope and pray that surgery can be avoided.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

New project

2011-10-21T14:04:00.007-05:00

Don't ask me why this is all underlined, because I cannot figure it out.

The 207 is all but finished and is only waiting on a new propeller governer to complete the engine set up before the test flights.

I have been assigned a new project and will once again be working with Paul Gettle. We will be doing an inspection on an engine involved in a prop strike. The engine must be completely torn down and the important parts sent out for professional inspection. We will then reassemble the engine and run it before returning it to the owner.

Last weekend the scouts had fall camp and although a bit cold and wet everybody had a good time. Luke is seen helping to learn how to make rope. We also worked on knots, wood working and athletics.

Hannah went with the scouts last weekend as well and got to participate in most of the activities. She is seen below helping in the fire safety portion of the weekend.

I only have one more thing to add and it is a request for Kristi. We found out earlier this week that she has two herniated disk and one ruptured. Most likely surgery will be required to fix her back. She has suffered with back pain for almost two years now. I ask that you pray she is willing to go thru with the surgery, that the surgery is successful and for the finances to cover it. Also pray for her she is depressed and in pain, not a good combination. I'll also be going to Florida for two weeks to help a mission down there, you could pray for her extra while I'm gone.

Thanks, Josh

Thanks again, Josh

Almost there

2011-10-07T13:37:00.003-05:00

The 207 is nearing completion. The owner arrives next week to begin the test flights to work out the final few bugs. The interior is really the only thing left to be finished, right now the engine is getting its final look over and the wings are getting rigged for flight. Hopefully there will be a video next week of the return to service flight.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, Josh

Last week

2011-09-23T12:27:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting outside the paint booth waiting for my first coat to dry enough so I can put on the 2nd. During my break I thought I'd fill you in on last week.

Last week we took our family vacation to Williamsburg, VA. The kids had a great time seeing and hearing about our history. We spent 4 days exploring and learning the town, I think everyone's favorite part was the big meeting that would be held each day towards evening. Being able to hear Martha and George Washington speak or Thomas Jefferson.

We also had time to visit the beach one day just long enough to get really burnt. The kids picked up sea shells and "other" interesting things they found on our walk.
On Saturday, in the rain we visited Jamestown, I was amazed at the size of ships that were used in crossing the ocean. I would't have wanted go in a boat that small. As we toured the boats the 20 or so visitors kept bumping into each other and getting in each others way and that was only a small fraction of the people that would have been crammed into those boats. Think of an average sized living room, with 40 people in it.
Hannah also celebrated her 10th birthday last week. So, after we got back home she took her birthday money and bought herself a puppy. Her name is Lady and she is a Yorkie. When Lady and Bree are nose to nose, Lady is about the size of Bree's head.
Thanks for checking in, Josh

Painting

2011-09-09T13:54:00.003-05:00

The pictures are just going to have to speak for themselves. I started painting last Friday with the white and came in on Tuesday to start the blue.

The masking, set up and paint for the blue took most of the day.
And then I had to demask the plane and wipe off any over spray.
Next came the two gold stripes down the sides of the plane and then the gray lettering and stripe which was today.
Here you can see Dale detailing the finished product, I'll have to come in on Saturday to finish up my work.
I learned alot this week and I wish I had another to do back to back to see if I could improve in my technique or at least learn from my mistakes.

We sold the final puppy just yesterday, it was good to see them all go to good homes.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

Milestone reached

2011-08-26T13:50:00.003-05:00

The 207 has reached a major milestone today,with the finishing of the tail all structural repairs have been completed!!!

Andy and I have been working on the tail for almost three weeks. We have built almost completely a new tail cone for this plane. Andy, being our newest apprentice has improved greatly in that time. His riveting has greatly improved and his confidence with sheet metal has also increased. After a project like this any small skins, patches or repairs that will need to be made on any aircraft will be faced with confidence.
Andy is seen here attaching the side skins with rivets. He has a pneumatic rivet gun in his right hand and a bucking bar in his left. Between the two he smashes small aluminum rivets, holding the skins in place.
Dale and Andy check the tail for alignment, it was only 1/4" out.
On Monday, God willing, we will begin repainting the new skins to match the fuselage. Check back and see how that goes next week.
On a side note, Have you heard of the Kodiak? It is the latest and greatest mission airplane. This plane was designed and built with missions in mind. Well, on the way back from an airshow a Kodiak serial number 0001 stopped at MMS to give rides to the MMS families. Needless to say the kids loved the ride, Kristi... not so much. Small planes are not her cup of tea. In her defense it was quite bumpy up their. Here you can see Hannah in the right seat.

In some other news, everything has worked out for buying our house. We go in next Tuesday to sign the papers.

Please pray with us as we prepare to do some support raising this fall. Pray that God will open doors and prepare hearts. We are looking for financial partners to make up the gap in between where we are and where we should be. If you would like to join our support team just contact us. If you would like to help us by inviting us into your church, Sunday school class, youth group, whatever again please contact us.

God bless and thank you for visiting. Josh

Tail work

2011-08-19T08:36:00.002-05:00

Andy and I have spent all week riveting the tail on and together. It has been alot of riveting and thankfully very little repairing. The tail is notoriously hard for getting to come out looking nice. It is not that the riveting is difficult but that the skins are very thin, .016" to be exact. You can bend or dent them just by handling them to rough and riveting can be a rough process.

Andy is seen here above working on the tail former's and below riveting on a skin.
Chuck has been working on getting the flaps and ailerons fitted to the wings and Phil (below) has been working on the electrical system.
MMS has recently posted a video on the removal of the 207's tail and can be seen here.

Thanks for checking in and I'll try to post again next week. Josh

Just winging it

2011-08-12T14:37:00.004-05:00

It has been a busy week here at MMS. We have begun doing the final fit for the new tail we built. In order to assure that after everything is together the plane flies straight we need to attach the wings to assure the tail is straight and level. I also took some time to paint the canopy for a local pilots plane.The wing in the left of the picture is the one that was destroyed in Gabon and rebuilt by an outside agency, I did paint it though.
It takes alot of teamwork and ingenuity to install a set of wings. Did you notice the ladder with the adjustable stool on top.
Andy is riviting some of the sub structure before the skin goes on. After finishing up with his work well attach the skin and double check the alignment of the tail. Then we'll begin the process of drilling and riviting this new tail together. There should be a pretty significant change between this Friday and next, so come back and see it for your self.

We have sold 4 of our pups and 2 more have been spoken for but not picked up.

Josh

Puppies

2011-08-02T11:04:00.002-05:00

We have puppies! They are now old enough to have a good home of their own. They are AKC registered Airedales.

Kristi with "Bree" the mother and a few of the pups. Bree is about the standard size for a female Airedale, 70lbs. Hoss our male is 85lbs.
The pups will loose some of the black on them as they get older and range in color from red to tan.

207

2011-08-01T09:03:00.003-05:00

I missed my post on Friday so I will try to do at least two this week. I have completed the horizontal on the 207 and the whole team is working on the tail cone right now. During the end of last week we disassembled the cone and inspected for hidden damage. The replacement parts are either here on in route.

We have fabricated almost all new skins in preparation for the reassemble, which has already begun.
Our goal is to have the wings on and the tail back together by the end of the month. Barring any unforeseen complications it should be doable.
Luke, had scout camp over the weekend, so I'll try to post some pictures mid-week. Thanks for checking in and being an active part of our support system.

Please be in prayer for Kristi's back, she has a ruptured disk. Josh

207 Progress

2011-07-22T10:36:00.003-05:00

The 207 is coming along very well. I have basically finished the horizontal and installed it. Dale is inspecting the fit and finish. Chuck has removed, repaired and is in the process of installing the rear wing spar carry through. And we only really have the tail to rebuild.
I painted the right wing, elevator and a flap this week also. The green/yellow paint is a special primer for aluminum.
After green is white and they are ready to go. The paint booth was 90+ degrees the day I painted these. The hardest part was not dripping sweat on the wet paint.
We have been approved for our house loan and are now in the process of getting all the correct paperwork and inspections done. We should have the house in our name before the end of Aug. Please continue to pray for Gods provision in this matter as a house payment will be a tight squeeze until we get some more support raised to cover it.

Thanks to those who prayed and gave gifts, enabling us to be approved fore this loan.

Josh

Family Days

2011-07-14T11:11:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Luke's 8th birthday last Sunday with our fellowship. He really turns 8 tomorrow. He wanted paintball equipment and being a loving and supportive father I got him some and I'll soon get me some. Noah spent Saturday creating a small paintball field in the woods beside our property and Sunday morning we had 11 players on the field. As you can see Luke is the smallest and youngest. I made him some body armor out of gray indoor/outdoor carpet. He took several shots without complaint until one sneaked in under his armor and hit him in the arm pit. After some tears and encouraging he was back on his feet and ready to play again.
Here is a group shot just after walking off the field, this was taken right after Luke's armpit shot. You can see he is smiling and in good spirits. We are wanting to start playing once a month so more pictures should follow.
Noah is at Scout camp this week and doing great, almost to great. He is taking swimming, sailing, archery, orienteering and model building.
On Monday morning Noah and troop 403 had the privilege of doing the flag raising ceremony. We drilled and practiced the night before and some in the morning on the parade field. The boys did a great job represented 403 very well.

Camp is done Saturday morning and the life of fun and leisure will come to an end for Noah. Back to reality, there are beans to pick and the yard needs mowed.

I'll post on the progress of the 207 again next week, I should be painting.

Please keep praying for us purchasing our house. It is going smoothly but slower than expected.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

Another weeks adventures

2011-07-01T13:36:00.002-05:00

I'm in the process of fabricating new skins for the 207's horizontal. We lay the old skin on top of some blank aluminum and using the original as a pattern we drill and cut the new skins out. After the new skins are cut out the are treated with a corrosion inhibitor, primed and reinstalled. I should be done with the horizontal by the end of next week.

Noah had to build a bird feeder for the merit badge he is working on. We used inch thick reclaimed oak barn siding for our materials. Noah made up the plans on his own and we adapted the size to the material we had on hand. Its base it 2 feet square and it is 18" tall. Noah did about 90% of the cutting and assembly himself. He used the table saw, compound miter saw and a cordless drill. I only helped with cutting the beveled corners. We put it up on top this tree stump to keep the bird feeder from becoming a cat feeder. With its overhang and height the cats cannot seek up on the birds. We've watched them try without any success.
Here Kristi is harvesting some of our first blueberry crop. We've had blueberry pancakes, blueberry coffee cake, blueberries on homemade ice creme and yesterday a blueberry pie, plus lots just eaten fresh off the bush.
The puppies eyes are open and they are up and moving around. They are barking and growling and being very cute. They are about three weeks old and we will start looking for new homes for them soon.
The kittens are growing as well and are closer to six weeks. We have found a new home for one of them already and are looking for homes for the others. Noah gets to keep one for himself since his cat "ran away" last fall. They as still living in the boys toy box upstairs and are a source of endless entertainment.
We also are still working on financing our house, mostly trying to educate ourselves as to what our options are and what will work best for us. We will be applying for a loan next week if you could keep that in your prayers we would appreciate it. We have been praying about getting the finances together for making the down payment and closing cost and God has blessed us with a gift of $1000 to start us off. We are very thankful for the gift and we continue to pray for His provision.

God bless and thanks for visiting, Josh

207 Horizontal

2011-06-24T13:34:00.002-05:00

While I'm waiting for the paint to show up I started a new sheet metal project. This horizontal has been changed in an unapproved manor. Sometime in the past a repair was made and although the repair was safe and function-able it is not an approved repair. So I'm in the process of removing the skins and returning the horizontal to an approved condition.

A kit was bought that will be installed along with the new skins. This kit will make repairing the horizontal in the future much easier. The kit allows the leading edge to be installed with screws instead of rivets. The leading edge is most often damaged by rocks thrown up by the tires on gravel runways.

In other news... We are still working on buying our house. We ask that you could pray for the necessary finances to come in on time. I'm not worried about it all coming together, God has always taken care of us and has always provided for our needs. I look forward to seeing Him work as we put our faith in Him.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

207

2011-06-17T15:07:00.002-05:00

Work continues on the 207. We were shuffling some parts and planes around the hangar and the 207 was outside. Without all the other planes and clutter in the picture you can seemuch of the progress we have made.

The nose area has been disassembled, repaired and reassembled. The engine has been removed and re installed. The nose gear removed, inspected, repaired, reassembled and re installed. The main gear landing box repaired and new right gear leg installed. And a skin under the rear fuselage door replaced.

We still need to repair the the main spar carry thru, the part the wing attaches to and the tail cone. Some various other parts and we'll be almost there.

I have the door I started ready to paint and the wing is in the paint booth as well. That will be next weeks assignment.

I'll try to remember my camera next week and get more than one picture. Josh

Back on the Gabon 207

2011-06-14T14:49:00.003-05:00

After recovering for a week at home I'm back in the hangar again. I'm still on Dale's team and working on the Gabon 207.

I've been asked to repair the rear cargo door. It was damaged in the hard landing and has a sizable dent in it and I've decided that the easiest way to fix if would be to replace the whole door skin.
After removing the dented skin I fabricated a new skin using the original as a pattern. Here you can see the test fit, not too bad. Needs primed and riveted on before the test fit on the airplane.
He is the other piece of news from our house, 10 new puppies. Add that to our 4 new kittens, 2 calves and a lamb our little farm is growing. The pups are airedales and are registered. Let me know if you are interested in one. Josh

Home sweet home

2011-06-07T19:30:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post to say I'm home and we made it without any real troubles. Thanks for all your prayers and help. Josh

Last day

2011-06-02T04:13:00.004-05:00

As our time here in Africa draws to close I am mindful of Gods handy work thru it all. He has blessed us here with good health, building new friendships, the opportunity to take part in His plan for reaching the lost in this area and success in our task. He has watched over and taken care of our families at home. He continues to lead us on, challenging us to trust Him more and more.

Thank you for your prayers during this time, I'm sure that God heard and answered them. Our enemy would have loved to cause pain and defeat, but he was held at bay by your request. You too have played a part in the reaching of the lost in Zambia, Angola and Congo.

Please continue to be in prayer for our travels home, they start tomorrow and continue thru to Sunday.

Josh

First service flight

2011-06-01T00:41:00.002-05:00

The 207 was loaded up and prepped for its first real service flight since the new engine was installed. For those of you who are thinking "I wouldn't want to be on the first flight", let me reassure you that the engine has been checked and double checked. We've completed several hours of runs on the test stand, in the plane on the ground and a return to service check flight.

The couple being flown are from an organization called "Brass Tacks". Brass Tacks sends out missionaries with construction skills all over the world on short term trips. This couple and the two guys we will be flying back with on Friday were involved with building a new cafeteria for the mission's school.
After load the baggage and passengers and allowing the engine and turbo to warm up to operational temperature John Louden and the 207 were off. It is around a 3 hour flight to Lusaka.
Today with both planes gone Paul and I will work on breaking down the old 207 engine and packaging it for return to MMS.

Check back again tomorrow for a few final random photos and thoughts. Josh

Artic Barnabs

2011-05-31T14:35:00.002-05:00

Just received this picture of the freshly repainted Navajo. If you don't remember MMS worked on this plane for about 2 months before it headed to paint. We installed a new left engine, windows, right windshield, crew door and fabricated some new belly skins. This is what the completed project looks like.

Over the weekend

2011-05-30T00:41:00.003-05:00

The internet has been rough here, that is why the post haven't been quite regular. But considering that 25 years ago it 3 months for a letter to go to the states and back, we're still ahead of the curve.

On Friday Paul and I finished up the 207 and went on a test flight. The engine preformed flawlessly and I'm sure that it will provide many years of service. We did come return with a small list of discrepancies that we will work on over the next few days. The first real service flight for the 207 will be on Wednesday. Paul and I will start our long trek home on Friday and should be home by Sunday.

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to get out of the hangar and onto a local game farm. While we did not get a chance to see alot of different game the ones we did see were up close and personal. Pete Fisher is the owner of Nchila Wildlife Reserve and the day we visited he was moving Cape Buffalo. We got to help in small ways, driving trucks and helping to lift. No matter what we got to do it was a nice change of pace.
Another neat event happened while we were here and that was the alignment of 4 planets in a row. In the picture you can only see two but the 3rd and 4th are there. They were Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter.The next celestial alignment will be in 25 years and there will be 5 planets next time.
This picture was taken from the top of Kalene hill. Mission hospitals were originally put on the top of large hills to get the sick up out of the low lands where the mosquitoes are. After climbing it twice I don't see how a sick person could make it up the hill. I think they did it too keep the patients numbers down, that hill almost killed me! I think a better name would be triage hill. If you survived the walk to the top you would get treatment.

Thanks for checking in, all is going fine. Josh

Day 12

2011-05-24T00:02:00.002-05:00

Today we are planing to push out the 207 and do the engine set ups, test runs and test flight. We are a little behind schedule after running into some difficulties that were unexpected. Nothing major and we factored in some extra time for just such a problem so we are still sitting ok time wise.

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to visit the hydro station. It is a 750,000 watt hydro electric plant powered by the Zambezi river. It was completed a few years ago and up till then the locals and missionaries either had nothing or had to run off generators. Having reliable continuous electricity is a luxury that people here have just started to enjoy.

Generating plant

The pen stock holds and cleans the water before it goes through the turbine.

Thank you for your prayers for my family, our safety and our health. Josh

One week tomorrow

2011-05-18T11:05:00.005-05:00

We've been here for six days and I am very please with how the work is progressing. Paul and I have not run into any major problems yet and I've had more help than I expected. Tomorrow we will begin the installation of the new engine. We'll first start with a fit check to make sure none of the main components will need to be repositioned and we'll then move on to rigging and attaching the engine. A day or two of that and we will be able to run the engine and set up its fuel system. A good goal would be to have the engine install completed before Saturday.

This is the local church we attend, it has an attendance of 60-70, my guess.
Tonight Paul and I will be going to an evangelistic program, put on by the hospital for the patients family. People will be in attendance from Zambia, Congo and Angola. They have this meeting twice a week and have seen much fruit over the years.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

More pictures

2011-05-17T00:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday there was a whole crew of people working on the 207. I'm very thankful for the extra help as it moves us closer to our goal.

Here you can see Paul mounting the turbo onto the engine
And Joseph, CMML's head mechanic was helping and directing Paul on how to do it.
Natalie is a Canadian college student volunteering for a few months. She normally helps in the office but yesterday asked for a job in the hangar. I had her start taking apart the 207's old engine. Most of the engine parts necessary for overhaul will be hand carried back to America as checked luggage over next few years.
And Chadwell is one of the national workers who helps Joseph and he cleaned the engine bay in prep for the new engine.

I spent the day changing the engine control cables and painting the engine bay.

Check back tomorrow for the latest update. Josh

CMML Flight

2011-05-15T23:21:00.006-05:00

Took some pictures this weekend that didn't have to do with working on the 207.

Here you can see Bruce, who started the flight service with his 182 getting ready for a flight. If you don't remember this is the plane I came to work on last time. You can check my old blog post and read about that work if you want.
The flight had 3 passangers, 1 patient returning to her village and two missionaries.
Bruce flew 3 different legs of this trip before returning the next day. On average Bruce and John fly a little over 300 hours in support of missions each year.
Josh

Day 2

2011-05-14T10:37:00.004-05:00

Paul and I have just wrapped another days work on the 207. Today we mainly concentrated on transferring parts from the old engine to the new. On Monday we should be to the point of hanging the turbo and working on getting the airframe ready for the new engine.

I had the opportunity today to finally talk to Kristi and the kids. It was refreshing to hear what they had been up to. Kristi tells me that they will be picking up our newest calf this morning sometime. She also said that the little lambs foot had became infected again and the vet had to be a little more invasive and the lamb has been slow to recover from that.

Tomorrow will be a day off for church and visiting. I will hopefully get some pictures to post of something besides the airplane.

Thanks for following along and praying for our family. Josh

Catching up

2011-05-13T13:56:00.002-05:00

I arrived here yesterday after noon and after a quick tour of the grounds and a good meal it was time to catch up on some missed sleep. 10 hours later, I was in the hangar with Paul and we started on CMML's 207. We have already removed the engine and have began swapping pieces from the old engine to the new. The new engine is actually an engine that I had overhauled for CMML in 2009 and delivered to Canada for shipping.

Tomorrow the plan is to get all the pieces we need off of the old engine transfered to the new and begin prepping the airframe to receive the new engine. Removing the turbo has been a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I was hoping to remove the turbo assy. as a whole and it has been more like peeling an onion, one layer at a time. I'm please with what we've accomplished today.

Please continue to keep Kristi and the kids in your prayers. Thanks, Josh

Zambia

2011-05-12T10:14:00.000-05:00

After 4 different plane legs covering 8 time zones and 3 continents Paul and I have arrived at CMML. The trip lasted 48 hours total with one long layover in Kenya that allowed us to get 5 hours of sleep.

I will write more about the trip tomorrow.

A new guest

2011-05-04T13:02:00.002-05:00

This week I've been working on finishing up the paint job on Brigade Air's 172. With the completion of these large parts assembly of the airplane can start. MMS is hoping to deliver the completed 172 to Brigade around the end of the month.

We have had a new visitor in our house for the last few days. She is a little ewe lamb that is not thriving like she should. We got her from my parents farm since they did not have the time to baby her like she needed. If we manage to nurse her back to health we will return her back to the them. She is a rare Leicester Longwool, less than 800 are reported to live in the US and less than a couple thousand in the world.

The kids enjoy taking turns feeding and babying her. They want to name her but we are not quite sure she'll live just yet. As you can see she is currently living in our living room
Thanks for visiting, Next update will be from CMML. Josh

Catching up

2011-04-28T11:02:00.002-05:00

The Air Calvary 207 made a nice step forward this week. We have completed enough of the repairs that kept us from reinstalling the engine and nose gear. As you can see we've started putting the front all back together. Paul has already finished the nose gear install and it is all signed off. He has moved up to the right hand side of the engine and is helping me with all the wires.

This is the exact same project that Paul and I will be doing for CMML in Zambia so this has been an excellent opportunity to familiarize our selfs with the work and plane. So expect more of the same in the coming month, pictures wise.

Did you see the map above of CMML's location. The hangar is located midway on the runway.

I was recently reminded that I did not post any pictures of Noah's bridging ceremony.

After being escorted from the cub scout side of the bridge to the boy scout side Noah was welcomed into the troop. They removed his cub scout colors and replaced them with the troops. He was also charged with being an asset to the troop and a leader to those younger than him.
Just recently Luke's scout group toured the local airport. The highlight was this flying "chain saw". The chopper in the back ground carries the saw and flies up and down the power lines trimming trees. It is quite an impressive sight.
Thanks for visiting, Josh

Introduction to SCUBA

2011-04-27T10:56:00.002-05:00

The Scouts of Troop 403 had the opportunity to try out SCUBA last night. After an introduction to how the equipment works they donned their tanks and mask and jumped in.They spent the first little while getting use to breathing thru the regulator and how to clear the equipment of water in case it gets dislodged.

After everyone was comfortable with the equipment and how to use it the got around to moving and playing underwater. Here you can see Noah's friend Rowen getting ready to throw a disk to Noah

And Noah ready to catch it. The boys did not get to swim around, this was just an introduction. But it is a merit badge they can work on if they choose to do it.

Josh

Fuel Tank

2011-04-21T13:37:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update about the fuel tank. I got it painted with no problems and Dale and I installed it on Tuesday. I saw the owner taxi past for a flight today and then return.

I will be taking the kids out mushroom hunting today after work. We don't eat them ourselves but we do have a buyer. Will also be searching for nettle, chick week and other edible plants.

Wish me luck, Josh

Spring Camporee

2011-04-18T11:12:00.002-05:00

We had a great weekend camping with the scouts. The theme of the camp was "What a disaster" and it almost was. We had the opportunity to practice our first aid skills in a variety of scenarios. One was a camp in the wake of a tornado and the other was a 4 car crash with multiple victims. The make up on the casualties was expertly done and the boys talked alot about how shocking it was. Every station was kind of overwhelming and each boy needed to think and act on his own. It will give us alot of foundation to work wit in the future. It did rain almost all nigh and most of the day. With the rain was clouds, wind and cold. The weather was the most difficult test for our boys and I think they did great. There was alot of opportunity for whining and complaining but they didn't. They persevered through and had a great time. Noah and Rowan have been accepted by the older boy and have been welcomed into the team. Here is a picture of Noah's and My's tents. We stayed fairly dry but it is difficult to tell the difference between rain and condensation.
Below is a picture of Noah and Rowan working on there physical fitness skills for there first rank level, Tenderfoot.
And this room of painted parts shows what I have kept busy with last week. The majority of the parts are for Brigade Airs 172 but in the middle you can see the fuel tank I repaired for a local customer.
I'm back on the 207 now trying to finish up the engine bay area. I hope to paint the bay and the main and nose gear casting areas later this week. Check back and see the progress.

Josh

Busy week

2011-04-08T11:13:00.002-05:00

Dale is removing the actual gear box from the plane for inspection. The forward bulkhead is cracked and will need to be changed the other pieces will be inspected and replaced as needed. As the inspection continues more and more damage is being found. Today the rear wing spar carry thru was found to be cracked and will have to come out after we put the floor back together. There will be pictures on that process later.I was asked to step off the 207 for a few days to do some body work on a wing tip fuel tank. I really wish I had gotten a better before picture than this one because I already have several hours of work invested into it here. I look for this to be complete before the end of next week and I'll have an after picture then.
Here is Luke giving a presentation of his butterfly collection to his scout troop. Next weekend Noah has a Boy Scout camping trip at MVSR here in Coshocton. It should be a very good time, the theme is "What a disaster". And it will focus on helping out in a disaster like situation. That is all I know about it right now.

207

2011-04-01T13:44:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of the Straw families prayer card, I have it taped to the side of the plane to remind me who I am working for these days and who will be riding in it one day. Steve is entrusting his life and the life of his family and many others to the work we are doing today. Every rivet, every screw is important. It is a chain that is only as strong as its weakest link.

We've completed reassembling the lower nose bowl after repairing the tunnel and firewall and have moved on to the main landing gear box.
Andy has just removed the main gear legs and is inspecting the castings and bulkhead for removal. Paul has finished painting the nose gear and will be reassembling the nose gear on Monday for installation at a later date.
The big blue tarp is covering the opening to where our new door is going to go... next week some time. There has been and will continue to be volunteers staying the night in the hangar keeping everything safe in the mean time. I'll be covering a shift some time this weekend as well.
Noah has his bridging ceremony tomorrow, we are continuing to pray that the weather will be a little more cooperative than the weatherman is saying. It is an outside ceremony and could be very short. Look for pictures.

Also, if you could start praying on our behalf, we need to raise some money for a down payment on our house and a little extra each month to make the monthly payments.

Thanks, Josh

Reassembly

2011-03-18T13:48:00.003-05:00

Paul and I finished the repairs that were preventing us from rebuilding the nose gear area today. The parts painted green in this picture are new and are replacements for parts that were damaged in landing. Fitting all these parts together and checking the alignment will take us another day or two and then riveting and reassembling will probably finish off next week.

Noah, Luke and Hannah raced last weekend in pack 403's pine wood derby. Hannah raced a car for a scout who was not able to attend and got first place in her class. Noah took 2nd in his class which was the same Hannah won and best in show. Luke had to learn how to be a good looser, it was tough and a few tears were spilled but after he found out that the looser got to choose which type of ice cream we had for desert the tears were gone.

Noah will be bridging to Boy Scouts on April 2. At the ceremony he will be presented with the "Arrow of light", the highest award a cub scout can earn. He will then be stripped of his cub scout colors by the boy scouts and redressed with boy scout colors. The boy scouts will then walk him over a bridge and welcome him into his new troop. Noah is very excited and I'm very proud. Noah and I have worked very hard to get him to this point and we are not even near finished, next stop Eagle Scout.

Josh

Main gear box

2011-03-11T13:59:00.003-06:00

While waiting on parts to finish the engine bay area I started to remove the main landing gear and quickly realized that I was going to need some help. The main gear are held in with 1, yes 1 3/4" pin and that pin is retained by a small spring clip and the clip was missing. The directions said to remove the clip and tap out with a punch. I gave it all I had "tapping" on the pin to no avail. Dennis came out and we started to drill out the pin and we were still not able to get it out. On Monday we are going to try some heat and see if that will loosen the pin.

I got the floor skins under the pilots feet pulled up and the skins over the main gear box area so we can better inspect the castings and gear box.
I don't know if you can tell but the bulkhead to the right of the casting is bent. It is 1/8" thick and has an I beam shape. This is on the side that the wheel was broken off (you can see the broken gear in the picture above). Eventually all the individual parts will have to be removed, inspected and reassembled. So more pictures to come of the gear box area.
Tomorrow Noah and Luke have there Pinewood derby for scouts. I'll have a post about that next week. Josh

Video Link

2011-03-08T14:51:00.001-06:00

Here is a link to Bedford Alliance church and a testimonial from their prayer group about the current 207 project. It gives some pictures of the 207 in action in Gabon and the hospital it supports. Josh

What?!? Friday already???

2011-03-04T12:55:00.004-06:00

The 207 continues nicely, I've removed all the damaged parts in this area and have began ordering or fabricating new parts. Build up will begin on Monday and hopefully end by the end of next week. I'll then move on to the main landing gear area. Paul has the nose gear disassembled and inspected. No cracks were found but one bent brace was found. Considering what it has been through that is very good. He is planning to paint next week and then build the gear back up.
I took a day this week to help paint "Brigade Air's" 172. We had a professional painter volunteer to come in and paint it and I jumped at the opportunity to pester him with questions. He was very gracious and I learned alot and will have more opportunities to put what I've learned into practice as the rest of the plane still need finished.
We are knee deep in sap and syrup and everyone takes their turn at watching the stove. Luke is working on his math, later Hannah came out to do her reading outside. With all the rain we've gotten and are getting the fields have been impassable for the truck. We've been ferrying sap back and forth with the 4 wheeler, but that is a slow and muddy job.
I think we are up to 11 gallons of finished syrup and we'll get that canned up tonight. All the rain will give us a much needed break this weekend.

Thanks for visiting and check back soon

Air Calvary 207

2011-02-25T11:22:00.003-06:00

Air Calvary is based in Gabon, Africa. Their 207 is used in support of missionaries, flying people and cargo into distant and remote places and it is used to provide air ambulance support. It was crashed around a year ago and a team from MMS went and disassembled the aircraft, crated it and shipped it to the US.

We've just begun work on it this week and this is how it look when it arrived. The damage is extensive but the plane was insured. On wing was destroyed, the right landing gear was broken off, the forward area of the fuselage , around and undefr the engine is bent and buckled.
We've removed the prop and engine and have begun disassembling the nose area, removing all the broken or damaged parts. We will then buy or fabricate new parts and rebuild the nose area back up again and then move on to inspecting the nose gear and then repairing the main gear.
We were estimating having the aircraft restored and ready for shipment by fall. Please pray with us as their is alot of hidden damage that has yet to be uncovered and that will add to the repair time. Every day this plane is not on the field the mission community in Gabon is greatly hindered.

Thanks, Josh

Syrup Season

2011-02-17T13:06:00.003-06:00

Long before the sweet reward or maple syrup can be enjoyed there is alot if work and sweat and more work. Our trees are spread across a pretty step hillside and to each of the 75 or so trees a bucket containing a hose, tap and lid must be carried.

Each tree is then measured to determine if it is large enough to be tapped and if more than one tap can be installed. On average you should get one quart of finished syrup per tap installed. I'm aiming for 90 taps this year.
After the tree is measured it is drilled and tapped, hoses route the sap from the tap to the bucket. As syrup season progresses sap will be picked up every day and on average each bucket will be more than half full, that is close to 300 gallons of sap per day! I hope. It takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to make each gallon of syrup and at best we can boil off 20 gallons of sap per hour. So that leaves roughly 15 hours of boiling each day and then it has to be finished inside and on the stove.
We pick up our first load of sap tonight. I'm not expecting much as the trees and the ground are still thawing. But by next week we should be up to full production. Ideally the overnight lows should be below freezing and daytime highs in the 40s. The ten day looks good and we are praying for a good syrup season.

Josh

Finished!!! I think?

2011-02-15T14:31:00.002-06:00

The Navajo is just outside and purring like a kitten. After we are done doing the test run we'll make any final adjustments tomorrow before the plane leaves for paint. It will then proceed to its home in Alaska and into full time mission service. The Navajo will be better suited to continue its career as a mission plane because of its time spent here. Just another example of MMS "preparing people and planes for world wide mission service". God bless and thank you for visiting our blog.

Syrup season has started and my next blog will be on that subject. Check back soon. Josh

A picture is worth a 1000 words

2011-01-28T11:14:00.003-06:00

If pictures are truly worth a 1000 words, then these that follow will tell only a small part of the story. The 206 project began around April 2009 for Asas de Socorro in Manaus, Brazil. The plane was bought in Alaska and shipped to Ohio for repairs.

The list of what was accomplished and was long and I haven't the time to go into all in detail. In a matter of fact I was only involved in a small part of the repairs so I'm not even sure about all the work done. The majority of my time was spent doing sheet metal repairs and modifications and when those were finished I moved off of the project. For my part I spent around 4 months working on the 206.
Me doing sheet metal repairs.
Installing the wings.
And finally the finished product. Ian, the project leader will be flying the 206 down to Manaus when all the paperwork is done. This 206 has been reborn into the service of the King. It has the potential to aid in the physical and spiritual healing of countless hundreds and thousands of people who live along the Amazon and its tributaries.

Klondike 2011

2011-01-24T11:05:00.003-06:00

It was after dark when we began setting up camp. The temperature was dropping as fast as the tents were being set up. It was forecast to be the coldest night of the winter and the forecast proved to be true. We got the camp set up and settled into bed around 9. Bed consisted of two sleeping bags opened on the floor for insulation, a 15 below sleeping bag for Noah, Luke and I and then warm cloths to sleep in as well as hats. When we left our tents in the morning it was about 4 below and we were told that it got down to 11 below at the lowest. Just so I am accurately representing the trip, the boys and I had a small propane heater to take the chill off the tent while we were waking up and getting changed.

Imagine this, if our body temp is 98 and the outside air temp is -11 there was a 100 degree temp difference between the inside and the outside of our sleeping bag. Noah said he slept so well that he forgot that he was camping!

Luke stayed the night with me and Noah but wasn't allowed to participate in the activities because of his age. This was a boy scout event and the boy scouts invited Noah and Rowen to join them. Saturday was full of events to compete in, knots, fire building, orienteering and first aid were some of the events. The boys were judged according to how well they completed the task and given a score.
Late Saturday night the winners were announced, I didn't figure that we would place at all because our troop was one of the smallest but as they counted down 3rd, 2nd and then first they called our troop 403. We all stared at each other in disbelief but willingly took the first place pennant. Over all it was a very good time and the boys had a blast. We learned alot and had a great time getting to know the boys in troop 403 better. Noah will bridge up to boy scouts in the spring and will himself be a member of Troop 403 soon enough.
April will bring the next camparee. It is said that that this one will be a "disaster" with a focus on first-aid. Look for that blog around the end of April.

There are plans to run the Asas 206 today, I'll get some pictures and post about it soon. Also in the works is a return trip to Zambia to help CMML this spring and a door has opened for us to buy our house. Each one of these will get it's own blog in the near future so stay tunned. Josh

Spring planting

2011-01-20T13:32:00.004-06:00

January might be a little early to start thinking about your garden but most of us have. The seed catalogs began showing up last month and the talk about spring began, what worked and what didn't. We narrowed down the majority of our problems to being behind the curve, we were reactive and not proactive. So we are starting in January this year!

Noah and I built this mini green house/seed starter in the basement. We'll be able to flood irrigate all the soil blocks and the lights are going to be all independent and adjustable.

We have already started some herbs, later they will be potted up and then moved out to the cold frames for hardening off in the spring.

On a side note, Noah, Luke and I will be camping this weekend with the scouts for the annual winter "Klondike". I don't know what it will all consist of but the weather is certainly going to be a central part of the story. More to follow next week...

Noah's 1st ride

2011-01-14T11:22:00.004-06:00

I know that this picture is blurry but it captures a first and even If I take a new picture tomorrow it cannot replace this one. This is Noah on his "first" ride by himself on the 4-wheeler. He had always struggled with the clutch and had never been able to get the quad moving without stalling. That's where the snow helps, he just gives her gas and drops the clutch. The wheels spin and spin but he was under way. I'm sure that by spring he will have the clutch figured out and move on to shifting. He was quite proud running circles out in the field and when he rolled up to the house to put it away he was met by Hannah and Luke who greeted him like a returning hero. He will get his second chance tomorrow and better pictures will follow.

Josh

A new year

2011-01-04T13:36:00.004-06:00

Happy new year! I can't believe 2010 is over already. I had so many plans... Well you can't live in the past, so on to this year. I plan on spending alot of time with the kids camping, hiking and I guess just basically scouting, working in the hangar and being a farmer. So you could say, basically the same as last year.

Noah and Rowen are working on finishing up the last few requirements that they have for Weblos before they transition into Boy Scouts. You can see them here converting a funny story into a play that they will put on at the Blue and Gold for everyone's enjoyment. Noah still has his Sportsman and his Readyman to complete before April. We have our first camping trip of the new year coming up at the end of the month. Look for a post around the beginning of Feb.

All is well on the farm. We have lost one hive of bees so far and the chickens are not laying but other than that everything else is doing very well. Our two pigs have more than doubled in size and continue to root up the garden. We are hoping that they will find all the slugs, grubs and larvae of everything that has been eating our garden. The pigs also share the barn with our cows and goat. We look forward to butchering these two sometime this summer and one of the steers next fall.
This is the Assa de Socorro 206 just after the floats were installed. With the additional height the 206 commands your notice when you walk in the hangar. It is a beautiful plane and will soon be done. Under Ian's leadership this plane has gone from an Alaskan wreck to an Amazon beauty that will be on the front line of bringing the gospel to the Amazon.

May God bless you in this new year. Josh

Navajo progress

2010-12-09T10:54:00.003-06:00

The Navajo is progressing nicely. Terry is just about done installing the windsheild on the co-pilots side. The elevators have come back from the shop we outsourced them to and are ready to be put back on the plane. Chuck's crew door is all framed in and he's begun repairing the actual door before installing it. My skins on the belly are all done, I have since put on a step and handle that will allow the pilot to get up to the crew door and I have been working on the wing locker actuators today. The deadline is just a month and a half away, we're missing the flaps, an engine and completing the annual inspection. I don't see any reason within our control that would keep us from hitting that mark.

Here is part of our collection of farm animals having breakfast this morning It has been a few weeks since the pigs have gotten out of the fences so either they have stop trying or I've fixed all the holes finally. We will be butchering our last pen of chickens this Saterday if anybody would like the oppertunity to give it a try, just give us a call...

Josh

Navajo update

2010-11-24T10:59:00.002-06:00

You can see the new skins that Paul and I fabricated and replaced over the last few weeks. I've also been helping Chuck with riviting in the new door frame he's been installing.

And I've also been helping Terry with riviting in his windows. The Navajo project is progressing nicely we still have alot of work to do and there is only one month left untill it needs to be done.
I'll put a before and after page on soon.

Have you visited Artic Barnabas's web site yet? I've put a link to it, give it a try. Lean more about them and see what there prayer request and needs are.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Josh

Pigs!

2010-11-10T09:00:00.002-06:00

Our pigs have finally made it home and it is good to see them in the fields and rooting up the crops we planted for them in the spring. When we went to pick them up the farmer had never handled them and they were born and raised in the field. After getting them into the barn you could see where the phrase "hog wild and pig crazy" comes from. When we started catching the pigs they started squealing and momma pig who weighed near 350 was not happy. She about tore the door off of the barn trying to get in. Kristi was fighting to keep the door closed and Noah who was outside with her was on top of the trailer! It was quite a commotion. We got them loaded and home and thought all was fine... The next morning on my way to work maybe a mile down the road I see 4 little pigs out in a bean field. So, started another days adventure trying to catch "hog wild and pig crazy" pigs. They have since stayed inside the fence and are getting more tame, Kristi can pet them while they are eating.

This last weekend I took the boys along with a few friends to an Appleseed shoot. We spent all day getting basic rifleman instruction and practice and on Sunday we shot for passing the Army Qualification Test. 8 of the 20 people in attendance passed the test and I was one of them. My pride for passing was short lived when I found out one of the other 8 was a 13 year old girl and one was a 10 year old boy. Great fun all around though. The boys and I went thru 1300 rounds of .22 ammo in two days, my trigger finger hurt on Monday. We are going to spend the winter practicing what we learned and try again in the Summer to see if Noah or Luke will be able to qualify.

Thanks for keeping caught up, The Navajo is going strong and ahead of plans as I see it. Check back soon. Josh

Navajo update

2010-11-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

Work continues on the Artic Barnabas Navajo. I have fabricated and replaced the first of two damaged skins. The second skin is removed and I will begin making its replacement on Monday. Hopefully by the end of next week I will be done with this sheet metal project and can move onto something else. Terry is busy removing the old windows and preparing the window frames for reinstalling. He is busy right now painting the window frames and trim.

Chuck has started the process of installing a crew door where there was none. Using old parts off a junk plane and some old blue prints their will be a door there one day.

The engine is out being overhauled and the flight controls are out being re skinned. The Navajo is set to be delivered in January, lets pray that everyone hits their deadlines.

Next post....PIGS!

Josh

New Project

2010-10-29T11:13:00.004-05:00

MMS has just received and started on its newest project a Piper Navajo. It comes to us from Alaska, serving with Artic Barnabas. It is in need of an engine and propeller overhaul, sheet metal repairs, window replacement, a crew door is being installed and all the flight control surfaces are being replaced.

I have been assigned the task of replacing rock damaged skins on the belly of the fuselage. Here you can see one of the original skins and the one I've duplicated. It will be primed and riveted into place before removing the next piece of skin. When the Navajo is completed it will go on to a paint shop and then back to service in Alaska.

Noah also turned 11 this week. We celebrated his birthday at home with cake and presents. Luke and Hannah took time to make him presents and cards. We are heading to the military surplus store on Saturday per Noah's request so he can spend some of his birthday money.

Thanks for checking in, Josh

King air is finished

2010-10-21T08:45:00.002-05:00

The King Air was finished and picked up on Monday. My last job on the project was to replace the ELT. ELT is short for emergency location transponder, a ELT's job is to transmit a traceable signal when an aircraft crashes so it can be found. The old elt's have become outdated and we were not allowed to install one like we removed. The regulations required a new elt with an in dash activation indicator. What happens alot of times is that during a bumpy landing the elt is accidental set of and lots of time and money is spent looking for a plane that did not crash. The new elt's now have a light on the panel that indicate to the pilot that the elt has been activated. The only problem is the ELT is in the rear of the plane and the instrument panel is in the front. It took a little over a day to remove all the interior of the aircraft that was in the way run the wire and then reinstall the interior. It was a good exercise in electrical work, something that I don't get much of.

We've got the greenhouse planted and most all the sprouts are up. It takes lots of water too keep everything growing, the green house is extra warm, the beds are raised and easier to heat up and there is plenty of ventilation. All that adds up to dry beds. Since the picture was taken we have installed the door on the other end. We've had our first frost and are in the process of cleaning up the garden and greenhouse for next year.

Hannah is a horse nut and here you can see her riding 'Spirit" a three year old Halflinger. She gets lessons once a week at another MMS families house.

Thanks for visiting and I'll try to update again next week. Josh

Flash back

2010-10-05T11:08:00.005-05:00

I thought I would take this post to catch you up on a few things that have happened recently that didn't make a post of their own.
The boys and I along with many families in Pack 403 went to Campagonza in Butler, PA. It was a weekend camping event in which over 10,000 scouts showed up and with the total number of people pushing 18,000. The boys made water rockets pictured above, biked, went out boating, shot sling shots, climbed a 30 ft climbing wall, ran obstacle courses, too preparedness classes, saw fireworks and a concert. We had a great time! I'll upload all the pictures to picassa for you to check out.

On the same weekend Coshocton had its airshow on one of the war birds sprung a lead. It is an A-10 and was hangared by us for a few days until the parts were available to fix.

Our last batch of chicks arrived also, this group contains 25 meat birds and 25 layers. We plan to butcher the meat birds right before Thanksgiving.

As for right now, as always we are busy in the hangar. The inspection phase of the King Air is almost done and we have began the correcting the discrepancies. Which include a leaking fuel tank, bad nose wheel bearing, a defective ELT, damaged compressor veins in the engine and on and on, near 40 conditions over all. We are working diligently to restore this aircraft back into is role in the service of the King.

Thanks for visiting, check back soon. Josh

GCI's King Air

2010-09-29T13:34:00.002-05:00

Gospel Carrier International's King Air 200 is in the shop for the next two weeks undergoing its phase 1&2 inspection. On an airplane this large it would take a long time to do the annual inspection required to keep it airworthy. So, the inspection is broken up into 4 different phases over two years.

A little about GCI, this next section in bold was taken off of GCI's web site which you visit by clicking here.

Gospel Carrier International, Inc. (GCI) was pioneered by Rev. Williams Cheng. While attending Moody Bible Institute’s Aviation Ministry Training, Rev. Cheng flew to many distant towns and cities in the United States. During this time, the Lord impressed upon him the spiritual needs of the overseas Chinese he met living there. In response, Rev. Cheng established GCI in 1993 after many years of prayer and preparation and under a combined effort of support and encouragement. Support was rendered by Rev. Philip Teng, Dr. Philip Man, and Dr. Dick Hillis (who had ministered to the Chinese for 40 years while serving in the China Inland Mission, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, and Overseas Crusade). Since its establishment, GCI's vision has been shared by many, and the Lord has blessed GCI with gifted ministers and talented volunteer co-workers. Among those who have contributed significantly are Mr. Roy Chiao, Rev. John Fung, Rev. Johnny Wang, and Mr. T. S. Yip

GCI also allows training to be conducted on its plane by MMS giving us valuable experience on turbine engines, pressurized aircraft and complex aircraft systems. And that experience is then taken all over the world by MMS's graduates.

Thanks for visiting, check in soon for a post on Campaganza!
Josh

Myrtle Beach

2010-09-21T09:09:00.002-05:00

Here are the promised pictures. We stayed in Myrtle beach for 4 days and spent the majority of the time just playing and swimming. I did not want to plan much because it was the kids first time to the ocean and the ocean was the whole point in going.
We built many sand castles and by the time we left the game was to build one that could withstand the waves and tide, no one won.

Every morning we to a walk before things got to hot and crowded, it was Kristi's favorite activity of the trip.

Beach combing was also another favorite past time. We came home with shells, rocks, wood, feathers, parts of crabs and who knows what else.

We did get out once to play put-put and we went out to eat a few times. It was a very successful trip over all and everybody wants to do it again.

Thanks for visiting, Josh

Stop the world, I want to get off

2010-09-17T20:02:00.011-05:00

I have had one of those summers. Actually, it feels like summer passed me by like I was standing still.

During the last week of August I was given the opportunity to go to Preferred Airparts in Kidron, Ohio to work on the MFI DC-3 restoration project. That hanger has been a bee hive of activity with volunteers from numerous states, missionaries from MFI and MMS, and Preferred Airparts employees Preferred is a local aviation business owned by Christians who are heavily invested in missions.

When this DC-3 is done it will be MFI's (Missionary Flights International) new flagship servicing Haiti and the Caribbean. MFI, if you remember, was one of the first relief agencies allowed into Haiti after the earth quake and are still continuing in their deliveries today. You can check some of my earlier post about my involvement with MFI or visit their site MFI. I will be getting more opportunities in the future to work on this plane and will fill you in the work we are involved in. On this trip our responsibilities were to use a dye penetrant to check for cracks in the angle that holds the wing on. We ended up with one angle cracked and one with corrosion damage beyond acceptable limits.

More to come on that project...

This little ball of fuzz was found in our field while doing chores one evening. Miss Kitty, as she is affectionately known, was covered with fleas. It took 4 baths to kill them all, but she has found a new home with us and will never be in want again. She brings our cat total back up to 4 after losing one earlier this summer.

Our family has taken it first vacation in a couple of years. We are at Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a few days and are having a blast. It is the first time the kids have ever been to the ocean. Noah has become an avid boogie boarder, Luke's favorite was putt-putt golf and Hannah loved the waves. I'll do a full report when we get home.

And finally it is Hannah's birthday today! She turned 9 and has had a beach party birthday. We are very thankful for our little princess and the many years of laughter and joy she has brought to our family. If you see her wish her Happy Birthday.

Sorry,one more thing. I had one of those small world moments today. Around three in the afternoon I went back to our room to get Noah's board and when I opened the door to leave my room I was standing face to face with some one I knew from Coshocton, from the church we used to attend. Next door neighbors in South Carolina, I'm still amazed. 700 miles, dozens of hotels with hundreds of rooms, what are the chances for that?

Check back soon for more info. Josh

Hocking Hills

2010-08-26T07:51:00.006-05:00

Over the weekend of the 21st Noah, Hannah, Luke and I plus about 50 scouts and parents went camping at Hocking Hills. I have not visited every park in Ohio but I believe that Hocking Hills is one of the if not the very best hiking in Ohio. We managed to walk a little over 8 miles on Saturday. In a unanimous vote the Rock house was considered the best place to hike and play. I think that we will go back in the winter for the Frozen Falls tour.
Pictured above is my kids plus Alan, Noah's WEBLOS leader and his son Rowan. Our small group stayed together the whole day and hike all but 1 of the trails. The main body of scouts hiked less. Many of the scouts are young and cannot hike so much.
It did rain on Saturday night and without the threat of lightning we sent the kids out to play and play they did. It was the closest thing they had to a shower all weekend. I was amazed at heir stamina, our group walked the 8 miles and ran in the rain and played capture the flag till 11:30 and then slept like a rock. We managed to stay dry in our tents but that was not the case for everyone.
We explored some caves while we were out this one is at the Rock House.
And played in waterfalls. If you look up to the upper edge of the cliff and see how high it is, that is what the return trail follows back.

I would highly recommend the trip to anyone as I would also recommend scouts to anyone also.

Josh

SMAT 210

2010-08-19T11:06:00.004-05:00

We are just about finished with the annual inspection of SMAT's 210. It has taken a little longer than usual to wrap this one up but not so much considering it has sat unused for the last 3 years. Sitting is hard or anything and that includes airplanes. Now you may be asking "Who is SMAT"? Well SMAT, School of Missianary Aviation Technology, is an accredited school that specializes in training missionary pilots and mechanics. They are based out of Ionia, Michigan and have been serving the mission community for 41 years. One of the team leaders here, Ian, has been involved with missions for around 20 years and he graduated from SMAT. One of the differences between SMAT and MMS as training facilities is how the training is accomplished. SMAT is a school with classrooms and labs. SMAT's program only takes one year to complete. MMS is an apprentice based training and takes 30 months. The main difference besides the time is experience. Is one way better than another??? I would have to say it depends on what your final goal is. If you plan to be primarily a mechanic then experience is gold, but if you are looking to be mainly a pilot with a general knowledge of the mechanical workings of your plane then the one year school is the way to go. I myself went to a one year training program, not SMAT's, but one similar. I've included a link to SMAT's site. Give them a visit and learn more about them there.

SMAT

Thanks for visiting I'll write next week about our upcoming camping trip to Hocking Hills.

Josh

10 minute update

2010-08-11T09:00:00.005-05:00

It has been a busy two weeks so I'll try to be brief as I fill you end. Most recently, we sold our first puppy last night! Please pray that God will continue to provide interested people. We have six more to go.
On Monday Noah, Luke and I went fishing on Lake Erie with some men from our home church. We went out for yellow perch and almost caught our limit. It was a great time and everybody caught lots of fish. We had alot of fun catching up with the people on our boat. I think this will become a yearly tradition that we look forward to and cherish.

Two weekends ago Luke and I went to Adventure Camp. It was an absolute flurry of activity and I think the purposely put our activities as far apart as they possible could just to tire us out. There was swimming, boating, BB guns, archery, an obstacle course a, bouldering, crafts and more. To say the least I was whipped at the end of the day! Luke had a great time and I look forward to going again with him next year.

Times up! Thanks for visiting and come back soon. Josh

Airedale puppies for Sale

2010-07-29T11:04:00.004-05:00

Our pups just got a clean bill of health from the vet yesterday and we received word from the AKC that the registration papers were in the mail. Now all we need to do is find homes for everybody. That is certainly a prayer request. We've certainly enjoyed the whole process and we love to watch them as they grow. Last week we put different color collars on them and it did not take long to begin to see their different personalities. Airedales are truly an excellent all around dog.
The other big happening in the house this week is the birth of more new chicks. We were hoping to raise 20 new hens of our own and accounting for a 50/50 split we'll have to run the incubator one more time to end up close to that number. They are all mixed breed which just adds to the color variation. We are close to adding our last group of hatchlings to the larger group of chickens, turkeys and ducks.
This weekend Luke and I are off to Adventure camp for Scouts. Luke is going to be able to get a head start on his book requirements for next year. I don't really know what all is going on so I'll just have to let him tell you in his own words next week. Josh

How was your week?

2010-07-12T11:11:00.002-05:00

Well...... how was your week? Ours was everything a week in summer should be: Warm days playing with puppies in the yard.

A project in the driveway to keep you busy and out of trouble. I've actually have 2 projects in the drive way. (Changing the clutch)

Breakfast by the campfire on a weekend camping trip to Blue Rock State Park with the Scouts.

And spending lots of quality time together. I hope your week was as full and as rewarding as mine was. Josh

Update

2010-07-02T09:07:00.002-05:00

In the hangar:

The Cessna 210 (above) belongs to SMAT, School of Missionary Aviation Training and is the project I am currently on. The 210 is in for it's yearly airworthy inspection and my part in this process is to comb through all the records and compare them to the recommended and required maintenance directives put out by Cessna, TCM and others. In other words lots of paperwork. After the paperwork is done the inspection begins and a list of discrepancies is made and corrected. The aircraft then can be signed off as airworthy again and returned to service.

At home:

Another busy week has passed and again more life has been lived that can quickly be shared. On a low note, Hannah's cat Heidi was hit on the road and we have been working through that this week. The puppies are all doing fine and are getting big. They are starting to "walk" around a bit and play a little. They will be ready to sell in another 5 weeks. Our bee's swarmed again so yesterday I was up in a tree with a bucket trying to catch the majority of them and yes I did get stung. The garden looks great, the turkeys are getting big and they calves are now off of the bottle and onto pasture, everything is looking good around the farm.

Josh

Puppie update

2010-06-23T11:06:00.003-05:00

We ended up with 7 puppies, 2 girls and 5 boys. They were into the vet already and are doing fine. We have about one more week until they start opening their eyes and 7 more until they are ready to be sold. Airedales are truly wonderful dogs, they are above average in intelligence which means they will often outsmart you. Our dog is particularly good at noticing when you are not paying attention and sneaking off down to the creek and getting all wet and muddy. If you are interested in one please let us know.

Here is a picture from a few weeks ago but one that is worth posting. We volunteered to watch a friends 4 milk goats while he was on vacation. Kristi the kids and just about anybody else who showed up at the house during milking time got the opportunity to milk, twice a day, rain and it did rain or shine. Kristi fed the majority of the milk to the calves and saved some for making soap. We have a dozen or so bars curing in the kitchen right now. Kristi also came back from Michigan with some red raspberry bushes and when we finished planting them we had 2 20ft long beds. We'll have to wait for next year for a harvest. I also managed to catch two swarms of bees and get them started in boxes, bringing us up to five hives.

Thanks for taking interest in us, we'd love to hear from. Josh

Puppies!!

2010-06-15T05:43:00.005-05:00

Guess what we woke up to this morning???? At 5am we were waken up by little puppy sounds and now at 7am we are up to 3. We are expecting more, how many we don't know but an average litter is around 8 to 10. Homeschool continues even during summer break. We'll keep adding to this post as the numbers increase.

Today, on the 16th we have a total of 7 puppies. They are very cute and noisy, they will be moving out of our bedroom today! It was like having a baby again, they were up (and so were we) every few hours for a feeding, grunting, squeaking and crying. Bree is doing a wonderful job taking care of them. I'm sure more pictures will follow soon. Josh

Lost Cord

2010-06-05T20:08:00.004-05:00

Well I know I've missed a post here recently but it is not my fault. The cord to my camera has gone missing... Now I have dozens of various cords of all shapes and sizes, but do any of them fit? No. My computer has a card reader, does it fit? No. Does my USB card reader fit? Sadly, no. I know if I buy another one my old one will show up and who needs two? I certainly don't need another cord in my tech drawer that won't fit anything in a year or two. These tech companies have us under their control. Last year we were looking for a new laptop for the school. I found a nice one at Wal-mart and bought it. After I brought it home I soon realized none of my old disk were compatible. So I returned it and had a friend find me one that was compatible with my old software but next time I wont be so lucky. I could go on, as could you I'm sure, but I won't.

What has happed recently is this: (without pictures)

The open house at MMS was a success. A van load came from Calvary Baptist in Bellefontaine, my home church. It was nice to show our friends around and help them to better understand what we do at MMS. Thanks for coming!

We've been goat sitting for Noah's scout leader - four milking goats. Kristi and the kids milk them twice a day, by hand. I think that it has been a great experience for everybody. I think Kristi plans on making goat milk soap, lotion and cheese.

Noah and Luke has been invited to two birthday parties over the last two weekends. The first one was a campout and the second a LEGO themed party. The boys had a blast a both and are talking about the kind of parties they want to have.

Next weekend Noah has WEBLOS scout camp. He'll be working on several different, new badges so he is quite excited.

Check back, I'll find that cord soon enough. Josh

MMS Open House

2010-05-24T18:37:00.003-05:00

This weekend MMS had an open house to celebrate its 35th anniversary. We had about --- people come through. Guest toured the facility, learned how MMS operates and about the people and places we serve, played the flight simulator, and got to see a Cessna Grand Caravan flown down by Prefered Air Parts. People remarked to us that they came away with a greater understanding of how MMS works and how far-reaching the ministry is. On Saturday we also opened up our home and had about 25 people from Calvary Baptist Church in Bellefontaine visit. It was wonderful to have our long time family friends come and to understand more fully the work they support.

We also had a fun weekend as we watched the eggs in our incubator hatch. I have to admit that I almost enjoyed it more than the kids did. It was like Christmas waiting to see each chick hatch. We got eggs from 2 other people and we had many different varieties. We have black, gray, chocolate, tan, and yellow chicks. They are SO cute and fluffy. Too bad they don't stay that way for long. These chicks will be raised for eggs. It takes about 5 months before they start laying.

Kristi

New Project

2010-05-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

Pictured is a Cessna 402, Mike Dunkley is leading the project and Mark, Terry, Andy and myself are helping him. We are preforming an inspection to determine the extent of the damage and the cost to bring the 402 back into mission service. The big question is whether the spar (the main wing beam) is cracked or not. We've got to open the inspection area up and bring in a specialist to inspect the spar. If all is well, a doubler will be installed and away it goes. If not... completely tearing the wings apart and replacing the spar is one option the other is to sell it for parts. So, lets pray for no cracks and get this plane back into service.

I also added a place to link to my newsletters online. Check it out. Josh

Pig Plot

2010-05-07T13:54:00.003-05:00

Life continues as usual here on the farm, spring planting is well under way. Just so you don't think I'm into child slave labor, I was pulling the "rake" also when I stopped to take this picture. We are trying an experiment this summer on a piece of our property. We are planting a food plot for a pig or two with the idea that seed is cheaper than feed. We're planting field corn, mangols, canola, pumpkins, sunflowers, sweet corn, squash and anything else we have left over from the seed packs. Come July or so we will turn the piglets onto the field slowly expanding their fence over the food plot as the grow.

Here you can see our meat chickens free ranging inside their move able pin. We move the pin every three days to give them fresh pasture. If you look closely you might see our turkeys as well.

And in closing Terry and I have been working on repairing the MMS forklift. Terry is our newest staff member. Her retired from his previous job and has decided to spend his retirement volunteering at MMS.
Josh

Planting season

2010-05-04T06:53:00.003-05:00

Greetings friends! It has been a beautiful spring this year. The weather has been near perfect and we have been getting the garden planted. Our actual garden this year is around 6000sq/ft but the total amount that we are planting is over 1/2 acre. We should have the majority of our garden planted by this weekend, at least that is the plan.

We also have two new bee hives this spring and the one that survived the winter makes three. The one that survived has its honey boxes on it and is being filled by the bees. We are looking forward to our first spring honey harvest. In the end we would like to have five healthy bee hives at our place. Did you know that this winter was very hard on bee keepers, from what I understand a 50%-75% bee loss was the norm in our area. We had four hives winter at our house, two ours and two a friends and only one hive survived the winter. I do know that one local beekeeper lost 27 of his 30 hives.
Here you can see the finished product of my latest project. This airplane is a Piper Aztec and it is owned by the director of our airport. The nose bowls (the front shiny part of the engine, just behind the prop) were badly damaged, worn and no longer safe to leave on the airplane. After a few weeks of sanding, fiberglass lay up and some paint they are back on and his plane is back in service. As you can see the color does not match perfectly so some time in the future we will remove all the engine cowlings and blend the new colors into the old so the transition will not be so noticeable.
I'd also like to remind everyone of the MMS open house is May 22 & 23. Please come and see our hangar first hand.

Hope to see you their, Josh

Update from Zambia

2010-04-23T08:04:00.004-05:00

I missed my blog posting for last week because I've been working on a newsletter. I was planning to get it out this week but it looks like next week will be more likely. Bruce from CMML in Zambia sent me some pictures of the 182 I went and worked on. It is now completed and both the 182 and the 207 are painted to match. Bruce says that it is a great little plane and will be an asset to CMML for many years to come.

In case you don't remember or didn't know I worked on various projects on the 182. An engine upgrade from a 470ci carburetted to a 520 ci fuel injected. New engine mount and a wing stiffening kit.

I also installed these fold able, lightweight jump seats in replacement of the heavy one-piece bench seat.I didn't work on the avionics, it just looked so pretty I had to show it.And here is a picture of CCML's 207. I overhauled an engine for this plane then drove the engine to Canada for shipment to Zambia. Bruce says the engine arrived safely but the roads are impassable and he hasn't been able t get the engine delivered to the hangar. I'm hoping to go and help with the install of my engine when the time comes.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures, thank those of you who give and pray to make this possible. You play an active part in world wide aviation missions. Josh

Cornhole

2010-04-06T19:30:00.004-05:00

Noah's WEBLOS group has been working on a cornhole set the past few months and here you can see the final product. The scouts donated the set to the Coshocton Rehabilitation Center. While we were there we discussed an ongoing partnership - helping around the center, playing games and interacting with the patients.

Luke also had a part in the building and donating of the set. He is an honorary WEBLOS and accepted as one. He participates in all Noah's campouts and activities. Most "Tiger Cubs", Luke's age group, do not get this option. In return and to be fair Noah was asked to be a Den leaders assistant in Luke's group. He is Mrs. Chris's right hand man and at Luke's last meeting he taught a group of 6&7 year olds and their parents how to tie a square knot.

(Luke is looking through the cornhole hole)

Chicks, Calves and Turkeys, Oh my! (kittens too)

2010-04-04T20:01:00.005-05:00

It's spring and things are bustling around here. We've got our first group of baby chicks, 35. These first 35 will go in the freezer after 8 weeks. We also have a few baby turkeys in there they are the dark ones, we have 9 of them.

Hannah's cat had two kittens this week also. Hannah is so proud! I don't know how we are going to be able to give them away. But I assure you we will. We have 4, I don't need 6.

And the two calves on the left are our new ones. Owen, our Amish friend, gave us one to keep Daisy company and I traded a quart of maple syrup for the other one. We've already began studying up on butchering the first one at home. We figure that little "T", the one far left will be the one to go to the freezer this fall.
As you can see we have lots going on and something new happening every day. I encourage you to stop by and see for yourselves. I enjoy thinking about the memories our kids will have as adults. How many kids today plant and care for their own veggies, raise and butcher their own meat and in a few years get their own milk. How cool is that! Josh

Chip Creek Camp

2010-03-27T19:39:00.005-05:00

The Cub Scouts are on a campout in these picture. This was the first time anyone camped at this site, so we got to name the campsite. We named it "Chip Creek Camp" after our packmaster Chip. We drove to the parking lot of the Muskingum Valley Scouting Reservation, hiked one mile to the campsite, set up the tent, and played a little while. We had toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for supper. My friend Rowen and I stayed up until 10:30 - talk about late! The next morning I got up at 6:00 because I couldn't go back to sleep. It was a cold night (22 degrees), but we stayed warm inside our tent. When everybody else was up, we ate breakfast which was pancakes and sausage. I took down the tent and put it away. After that, all of us played swords with sticks. And last, we hiked the 1 mile back to the parking lot. You should let your son join Cub Scouts. It's great! Noah

ATTENTION!!!

2010-03-24T08:35:00.002-05:00

Mark your calender! On Saturday, May 22 from 9-5 and Sunday the 23 from 1-5, MMS will be having an open house. There will be a self guided tour of the facility with individuals manning different stations to answer questions or give demonstrations. There will be refreshments served at the end of the tour. Come, bring a camera and a friend.

Other local attractions include:

Also, to make it easier to find, here is a link to a map:

Map

Any questions please feel free to contact me or MMS. Josh

Daisy

2010-03-18T20:32:00.005-05:00

Here she is! The newest member of our family, Daisy. If you don't know she is a Jersey and will be providing all of our dairy needs... in a couple of years. Our Amish friends. who we have a cow share with, sold her and a bull to us. He hasn't been born yet. We'll post his pic when he arrives. We'll be naming him T-bone.

We had an added bonus of another barrel of sap on Wednesday. We thought that the sap flow was done and then we had a freezing night and the sap started flowing again. That brings us up to 14 gallons of syrup. If you are interested, we are selling it for $15 per quart. I had a request for a picture of our evaporator, so that is what you see above. It has a 2 ft cube fire box on top and in the front with a 6 inch by 24 by 24 ash box on the bottom. The hot gasses travel along the bottom of the evaporator pan in a chimney like space and then out the top. My plans on improving the design will include dual exhaust stacks and an improved front door. Those two factors I think cost me the greatest amount of unused heat loss. With some seasoned firewood we hit our highest chimney temperature 1700F! That was cooking! You should have seen the stove glowing and heard the popping of the steel, it was impressive.

Noah is going to put up a post in a few days so check back soon and leave him an encouraging note.

God bless, Josh

SYRUP!

2010-03-04T15:02:00.002-06:00

Here is the reward of our hard work! Well this is just a sample of it we have boiled down around 7 gallons of syrup as of yesterday. Believe it or not we are saving the first six gallons for our use this year. That may seem like a lot. but Kristi uses it in replacement of refined white sugar. We hope to have some syrup for sale soon also.

The melted bucket was a first attempt at preheating the sap before putting it in the evaporating pan. As you can see a little more research will need to be done before we try that again.

This load of sap we picked up on Thursday and started the boiling down the first half on Friday and the second half plus what was gathered on Saturday. On Saturday some friends, the Roberts family, came over and helped us gather and boil down. You can see their thoughts of the whole experience at their blog. We processed 200 gallons of sap into 5 gallons of syrup, it took 18 hours and a whole truckload of wood!

Thanks to the Roberts family for their help and encouragement! Josh

Syrup season!

2010-03-01T19:40:00.004-06:00

But first some catching up. Two weekends ago was the Scouts award ceremony. Noah and Luke both received many awards for there scouting adventures. The biggest by far were their promotion awards. Noah received his WEBLOS badge allowing him to work towards his Arrow of Light and Luke received his Tiger Cub allowing him to work towards his Wolf! The scouts also had a cake decorating competition with 5 different categories. Noah's design won in the 100 year anniversary category and Luke's won the Scout category.

The following week I had the opportunity to work on MFI's newest DC-3. It is located about an hour away from here and it needed to have the wings pulled off for inspection. When completed this DC-3 will be added to MFI's fleet servicing Haiti.
And now we get to this weekend, we started Saturday morning washing the 100 plus buckets that we have for sap collecting and after lunch we moved into the field tapping. On Saturday we tapped around 40 trees and then another 30 on Sunday plus another 10 today. We went out to collect the first of the sap today after work and collected over 100 gallons. That filled everything we had available and then some. We will start boiling down the sap bright and early tomorrow and by the end of the day we should have over 2 gallons of syrup! We have long nights, early mornings and lots of bucket moving over the next few weeks. Sounds like fun!

Around the house

2010-02-17T17:10:00.008-06:00

I just thought I would post some pictures from around the house today. We have nearly 18" of snow on the ground. I've been trying to figure out how to deal with the ice dams and related water problems. As you can see the green house is buried and all looks frozen but looks can be deceiving. Under that snow and ice is our winter garden.

(sorry about the flash) Inside our green house we have row covers (left over plastic from the greenhouse) and those two layers of plastic have kept our lettuce protected. I know you cannot tell, but those droplets on the top of the plastic are not frozen and we use no source of heat. These pictures were taken yesterday morning at 20 degrees F. Today Kristi picked us a wonderful salad to go along with our dinner. The ideas and plans for this green house are taken from the books "Four Season Harvest" and "The Winter Harvest Handbook" by Eliott Coleman.

In an upstairs window Kristi has started the first of our garden's seedlings. They are mostly different herbs and some flowers. We are trying to grow all of our own veggies for the year and have a 6000 sqft garden planned. Besides the garden, we are going to try our hand at maple syrup again this year. We will try to get 10 gallons of finished syrup. That will require 400 gallons of sap to be boiled down! More on that later though.

The kids have been outside every day playing until they are so tired staying awake can be a problem in the evenings. The bushes heavy with snow have become favorite hiding places and the large piles of snow, forts to be defended. The snow has been too powdery to build anything but the world is a whole new adventure when the snow is above your knees. The kids are not the only one having fun, Bree runs and runs the whole time she is outside. Her fur becomes matted with snow and when she comes inside she leaves a puddle on the floor wherever she lays down.

This weekend is the boys big award banquet for scouts--the "Blue and Gold". Noah will get his WEBLOS badge and several achievement pins and Luke his Bobcat patch and several achievement belt loops. Look for our next posting to see pictures of the boys.

Thanks for checking in! I'll do my best to keep this up to date with new post of current activities. Josh

Home

2010-02-14T10:47:00.005-06:00

Ian, Chuck and I put in a few hours on 200MF Sunday before the super bowl. 200 is MFI's turbine powered DC-3. One of the engines came due for a 150 hr inspection. Chuck and I worked on exchanging the fuel nozzles and inspecting the ignitors. Ian and Brain worked on engine inspections. On Monday we continued the work we started until a little after lunch.

We started the drive home that afternoon and drove all night in order to beat the snow storm heading toward Ohio. The only bit of excitement along the way was a broken anti-sway bar in the rear end of the van. A quick stop at Home Depot for angle iron, hose clamps and duck tape and we were back on the road.

I've taken the rest of the week off to catch up on some work around the house. We've scraped and painted more bee boxes and I've began building a larger more efficient syrup evaporator. We are hoping to make 10 gallons or more of syrup this year. Keep checking back because I will have pictures of syrup season which starts in a few weeks.

Thank you for your prayers and thank you to the many people who checked in on Kristi and the kids while I was gone. Josh

400MF completed

2010-02-04T11:18:00.007-06:00

I got to ride along on one of the test flights for the new engine. I was very impressed with the amount of teamwork and coordination that it takes for a pilot and co-pilot to get one of these off of the ground.
Today 400MF is back in service carrying desperately needed cargo down to Haiti.

Today we finished up some sheet metal repairs on 300MF and will begin changing the cylinders on a Piper Aztec that was heading to Haiti to aid missionaries. The pilot on his way down from Canada noticed his plane was going thru a large amount of oil and he determined that the cylinders needed changed. We'll pull them off today and reinstall new ones tomorrow. We were going to be heading home this week but another need (other than the Aztec) has come due. 200MF the turbine DC-3 is due for a 150 hour inspection and injector nozzle inspection and cleaning. We'll be starting that on Sunday and hopefully completing it on Monday and soon after be heading home. Kristi and the kids are doing well and have been well cared for by friends in the area. Please continue to pray for them. Thanks, Josh

Catching up

2010-02-01T11:20:00.007-06:00

DAY 5

This C-130 was filled and readied for a trip to Haiti with 45,000lbs of cargo

Nate and I torque the nut holding the prop on. It was my job to push the prop and pick up Nate. Nate's weight at an arm of 4ft 6in equalled the proper torque of 720 ft/lbs.

On Sunday we installed the engine to the airframe and the prop to the engine.

Day4

Saturday we transferred all the hoses, wires, clamps and accessories from the old engine to the new (far).

Day 3

Friday we removed the engine and prop.

Day 2

2010-01-29T11:17:00.004-06:00

Ian and Chuck disassembling the engine

I thought I'd be able to finish my repair on 300MF today but I never really got around to it. I started the day helping to finish installing a new tire on the other caravan and helping to load it. Next we started installing the exhaust, carb, cowl flaps and other engine accessories on the new engine trying to get it ready. When 400MF showed up in the evening we drained the oil, removed the prop, cowls and started disconnecting the fuel, oil and hydraulic lines in preparation of removing the engine tomorrow.

It was announced yesterday that MFI has flown 500,000lbs of supplies and 1300 Dr's and RN's into Haiti for relief work. Josh

Nate loading is plane fo a trip to Haiti

Day 1

2010-01-28T08:54:00.004-06:00

Our first day in the hangar started at around 9:30am. I began working on some corrosion and sheet metal repairs that needed to be made on 300MF. A little history on 300MF is MMS did the original paint job about 10 years ago and based on its records it was station in England during WWII and might have been part of the invasion force. I spent the majority of the day fabricating a replacement skin and installing it. I will start day 2 by finish riviting it in and painting the repair.

We were getting ready to leave around 9:00pm when Nate a pilot returned from his trip to Haiti and told us that his Caravan need both main tires changed. After trying to find all the needed tools and jacks we got the tires changed and helped to load it with the cargo it will be delivering tomarrow.

By the time we left it was 12:30am and everyone was tired and ready for bed.

Thanks for your prayers, Josh

If you have time to spare, go by air...

2010-01-25T09:37:00.003-06:00

MMS has approved a rapid response trip to assist MFI with an engine exchange and somesheet metal repairs. MFI has been and still is on the front line of the Haiti relief efforts. I was picked to go on this trip and we have been trying to work out the details since. We tried to go on Sat, Sun & Mon by air but weather has kept us back. The new plan is to leave tomarrow by car. Please check back for updates and photos on the progress of our repairs at MFI.

Missionary Flights International

On a home note Febuary is maple syrup month and we are trying to get ready for it. Our plans are to put out 50+ taps with the hope of getting 400+ gallons of sap which should boil down to 10+ gallons of finished syrup. In the picture you can see Noah and I were working together on fabricating our stainless steel evaperator pan. It is 2'x6'x4" and should be able to handle the work load of 300 taps if we ever expand that much.

Its a new year

2010-01-15T09:10:00.002-06:00

I'm back at work again on the Asas 206. As you can see from the picture we've painted the exterior and interior. I've also begun installing the seat tracks and I've fabricated and installed the door sill protector out of stainless steel. I've also been working on updating our powerpoints and prayer cards. We are hoping to get out and share what God has been doing thru us here at MMS. Josh

Dec 09 Newsletter

2010-01-05T07:31:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends & Family,
As the end of this year approaches and a new one is about to begin I find myself thinking about all the things that God has done this year. As I do not have time or space to write about every event we’ll just run down some of the highlights.

The first thing that I want to thank God for is his continual provision for our daily needs. We are blessed with a beautiful home that suits us perfectly with land on which we raised around 75 chickens for eggs and meat, a large garden, room for our bees and harvesting a few gallons of maple syrup. God has also blessed us with good health and, until recently, a lack of any kind of severe injury or accident (Luke got a concussion over Thanksgiving).

I would have to say that next on the list would be the opportunity to take a staff position at MMS. MMS’s role in the missions community is with out a doubt necessary. I do not know of any other training facility in the world that has as its final goal “on field mechanics and on field planes”. In my almost five years here, MMS has been involved in missions fields as far and wide as, Canada, United States, Honduras, Madagascar, Zambia, Kenya, Chad, Papua, Brazil, Caribbean, South Africa and certain “undisclosed” countries. MMS has also put 11 mechanics on the field in that same amount of time. MMS will continue to do its part in advancing the Gospel until the work is done or God calls us home. I am proud to work for MMS and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve here.

This year God has also given me the opportunity to visit three different counties. I had a long layover in England giving me time to do some touristy things there on my way to Zambia. Zambia afforded me the opportunity to serve the local mission community by working on CMML’s 182 and to make new friends and to worship with the local church. Lastly we were able to visit Canada while delivering an engine for shipment to Zambia for CMML’s Cessna’207.

Finishing that engine brings me to another one of the blessings that I am thankful for and that is for the opportunity to serve various mission communities. I’ve had the opportunity to serve with Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF), Moody Aviation, Christian Missions in Many Lands (CMML), Asas de Socorro and Gospel Carrier International (GCI).

Again this is only a short list and each of these events could be peeled like an onion, revealing layer after layer of God’s love, blessing and provision. And since I have a little space I will also include: God’s replacement of our family car with a van, another successful year of home schooling, God’s protection as Kristi drives back and forth to Michigan every month, new families and projects arriving at MMS, and a church that feels like family.

As our family looks into 2010 we do not see any obstacles ahead -- only opportunities for God to move mightily. We will be taking a short furlough out of the hangar in 2010 to renew old relationships and start new ones. We also are praying that God will provide a way into homeownership. Kristi and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and our 5th year in missions. We also look forward to the maple syrup season, harvesting our first bit of honey and possibly expanding our farm with the addition of a cow.

In this season of thanksgiving we are very thankful to those of you who give and pray to make all of this a reality. It is my hope and prayer that you find partnering with us a means of answering the call of the Great Commission.

God bless you, thank you and we hope to see you soon,

The Adelsberger Family

2009-12-17T08:05:00.002-06:00

As you can see Jim and I have finished installing the floor in the Asas 206. We have since moved to paint prep and paint. Today I will be helping to paint the interior gray and do some paint instruction with the apprentices that have little or no experience. The plan is to have the plane painted before Christmas break.

2009-12-03T15:08:00.002-06:00

Back in the shop again, I took some vacation to give me a full week off over thanksgiving. The 206 is moving rapidly moving towards paint and we are trying to finish off the last of the odds and ends as we wait for the final pieces to arrive. My small part in this was to fabricate and install the radio mounts in the tail cone. Each mount took the majority of one day to make. They are made out of .040" aluminum and are riveted together and riveted into place. The green color comes from a special phosphate aluminum primer that is especially necessary on a float plane in the Amazon.

We got the good news that our car in Brazil sold this week! Thanks for you prayers in this matter.

We would also like to request your prayers as we anticipate the arrival of Luke's ER bill. For those of you that have not heard, he hit his head hard and started vomiting and would not stop. The CT scan gave him a clean bill of health and was allowed to go home as long as he took it easy. We thank God for protecting him and keeping him safe.

Again check out MMS's blog and see me making the radio mounts.

Josh

Noah's first Post

2009-12-03T14:04:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday my Webelos den and I went Ace hardware and built birdhouses out of wood and got free paint to paint them with. Also the Bears Scouts are planning another camp out on the twelfth .

Noah