New projects arrive

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

Last day

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

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

Day 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Update from Zambia

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

Last days

One last update before I leave tomorrow. Over all I'm very happy with how the project went. Tremendous strides were made towards the completion of the 182. Although the engine could not be completely installed and tested we were able to learn of other problems that would have slowed the project down even further in the future. Upon returning to MMS I will begin to help gather the needed tools and supplies to finish the airplane. John, one of the pilots and a former MMS alumni and Joseph the chief mechanic will continue working on the plane till it is done. Which should be before the end of summer.

The picture of me was taken at Nchila Wildlife Reserve, owned and operated by the Fisher family. I and another volunteer was taken to the farm for a short safari one Saturday afternoon. Calvin and Peter got talking about hunting and Peter invited us over for a hunt. On the first trip Calvin shot a Puku, but it was getting to dark for me to bag one and it was raining. So, Peter invited me back and I was able to go this last weekend. We got as close to the herd as they would allow us and laying down on the ground, using a termite mound for a rest, I took this buck at 180 yards with a .243 rifle. Later in the evening Peter and his son Chris shared many of their hunting stories with me. Hunting buffalo, hippo, lions, elephants, ect...

I truly thank God for the opportunity to come here and serve CMML Flight Service. I have made many new friends and have had more "once in a life time" events than I deserved. Please continue to remember CMML in your prayers as there is still alot of work to be done. Josh

One week to go

Well, since my last update things here have changed. Sortly after posting the engine install was going well I found a crack in the oil pan. A new pan will need to be sent from America and then the engine removed and the pans switched. This brought the engine install to a skidding stop. There was no point continuing if we were just going to pull the engine shortly any ways here is a picture of how it looked when I stopped.



I've since moved on to the wing modification. Joseph and his helper James have been working on installing the out board tips. I've been working on a reinforcement kit that is riveted onto the upper and lower spar. This kit will give the plane an added carring capacity of 150lbs. Tomarrow I will pull the wing struts one at a time and add the modification to the lower spar. This added strength will prevent damage that would be caused by heavy wing loads in rough air or rough runways.



With the weekend comming my time is drawing short. On tuesday evening we will pack the bags and weight everything. Wensday morning we will fly out to Lusaka. Thursday morning I'll fly to London. Friday morning I'll fly home. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as things wrap up and I begin to travel. Thank you, Josh

Seat upgrade

This is the first project that I have been able to finish since comming to CMML. We have removed the old bench style seat that was heavy and cumbersom to remove and installed two fold and tumble rear seats in their place. The seats are much lighter and give the option of carring larger cargo than would be allowed with the bench seats. The missing hardware arrived today so I will be back on the firewall upgrade and engine install tomarrow. It is refreshing to have something "done" that can be marked off my list which is quite litterally as long as my arm and writen all over my arm. The engine istall is going well and I'm sure that the before and after pictures will be much different. Josh

182 Progress Report

Wow, I just saw that I skipped a week. Time has been flying here at CMML Flight Service. I have made alot of progress on the engine install. The project is broken down into three different parts really. The cowling has been modified and awaiting the necessary hardware to assemble. The engine has been installed on the engine mount, the baffling installed the exhaust installed and all manor of other work has been done while the engine was hanging from a hoist. It was difficult to work on the engine with it swinging all the time. It is now basically ready to be installed on the airframe once it has been completed. The airframe modification went well, actually better than expected. But we found that a modification to the fire wall was needed in order to repair a weakness in the 182 design. It was to be done in 1972 but never was. We've got some of the parts and are waiting on others and the necessary hardware to install them before I can install the engine and continue with the work. Until then, I will begin installing a folding jump seats in the rear in place of the bench seat. The new seats will be lighter and allow more cargo to be carried than before and they are designed to fold away to make room for larger cargo if needed. It will be a nice option for the mission as they will not have to regularly need to be removing and installing the rear seat.

Kristi reports that all is going well on the home front and that many of you have offered a helping hand or have helped in some way around the house. Thank you for it. The only real casualties have been our ducks and I guess a few chickens. Seems a hawk or other animal has been caring them off.

I've got a little over two weeks left to go and depending on when the needed parts arrive, completeing the project looks iffy. Pray for an early arrival and for a quick and easy install. Thank you for your continued prayer for me and my family. all has gone well and I give God all the praise and glory for that. Till next week, Josh

Zambia

Another self portrait. This one is of me looking down the CMML runway. I arrived on Thursday the 16th after 10 hours in the air. British airways was by far the best fight I've had on this journey. After landing I was flown 3.5 hours north west to Kelene Mission in a Cessna 210. I did have the oppertunity to see some animals from the air but I was not able to identify them.



On Friday I began work on a Cessna 182 engine upgrade. The project willreplace the existing 470 ci carberated engine and repace it with a 520 ci fuel injected engine. This upgrade will allow the airplane to fly faster or cary a greater load than the original configuration. I began working on the inside of the firewall prepairing the fuel lines, headder tank and vapor return lines. In the upcoming week I will be working on the engine side of the firewall putting in firewall braces, some of the electrical componets and preping for the engine to be installed.

Please continue to be in prayer for Kristi and the kids. They have reported that all is going well and I account that to answered prayer. Josh

Google Map of Kalene Hill in Zambia