PCM News: A Testing Time

15 July 2009

A Testing Time

On Monday morning, myself and John (another Mercy Air pilot) shot off to Johannesburg to renew our instrument rating.

This is likely the one flight in any given year that you don't really look forward to. Flying with an examiner who puts you through your paces to assess whether you're still capable of flying safely in inclement weather - or not!

The flight had been arranged at short notice (the night before in fact) to fit in with other Mercy Air flights and the examiners schedule, so there wasn't much time to prep for it.

Below is the ground track from my GPS that shows what the test looked like - steep turns left and right, inbound/outbound tracking of radials on and NDB and VOR, and an approach to an airport.

It took the best part of the whole day - in fact we returned to Nelspruit after dark, but the good news is that we both passed, and are legally allowed to fly around with our heads in the clouds for another year.

Paul

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A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.