PCM News: Kodiak Ferry Flight

28 March 2013

Kodiak Ferry Flight

In response to the blog entry below we must report that Mercy Air has decided to delay the ferry flight of the Kodiak to a later date.

There are a number of factors that led to this including technological, logistical, administrative and weather. We had extra cabin fuel tanks built for the long Atlantic crossings but the approval paperwork which we thought would take only a few days didn't come through even after two weeks, apparently due to FAA staff cutbacks. Without ferry tanks we could have flown the northern route via Greenland, Iceland and Europe but that would have cost more money (which we didn't have) a whole bunch more planning and then there was the weather. The last major concern was that the satellite tracking device we bought for the aircraft didn't work - at all. If we had a problem no-one would of had a clue where to find us.

There were other lesser factors but we eventually made the decision to leave the plane in Maine (in a hanger in Bangor in fact) and make a plan to collect it in the coming months.

We'll let you know as plans materialise.

Cheers

Paul and Cathy

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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.