What is Missionary Aviation?

The following is an article written by an AIM AIR pilot.

What is Missionary Aviation? – by Mike DeLorenzo

It’s hot, it’s tiring, it’s a foreign landscape unfolding before you at a hundred and fifty miles per hour. It’s noise and vibration, a heavy load and an aching back from loading it. It’s dusty and turbulent. It’s wrinkled maps and a bag lunch under the seat, a missionary family asleep in the back, exhausted and tranquilized by the cool air at ten thousand feet. It’s realizing that you carry these precious servants of God in your airplane, that you are a lifeline to them, spanning the void between their place of calling and the rest of civilization.

It’s a tiny airstrip carved out of the open Savannah, Zebra grazing nonchalantly on your runway, a Land Rover in the distance making it’s way to this place where the sky touches earth, the missionaries anticipating your landing, waiting and waving as you taxi in. It’s being expected and appreciated. It’s being the answer to a prayer, the bearer of mail and good news, or the bringer of a life saving drug or a needed load of supplies. It’s witnessing a tearful reunion of parents with their kids who reside at a boarding school some 400 miles away. It’s a tearful good-bye, a worried prayer over a sick and delusional African friend needing a hospital and this ambulance with wings.

It’s about being a professional in the pilot’s seat, imposing Western standards of time and safety on another culture. It’s about being a servant to the “least of these,” discarding the cultural stereotypes often associated with flying. It’s pulling the gold bars off your shoulders and spending some time on your knees, under a truck, in a ditch, or at the side of a filthy child. It’s about flying and fixing airplanes, mastering them and making them useful tools. And it’s about opening your heart to things beyond your control – being, at times, afraid or discouraged. It is tedious work, sharing in the hardships of the missionaries who make your job look easy. It’s realizing that you have a part in their triumphs too, seeing the glory of God where you might least expect it.

It’s all the adventure of Africa, all the thrills of flying, all the frustration of the third world, all the camaraderie of a military platoon, all the grace of the Church, and all the joy of serving. It’s about being a missionary… who happens to be a pilot or mechanic. It’s about being a servant to servants. It’s a great job.

For more information on AIM AIR check out thier website: www.aimair.org

The purpose of Missionary Aviation

The following is an article written by an AIM AIR pilot.

Our Purpose – by Jim Streit

The little time machine rocketed along just above the treetops, with it’s four occupants enjoying the view of the nearby tropical Savannah at 160 mph. Not as fast, perhaps, as a race car, but a whole lot more fun. In just five hours those on board would seemingly fly back several thousand years in time – from the modern day world of computers, TV, Internet and mobile phones to a region where the people lived, dressed and struggled through life much like they had for the past several thousand years.

The pilot was flying low to avoid radar. ‘Invisibility’ in this area was a blessing. Although a war zone, the primary dangers today would be the occasional birds that might fly up from the trees or the Savannah’s grasslands. As they neared their destination, the pilot gently climbed up a few hundred feet to keep from frightening the villagers of the small outcroppings approaching below. It was fun to tip the wings gently back and forth over these villages and watch the people rushing out of their little huts to wave back. It was not always this way. In the early flights the villagers would rush into the bush or their huts out of fright, having learned the realities of the modern world’s way of waging war – with bombs dropped from airplanes. But as the nearby mission hospital blossomed, the people in the area came to know that the little plane that now flew overhead was a friendly one, bringing with it the doctors, missionaries and medicines that were making life easier and bringing hope to a formerly hopeless place.

The pilot smiled as he considered the blessing of being called to be a ‘waiter’. This is the ministry of AIM AIR. It has it’s roots in the early N.T. Church. Acts 6:1-7 tells of the first ‘waiters’ that were appointed to wait on tables and serve food to the Jewish widows, so that the Apostles could ‘dedicate themselves more fully to the preaching of the word and ministry of prayer.’ The purpose of the modern day missionary pilot and/or mechanic serving with AIM AIR remains the same as it was for those early waiters… Serving those who serve. The personal qualifications too, are the same. Those waiters were to be full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit – the same qualifications necessary for a technically qualified pilot or mechanic to be effective in their roles as servants with AIM AIR.

It is worth noting that though these early waiters of the NT Church were chosen to serve, a number of them were also evangelists and preachers at heart. Immediately after being appointed to wait on tables, the writer of Acts tells us that Stephen is chosen by God to be the first martyr of the NT Church. Later, Philip is used by God to preach the Gospel to, and Baptize the Ethiopian man who was an official in Queen Candice’s Court. This Official is widely credited with beginning the first Church on the continent of Africa.

Not all flights that AIM AIR does are in geographical war zones, but all are to ’spiritual’ war zones. Areas in which God’s people are following His call to evangelize the lost and ‘make disciples of all nations’. Our ministry is to serve and enable these workers through aviation. If God is leading you to be a part of the ministry of AIM AIR, please contact us and let us share with you in greater detail ways in which this can be possible.

For more information on AIM AIR check out their website: www.aimair.org

Introduction

For the past 5 years I have attended Moody Bible Institute and graduated May 2006 from the aviation department. This summer (06) I was accepted as a missionary with Serving in Mission (SIM). I am planning on going to Kenya and will be working with Africa Inlan Mission (AIM) at their aviation base in Nairobi.

Over the past few weeks, a lot of my time at the hangar has been spent working on the Cessna 185 float plane. This plane normally lives on lake Victoria and is in for its annual inspection. Besides the normal inspection items and servicing we are putting some new radios, and doing extensive cleaning and corrosion prevention and some touch up painting. We hope to have it all completed in a a week or so, and then it will return to the lake.

I want to try to help you visualize where some of the places that I go regularly are in relation to each other. The image is from a Google Earth and is a satellite image of part of Nairobi. I have marked the places I frequent the most. I am currently living on the Kulungu compound in apartment 6, which is also labeled on the map. If you go to Google Earth on the Internet and pull up Nairobi, you can zoom in quite a bit more and see a lot of detail, including specific aircraft at the airport. Unfortunately if I zoom in more, I can not show all of the places at the same time. If you are on line, you can also use the measuring tool provided with the program to measure distances.

Some people have contacted me about helping with items that were stolen or with purchasing a motor bike.
You can give online www.simusa.org by clicking on giving. You can also mail in a check. Make checks payable to SIM and make sure to include my acount number 65622. Be sure to indicate they are for my personal account otherwise they will automaticaly be put twards support and I can not use that money to purchase a vehicle. These gifts are not tax deductable. SIM’s mailing address is P.O.Box 7900 Charlotte, NC 28241. Feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions, my address is caleb.klay@sim.org .

November Update

Dear Friends,

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving time. I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Thank you for your prayers. I finished my training at Jaars the first week of November. From there I went down to Sebring FL, to visit my grandparents. I was also able to see many retired SIM missionaries that live in the same retirement village. I left FL last Monday and visited my brother Chad at Fort Benning in GA. Tuesday, I continued on to see my next brother Kevin at college in Dayton, TN. I was able to spend all of Wednesday with him and then left early Thursday for Dubuque, IA. I was able to see two couples there, one that evening and the other Friday morning before heading back home to MN. That concludes most of my major travels although I have a weekend trip planned up to Minneapolis in a couple weeks and the following weekend a trip planned to northern North Dakota to visit churches.

Right now I am working on trying to get that last bit of support in for my mission trip. My support level has come up quite a bit but I still have a deficit. I still need a couple hundred dollars in monthly support and a couple thousand in up front gifts before SIM can buy my tickets. I need to have the up front amount to SIM by the middle of December so they can purchase my tickets and the monthly amounts need to be pledged to SIM by that time. If you were planning on giving but have not yet, please inform SIM of your pledge so that they have an accurate amount calculated. It has been amazing to see how God has provided thus far and I am confident that he will bring in the last little bit that is still needed.

Praises:

• I learned a lot at orientation and we were able to finish on schedule
• I had a good trip and was able to see a lot of people
• My van has been running well and I have not had any mechanical problems
• I will be able to spend a nice Thanksgiving and Holiday season with my family before I leave

Prayer Requests:

• The next 2 trips to Minneapolis and North Dakota will go well
• I will be able to raise the remaining funds in time to buy the tickets for my January departure
• I will have a great time with my family this holiday season and have everything ready to leave

Caleb Klay caleb.klay@sim.org

(509) 954-8968

429 W. Dodge St.

Luverne, MN 56156

October Update

Dear Friends,

Well it is already the last day of October and time for another short news update. I have spent the whole month here in Waxhaw working at Jarrs. I have enjoyed my time a lot and learned a lot. It has been nice to work in a shop similar to what is in Kenya and to work on 2 Cessna 206 aircrafts.

In the past couple of weeks, I had the opportunity to put new seals and O rings in the nose strut of one of the 206s. I also had to change an alternator and alternator control unit on the other 206. Jarrs also had a brake master cylinder that needed to be overhauled and put in stock. I helped out in the sheet metal shop a couple of times and helped on a major overhaul on an old Helio. I have also had to opportunity to repair and modify a number of smaller items on the 206s. Most recently I have been helping with a phase 3 inspection on a King Air 90.

One day when I had a break in shop work, I got to ride along on one of the training flights where we did a number of landing on a small grass strip. It was kind of windy which made it a challenge especially at tree top level. It definitely gave me a better appreciation for what the pilots have to deal with on a regular basis.

This is the last week of training. Next week, I am planning on visiting the SIM office and then head down to FL to visit my grandparents hopefully visiting a friend along the way. From FL, it will be north and west back to MN, hopefully visiting my brothers Chad in Columbus, GA and Kevin in Dayton, TN. I would also like to see as many other people along the way; so far a couple in Dubuque IA. If you are home and would like to see me, send me an email or give me a call and I will see if I can make it work.

Praises:

• My training here at Jarrs has gone well
• I have been able to visit friends and family in the area in the evenings and on the weekends
• I had a fun weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC with friends from Spokane

Prayer Requests:

• I will have safe trip down to FL and back to MN
• I will be able to visit a number of people along the way
• I will be able to have all my support in or pledged to leave on time in January

Caleb Klay caleb.klay@sim.org
(509) 954-8968
429 W. Dodge St.
Luverne, MN 56156

September Update

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers. Let me start my recounting the last couple of weeks. I was able to get everything done in Spokane before I left. Some of the major things were selling my desktop, buying a laptop, selling my motorcycle and trading my truck for an Astro van in much better shape and saying good-by to friends. I got everything loaded (a little over weight) and started out. The first night I stopped at some friends’ ranch in WY. The next day brought me to Luverne MN where I spent the weekend with my parents and 2 brothers (Chad came over from SD). Monday I left Luverne a little lighter but still heavy with all my tools and went to Chicago. Spent the night in the dorm with a friend and continued on to PA where my aunt and uncle live. That night I realized that PA was not that big and I would easily make it to NY so I decided to see 2 cousins in college along the way. I made it to NY by 3:00pm unloaded the tools and got everything finalized for shipping with AIM. I then headed south. I spent that night at a rest stop and continued on to Charlotte arriving mid afternoon on Thursday.

I went to a friend’s wedding on Saturday and saw many friends I had not seen in a long time. Sunday I drove over to Waxhaw and moved in with the Cails. They live a mile and a half from the JARRS hangar where I am training. The first week of training was a lot of classroom time reviewing all the systems, what to inspect and modifications that missions commonly do. This past week we finished up the classroom part and started a 100hr inspection on a Cessna U206G. This is the same model aircraft of most of our planes in Kenya. There are 3 of us in the orientation. Jay is a pilot and mechanic, Amanda is a pilot and I am a mechanic. The plane we are currently inspecting will be flown by Amanda for her flying orientation starting this next week and Jay will fly another U206G. The flying portion is entitled how the safely get the most out of your 206. They will practice flying into dirt and grass strips fully loaded and in different configurations to prepare them for mission flying. I will be helping them in maintaining their planes and working in the shop on other projects.

My training finishes Nov 3. I am planning on driving back up to MN and hopefully be able to see people along the way. I am planning on visiting a church in Minneapolis Dec.3 and another in ND Dec 10. I am hoping to visit others in the Midwest during that time and hopefully have all my support in by the end of the year so that I can fly to Kenya in January.

Praises:

• Sold my computer and motorcycle
• Bought a laptop and traded my truck for a van
• Had a good trip
• Training is going well

Prayer requests:

• Training will continue to go well and I will learn a lot
• My next trip will go well and I will be able to see people along the way
• All my support will come in (I think I am about at 50%)
• I will get everything together and know what to take and what I don’t need in Kenya

If you have any questions or want more information feel free to email me: caleb.klay@sim.org or call me on my cell: (509) 954-8968

Background Info

I was born in 1981 in Jos, Nigeria because my parents are SIM missionaries. My three brothers were also born there and we lived and worked there until 1994 when we moved to Ghana. The church related development program that my dad was managing was doing very well and there were a large number of Nigerians that were competent and could continue to operate the program without the help of missionaries.

Since there were no mission schools close to where my parents lived in Ghana, I chose to go to boarding school at International Christian Academy (ICA) in Ivory Coast. I enjoyed my schooling time especially the sports and outreach programs which were very good. Being involved in many of the outreach programs really sparked my personal interest in missions during that time.

After graduating high school in 1999, I was accepted by SIM (Serving in Mission) as a short term missionary for one year. I went up to Niger, and worked at an SIM boarding school doing construction and maintenance. That year reinforced my desire to be a missionary, but I knew that I must first get a college education. Upon returning the the US in 2000, I applied to Moody Bible Institute as an aviation student. While waiting for acceptance, I found a construction job and was able to save up money to help pay for college. I knew I wanted to be a missionary and I wanted to serve other missionaries and help them do their jobs better and easier. In 2001, I started at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and took all of my bible and general classes.

After those two years, I was planning on going down to TN where the aviation program was located. But Moody announced they were closing that program and would be starting a new one in Spokane, WA. Taking a huge leap of faith, I decided to go out to WA and help start the new program. The last three years I have been getting my aviation training in Spokane. There were some rough spots being the first class, but I persevered and graduated in May 2006 as a maintenance specialist.

This summer I was accepted to SIM again and will be going to Nairobi, Kenya in January of 2007 (if all my support is in). I have been working on support raising the second half of the summer and into the fall. Right now I am also working on my pre-field aviation training at the JAARS facility in Waxhaw, NC. This training is designed to give me good experience working on planes exactly like the ones I will be working on in Kenya and give me information on specific mission related problems and solutions. I will complete this training the beginning of November. From here, I am planning on going back to my parents place in MN and visiting a church in Minneapolis and one in ND in the beginning of December.

Kenya

My plan is to leave for Nairobi in January for two years. Upon completion of the two years, I plan to return to the US to visit supporters and churches. I am also planning on getting my Inspectors license at that time as I will have enough experience. While in Kenya, I will be working at the main hangar base for Africa Inland Mission (AIM) at Wilson airport. SIM and AIM work closely together in Kenya and I will be on loan to AIM since they operate most of the mission planes in East Africa. AIM Air, supports missionaries in Kenya as well Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, DCR, Mozambique, Burundi, and the Comoros. The staff consists of around 30 missionary pilots and mechanics as well as about 20 national staff. We currently operate 13 aircraft most of which are based in Nairobi. The planes that are not based in Nairobi fly in for all their heavy maintenance which I will probably be a part of as well. I am excited about where God is leading me and would love it if you would like to partner with me.

For more information on SIM, check out their web site:www.sim.org

For more information on AIM Air check out their web site:www.aimair.org