Back In The Saddle

In my SIL office,
Yaounde, CAMEROON

Most recently, I've been benefitting from roles that have really stretched and strengthened my administrative and leadership abilities.  This included things like forming policies, leading teams, collaborating with other leaders, setting strategies, planning budgets, reviewing finances, coordinating recruiting, executing audits, serving our users, and more; all while serving my team by listening to their input and making sure they were taken care of.  I've really enjoyed this chapter of management development.  The team in Cameroon was so patient with me and really rallied around my leadership.

One thing that all this kept me from was duties as pilot.  So, now I'm looking to knock off some of the rust and get back in the saddle.  Here are some of the things that I'll be doing:

Keeping things straight!
Bongolo Airstrip windsock refurbishment,
circa December 2009.

Knock off the Rust:  
In some ways, once you've accumulated lots of flying hours (I'm almost at 10,000 hours), there is some truth to the adage about "it's just like riding a bike"- there are some things that just become part of your muscle memory.  However, since flying is done in a very unforgiving environment, you can't take anything for granted.  The veteran pilots have to be every bit as sharp as the new pilots.  So, to get my brain back in gear, I'm doing a lot of review on a wide variety of flying material.  A good resource that got me going was a flying refresher video that Sporty's Pilot Shop produced.  If you are interested, here is the link: CLICK HERE.  It covers topics such as certification, weather, airspace regulations, medical requirements, new technology, flight planning, and more.

Biennial Flight Review:  
I call this the "Filth" review ("BFR" still works!), because it's when you need to uncover all the bad habits that you've formed as a pilot- a pilot confessional of sorts.  The BFR is a pilot review, every 24 calendar months, mandated by the FAA in their regulations, FAR 91.56.   Another instructor spends time interviewing you and then observing a flight with you to make sure that you still have mastery of the information and the performance necessary to be a safe pilot.  Again, there are some great resources out there to explain these things and assist someone to get ready.  Here is one of them:  CLICK HERE if interested.

Instrument Proficiency Check:
The FAA also mandates that, unless you have been flying a lot in the clouds with a recent history of conducting landings in poor weather conditions, you have to stay sharp on your skills as an "instrument rated" pilot.  This means spending some time reviewing applicable procedures and operations in poor weather conditions with an examiner, perhaps some time in a flight simulator on the ground, and then some time up in the air with the examiner.  Again, the purpose is to show that, as pilot, you show mastery of the aircraft in a safe, effective manner.  One nice pilot has posted videos of his IPC evaluation on YouTube.  Watch it HERE.

2008 trip to Nigeria in a twin-engine, Beechcraft Baron.

Reinstatement of Flight Instructor Certificate: 
 Once upon a time, I was a certified flight instructor (CFI).  I got to the point where I was so busy doing other types of flying that I never thought that I'd be training others in the near future.  That was very true.  Now, that day has arrived!  As you know, I feel passionate about being able to invite others into aviation as a means to express God's love and compassion.  I'll need my CFI for that.  As a means to reinstate, I'll be adding on the "MEI" to my old CFI.  This is the Multi-Engine Instructor certificate.  Since I have my Multi-Engine rating as a pilot, I want to ready to instruct others at the highest level of training that I have.  Here is a video of a young pilot practicing his ability to teach his flight instructor how to do a take-off:  VIDEO.

Standardization:
As many of you know, AMB is now part of the Missionary Air Group family, based in Burlington, NC.  It really is a great fit- MAG's focus is to deliver health care to people in the margins of life... and they use the tool of aviation to accomplish this!  So, the MAG aviation procedures are based largely on the standardization received through training at MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) based in Nampa, Idaho.  So, for me to be an effective part of the MAG team, I'll need the same.  Here is a video overviewing some of that training:  CLICK HERE.  For me to assist in keeping the MAG team sharp (this includes myself!), I'll need to, not only take this training myself, but master the teaching of this training.

With the help of very generous supporters, we'll be able to accomplish this in the coming weeks and months.  Thank you for standing strong with us and sharing this journey!!!