Ferry Flight

Remember a few weeks ago when I described how we were taking one of our airplanes from here in Ecuador and flying it to the USA, where it will be worked on a little bit, and then flown to Lesotho, Africa? That flight went very well, but the plan was afterwards to fly another Cessna 206 from Kansas back to Ecuador using the same pilots right after. Well, life happened and my boss also had to go stateside due to a family emergency, thus making us even more strapped for pilots, which in turn led to the return of the two ferry pilots prematurely. My boss is still stateside, but he is planning on returning to Ecuador soon, but he is going to be flying the awaiting C-206 back to Ecuador. MAF rules state that for all ferry flights there needs to be a minimum of 2 pilots to make the flight together. After a lot of searching and eliminating of various other ferry pilots, I was chosen to accompany my boss on this ferry flight from Kansas to Shell, Ecuador.

So, what does this mean. I will be leaving tommorow morning on a bus headed to Quito, and then the following morning (Wednesday) I will be leaving for Witchita, Kansas. Our plan is to leave Kansas on Friday for the Houston area. After Houston it will be Oaxaca, Mexico, then San Jose, Costa Rica, then Quito, Ecuador. We are planning to take 4 days to fly this ferry flight if all goes well, i.e, weather and mechanical things.

To say I am excited to do this is an understatement. It was a dream of mine to do a ferry flight for MAF, and the fact that I am doing it this soon in my career is very special. I will be sure to try and update you all along the way, and if I cannot, surely when I get back home sometime next week I will fill you all in. I have a lot to do and think about tonite as a pack. It has still been over a year since I piloted a plane, so be in prayer for me and all those involved for clear thinking and safety and of course a great time.