Life Trust

Wow, where to start this update... Everything has been going well, and I have been very busy moving from one project to the next. As many of you know, I have also been searching for a job start the beginning of August. This has been on the forefront of my mind for pretty much my whole time here. It has been a little discouraging hearing about many of my friends already being hired by someone, and I am still looking. I have found many places who may hire me, but I have just not felt right about it in my spirit, just not thrilled about the company or just don't think its a good match. Maybe I am being picky, but I don't know. I have a strong conviction not to work on any aircraft which are used offensively/defensively. 

As I was looking back on where God has taken me, time after time everything has worked out one way or the other. As I work here in Alaska at KAC, I keep asking myself, why am  I here? What purpose is in it? I know its to gain more experience, and also the Bible camp coming up, but it is easy to loose sight of the big picture. I have been blessed beyond belief so far in my life. I graduated college with only a fraction of debt as many of my friends. I have about $30,000, whereas many of my friends have over $100,000. I have to ask myself, why me? Why do I have so little debt? I could just as well be on the opposite end.

I have been stretched in all areas of my life here in Alaska. As I have been searching for a job, I would like to be closer to home where my family and friends are at. I don't like the idea of "starting life over" if I were to move to who knows where to work. I would need to build a new church and friend pool. This is hard for me, and takes a while to build any significant close relationships with people. At the same time, I am also the one who wants to go overseas and serve God using my pilot/mechanic skills. Sure, I may be working with a team overseas, but if I can't live more independently now, whats to say I can't later? Reminds me of my blog a while back when I was thinking about the idea of what I am now is what I will partly be later.

Another issue of trust that I have been thinking about is with aviation and flying. Every time I hop into an aircraft I am putting my life on the line. It is a risk which comes with the territory. Both with terrain and aircraft parts. I trust that the five bolts holding the propeller on will not break, the couple nuts holding the fuel lines together, wing attached, and so on and so forth. One little bolt, one little nut, one little part which comes loose or fails could cause an aircraft to loose power. And yet I fly. I fly off of short grass strips, knowing this risk. Very little room for error, mechanically or with technique exists. On the 4th of July, I flew into a fairly short grass strip, trusting my limited skill as a pilot to land the aircraft. On takeoff out of the same strip, it is scary to know you are traveling at about 60kts, half way down the runway with large trees at the far end which you need to clear. Upon liftoff, you hold the airplane down in ground effect, accelerating to maybe 70-80kts straight at a line of trees. It takes judgment and skill to know how to takeoff and when to pull up to clear the obstacles. This takes trust in the aircraft and your own personal skill. That strip was one of the hardest strips I have flown out of so far. Safe? Yes, as long as the aircraft performs how you want it to.

Upon landing back at KAC, I had another scary moment for a pilot. Short final, about to land, just below the tree line a wind gust caught my wing and pushed it over. Slow and low with a wing banked 45 degrees is not a good place to be. I quickly added power, reacting on impulse to what happened. The stall warning was going off, (which I had previously thought didn't work all the time), and I was headed about a 45 degree angle away from the centerline  of the runway. This all happened in a flash, and I reacted with the training I had received. The thought ran through my mind that I was not going to make it. There was no instructor on board to help me out, I was all by myself. Somehow I managed to recover and get the plane on the ground. I thank God for His protection.

I find it interesting/ a God thing that later that night, after my gusty landing, I read my friend Katrina's post about trust. Also, here is an e-mail I received from my father this morning, not knowing what happened the previous day:

Ken,

 

    You were literally in my dreams last night.  I love you.  Be blessed with safe flying.

 

Love

Dad

Again, trusting in an aircraft to do what its supposed to do. Trusting in my skills to recover.

As I was thinking about trust, trusting the small little aspects that keep an airplane performing, I was thinking about my trust in God. Do I trust Him as much as an aircraft? Do I trust Him with my entire life? Do you trust God for your life? I am blessed and thank God for His protection. More later...

The following is a brief summary of what I have been up to the last week or so. I need to keep track of the maintenance items that I have been doing for mechanic FAA reasons. For many, this short summary of stuff  may be very boring, but for others it may be fascinating. A bit of other items are mixed in as well.

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Wednesday: Worked on the 206 wheels the whole day. What should have been a couple hour project turned into a whole day event. Our project was to change the tires, but once we took the wheel off, we found a great deal of corrosion, and so we had to strip the paint off, then sand blast it clean, wash it, and inspect it. Breaking the bead on the tire took forever.

Thursday: Worked on 206 wheels, spray painting wheels, stripping paint, and figuring out how to separate two halves of other wheel. Also polished spinner.

Friday: Exhaust on blue aircraft. Marshaled aircraft all day for sight seeing people and a bit of sand blasting. Learned how to hand prop aircraft.

Saturday: Cessna 175 annual inspection: compression check, exhaust removal, serviced tires/wheel bearings, fixed navigation light on tail/cleaned up ground connection. Serviced sealed-lead acid battery, helped remove inspection cover panels, checked ELT for proper operation and security.

Sunday: Went to church in the morning, went flying/got checked out in the 150, went to church at night, celebrated Joe’s successful completion of private pilots license.

Monday: Worked on landing gear for a little bit, then flew into Palmer with Dwayne King. Made a lot of stops, flew back, ate dinner, went down to the river and had smores/shot guns.

Tuesday: Started to work on super cub engine, taking off accessory housing. Went flying twice with Dwayne King in the mountains. Very good learning experience.

Wednesday: Worked on wheels again- stripping paint/bead blasting. Worked on inspecting engine cowling- stop drilled several cracks/replaced a rivet. Went flying to pick up Jeremiah (Dwayne King’s grandson).

Thursday: Fixing seats for 206/working on sealing floats. At night did formation flight with friends.

Friday: Compression check on 150, troubleshooting rough magneto on 200SD. Went flying up to the glacier. Finished wheel project.

Saturday: Worked on troubleshooting 200SD all day- checked ignition leads, changed out spark plugs, checked timing, removed mag, replaced distributor, still ran rough- 200 rpm drop and popping, two cold cylinders, Dwayne ran it and thinks it’s a bad cylinder.

Sunday: Church, nap, flew into Anchorage to drop off Lauren and Pat.

Monday: 4^th of July.  Had the day off. Flew into Gulkana again to pick up Jeremiah. Then flew to Downwind airstrip- small grass strip near Palmer for a 4^th of July party. Bowling, maintenance, pool, air hockey, ping pong, you name it. Very fun time in fellowship. After that, took off, flew to Palmer, picked up Jeremiah then landed back at King ranch. Big fireworks display once it got “dark”. Also shot a couple of exploding targets.