Paul Dye and Steve Estelle were New Tribes Mission pilots in Colombia, South America. Paul had been a jungle pilot for a long time. Recently he had been teaching Steve how to land on airstrips carved out of the jungle.

It was Saturday, and the two men were getting the airplane ready. They were going to fly to the Puinave village where Tim and Bunny Cain lived.

Tim had called for an airplane to come and get him because he was sick.

Paul almost told Steve to go alone this time because Steve was doing a good job of flying, and a chance to go alone would be good experience for him. But at the last minute, Paul decided to ride along.

Meanwhile, for the first time since Steve had come to Colombia, he didn't want to fly. He had been away from his family too much lately. Here it was another Saturday, and he wanted to finish making a doll house for his daughter's birthday and help his son with a fort. But in the end Steve too decided he needed to make this flight.

What a glorious morning. The plane cruised along with Steve at the controls, and Paul beside him reviewing Bible study notes. They dropped off mail and food to some missionaries along the way, then flew on to the Puinave village.

How would Steve land? (Click on the picture to go to a larger picture you can print out and color.)

Just as they got close enough to see the village, a thunderstorm suddenly moved in like a solid black wall. They could see palm trees down below bent over double from the wind.

How on earth would Steve land? Maybe he should just turn around and go back. But no, Tim was sick and needed their help.

As the experienced pilot, Paul took charge: "Looks like the only way to land in this is to come in with the wind behind us. You're going to have to use everything you know to land this one." He slid his seat up to help as Steve's copilot.

The storm was so fierce ...

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