FLIGHT PROGRAM MOVES FORWARD

FLIGHT PROGRAM MOVES FORWARD

Helicopter service is contributing to reaching tribal people.

By Dena McMaster - 2009.07.28

Missionary pilot Steffan Pyle has finished the formal checkout process for flying the Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter in Indonesia.

Steffan and his wife, Julie, along with their three children moved to Indonesia last year, and after settling into their new home in January, Steffan returned to the USA for further training in flying a Jet Ranger.

A pilot from NTM Aviation flew to Indonesia and stayed for three months to check Steffan in flying the Jet Ranger and to help him prepare to head up the flight program there.

"I flew over 100 hours," wrote Steffan, "learning the routes, weather, and tribal locations of Central Indonesia.
Some of Steffan’s experiences include:

• Flying several hours over open water searching for a missionary who was lost at sea after two boats collided.


• Medical evacuation flights including a tribal woman with an extremely serious infection and a man in respiratory distress.


• Flying believers in for a tribal church conference.


• Transporting missionaries who could not return to their ministries in the absence of a flight program.