Zach and Jane Keller Just another weblog 
After carefully considering the reasons for using helicopters on the mission field, we decided that it was worth the cost and delay to pursue my helicopter rating. One of the questions we had was, why not just stick with what we are currently using in the Philippines? The Cessna 185 has served well for many years and compared to helicopters it is cheap. So why change?
The fact is things are changing whether we like it or not. Worldwide, Av-Gas, which is what the Cessna 185 uses, is becoming scarce and prohibitively expensive. Last I heard, Av-Gas in Africa cost $12 a gallon and in Indonesia, with our last shipment of Av-Gas, we where told we may not be able to get more. Fortunately we can still get Av-Gas in the Philippines, but we can not assume that it will stay this way forever.
Assuming we will not have Av-Gas in the future forces us to consider using different aircraft, either diesel powered or turbine powered airplanes. Currently there are no airplanes that fit this bill that can also handle the rough, short strips in the Philippines. Enter, the helicopter! With a helicopter we can safely operate on all the Philippine airstrips including airstrips we no longer use because they are too short.
The idea right now is to try using a Robinson R44 helicopter to test the effectiveness and see how usable it will be for our Missionaries. An advantage of using the R44 is it burns auto fuel (which is readily available). We can actually operate the R44 cheaper on an hourly basis than the Cessna 185 because of the difference in fuel costs.
To sum up, we are looking at operating helicopters partly because we are being forced to, but also because they work very well and in some ways better than an airplane. For example, it can take up to 3 years to build and airstrip suitable for a Cessna 185 but a helicopter alleviates the need for a airstrip at all! This falls in line with one of the most basic reasons we use aircraft in missions, and that is to speed the spread of the gospel. The only real draw back is the cost, but that just puts us in a position where we have to trust the Lord all the more. After all it is He who is building His church and He knows better than us the tools needed for the job.
