How We Chose a Flight
odon...@gmail.com
Short Version:
Several months have passed since I last wrote. We have tried to become more careful in what flights we agree to fly in an attempt to maintain good relationships with all of the commercial operators here in Peru. Then I need to tell you the Chicken story. For your interest and if you have high speed internet, you may want to look at pictures of the old mission station at Nevati http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36254&id=1171340696&l=73c38a4da6 or Andrew’s latest video he made for ASI at http://www.youtube.com/adonesky . Oh, by the way, we are developing a schedule for a visit to the states starting Oct. 22 in Tennessee and finishing with my Grandmother’s Birthday in California on November 15. We would love to visit in person with as many as possible as the schedule permits.
Long Version:
Care in Selecting Flights: Our operating permit allows us to do both Private and Civic flights. Scheduling and performing the Private flights are easy and clear cut since these are for our own or the churches programs. We need, we schedule, and we pay. However, when we are asked to help in an emergency situation things get much more interesting and less clear cut. A quick answer is important, however there is much to consider. Questions like is it really an emergency? Can they wait an hour or day until a commercial operator can get to it? Are any commercial operators interested or available to fly to that destination? Are those calling able to afford the cost of the commercial operator, or are we really the only option (our cost sharing arrangement makes us significantly lower cost than any of the other operators in the area). And all of these questions need to be worked through often with minimum information in a short period of time. We do not want to become a commercial operator, or take their business away from them, but we also don’t want to let people suffer and die when we can help.
Two resent flights come to mind. We were called and asked if we could go to Orellana some 80 miles north to pick up a guy that had been hit by a falling tree. After Odil did her normal checking, it seemed like the need was real, and no one else was available. So I prepared and went. I had not landed at Orellana before, but it was reported to be a good runway. As I did my inspection over flight I saw a large front end loader right in the middle of the runway. Ok, I thought, I think they know I am coming. I will do a low pass, check things out and announce my arrival. As I lined up for my low pass, the front end loader, obviously watching for my arrival, made his way off of the runway and into the rough area to the east. Yes, he was paying attention. On my low pass it became very obvious what he had been doing. He had been “mowing” the runway. It is a long smooth runway, but it was covered with 3 to 4 foot tall grass, and the loader had been busily working to knock down a center path for my landing.
Upon landing the seriousness of the emergency became apparent. A young woman (Doctor?) was focused on bagging (breathing for) the patient. He didn’t look good, and the look on her face was not encouraging. It was obvious that time was important and the call was real. Loading patient in these situations is usually not a long drawn out process. The Doctor jumped into the airplane, and instructed those carrying the patient to put his head on her lap. Another patient with bleeding problems was put in the front seat, seat belts fastened, a prayer for safety offered, and we were back into the flying mode.
Ten minutes into the flight took us over the town of Contamana with the availability of a cell signal. A look at the Doctor told me the full story, our patient was still not out of the woods. It was then I made the decision we were going to Pucallpa instead of our airbase to expedite this guy’s trip to the hospital. We normally meet the local ambulance at our air base even though it requires a bit of a drive over some rough roads, it simplifies the whole process. A quick call to Odil to make arrangements, the ambulance was diverted and we are on the way to the Pucallpa airport.
As we landed, the Doctor looked totally exhausted after two hours of assisting her patient in breathing. And now help was at hand. As we prepared to transfer him to the ambulance, he seemed to regain some level of conscience. Yes, he was still alive and responding. Thank you Lord that we were able to deliver him alive for the help he needed so badly.
In the second case, we were called to the village of Puerto Belen, some 40 miles south. Now, this is a place where I have gone a number of times with the Lake (Amphibious) airplane but they also have a runway which to this point I had not used. Last time I was there in the Lake, the grass on the runway was long and thick. I was hard on the village leaders about their neglect of the runway. But, they told me, “You never use the runway, but always use the amphibious airplane”. Yes, I assured them, but one of these days you are going to call for help and I will be unable to bring the Lake, and I will not be able to help unless you keep your runway clean. On this day, some three weeks later, those words seemed almost prophetic. The Lake was out of service, has the runway been mowed? we asked.
Again, with assurance of a mowed runway and conformation of need, I went. Yes, when I arrived the runway was cut, not perfectly, but acceptable. After my observation passes, the landing was uneventful. This time our patient was able to load himself into the airplane. But oh, what a mess! He was burned from his arm pit to this waist down the full left side of his chest. It looked like they had put some kind of pumpkin pulp on the burn to keep the air off. The patient kept his left arm extended up over his head in an effort to not allow the raw skin to touch. As we took off, I wondered to myself what would have happened to him if we had not come for him, if the village had not banded together and cleaned up the runway? Had my visit three weeks before been guided by God so that now we could help this man?
Just yesterday the patient’s wife and nurse came by to give us an update. He had spent two weeks in the local hospital and had surgery. Because of the burn on the left side of this chest his heart had swollen. He is still in considerable pain and not able to bring his left arm down, but happy to be alive and progressing. They were very thankful for the help we had been.
How do we choose what flights we do? Ask questions, listen carefully, pray, and move forward.
On the lighter side. The term “Playing Chicken” took on a whole new meaning for me last week. I was riding the PPI motorcycle along some back roads out behind the airbase when I came upon a small flock of the common farm fowl. As I neared, the leader of the flock of fowls decided to head to the safety of the barn and began her migration across the road in front of me. Soon followed one of her sisters at a slightly faster pace. As I bore down on the migration path of these friendly farm fowls I realized that they were all headed to the barn, now at a frantic pace. I was now between them and the barn. What a helpless feeling as one of the friendly farm fowls ran straight into the side of the back wheel of my motorcycle. It seems like many people are just like those chickens, headed to the perceived safety of “the barn”, while not paying any attention to what is just ahead. Are you paying attention to what is happening around you? Where can you turn for the rest of the story? I would propose to spend some time looking Up, look to the Good Book. Don’t look to anyone here for the answers. They don’t have a clue either.
Looking forward to seeing some of you soon. We should be in Collegedale Oct 22 through Nov 2, then moving through Texas and on to California before returning to Collegedale for our trip back to Peru in late November.
God Bless,
Orville