Mountain Flying

The main purpose of flying during this trip was to transport Cora believers from the remote village of Gavilanes to their annual meeting which they named, "The Cora Celebrate Jesus," in Santa Teresa. Even today, there are no roads into Gavilanes due to the extremely rugged terrain. The two villages are separated by 28 miles of mountans. However, the Cessna 182 allowed us to reduce that distance to little more than a 15 minute flight. It was amazing to see the great lengths that many went to in order to attend the meetings. Some rode for several hours in the back of a pick-up, and others walked for four hours in order to meet the plane.

Rick is a great pilot and instructor; I have learned so much from him about mountain flying and the procedures for operating in Mexico's airspace.  Flying to these mountain airstrips gave me several new challenges. It took some time to get past trying to land the way I'm used to on paved, level runways. We teach to approach the runway a little high and slightly fast, and most instructors get nervous when students come in low and slow. On rough, short runways in the mountains, it is crucial that the plane touches down at as low of a speed as possible. With short, narrow runways, precision is equally important. The only way to accomplish both of these is to bring the airplane in low and slow with the use of power. After touching down, it's important to stop as quickly as possible because something is bound to run across the runway. We've had dogs, donkeys, goats, pigs, and chickens on the runways numerous times over the past week. Operating at high elevations was another challenge. The flight from Gavilanes started at 2,800 feet and ended at Santa Teresa at 7,000 feet.

I really enjoyed flying with these people and watching them as they looked at their villages from the air.   While flight instructing, I'm often asked about my age (usually by the wife of those I fly with). When I saw people looking at me and using the word “joven” (young), I thought, "I just can't get away from it!"  I enjoy flying and am amazed that God is allowing me to use it to make an impact for eternity.

The group from Gavilanes waiting to return home

Mountains between the two villages

Airstrip at Santa Teresa

 

We always had plenty of help to push the airplane back.

Here is a video taken last year