I-Tec Built Plane Gets Presidential Recognition (Cont.d)
THE MIRACLE
The Kodiac project is breaking long standing traditions of waiting for a commercial aviation industry to meet ministry aviation needs. An old and dear friend has been a driving force in this project. I have close friends who have financially given to this project. I hope that it survives the significant hurdles that it still faces. But the reality, as I see it, is that the Kodiac project, if it is successful, will unintentionally perpetuate the dependency of frontier peoples on the church in the developed world. This incredible plane is not a stand alone answer to ministry transportation needs. It was not designed to stand alone. It is not affordable to people in frontier areas. It cannot be flown or maintained by a preacher, or doctor or evangelist. It can carry lots of passengers and cargo but it cannot fly affordably unless most of those seats and cargo space are needed for most of its flights. Unless we develop the other pieces of the system the Kodiac depends on, it will fail in its intended ministry aviation role.
Chrysler Motors is in bankruptcy because it does not have a line of small, fuel efficient cars to fill out its otherwise popular and innovative line of vehicles. That is why it is trying to merge with Fiat. It needs Fiat if it is going to survive. The Kodiac might be a commercial success without the development of aircraft in intermediate steps, but I am convinced that it cannot meet the need in its primary 'ministry' market without the development of new generation 'feeder' aircraft. I am committed to trying to fill in the missing pieces in ministry aviation. We have made good progress but we have a ways to go.
In comparison to the design, development and production of a large, turbine powered, certified aircraft like the Kodiac, the development and production of the two 'feeder aircraft' needed in ministry aviation are small projects. But we North Americans are a 'faddish' group of people. As long as the Kodiac is on center stage it is proving to be very difficult to get anyone to support the development of these two aircraft to support the intended role of the Kodiac. So, we have been praying for miracles.
The first miracle came when a businessman called me and offered to fund the construction of one "Preacher Pilot" plane (see pictures attached). Another piece of the puzzle was the slowdown in demand for the RV-10 aircraft that we have been building in Ecuador (business as ministry) for the last four years. Galo and Jesse, who run our airplane building project on a 'self-sustaining' basis were willing to build several of these planes at cost. That means that they have given up paychecks for almost a year.
We have now built one two seater and one four seater "Preacher Pilot Plane" and are finishing up the second four seater. The miracle we have been praying for is that someone in the Ecuadorian government would take an interest in what we are trying to do and would help us with the looong permitting process so we can test-fly these aircraft and put at least one of them to use down there. Actually we were praying for an even bigger miracle. What we really need and want isn't just a permit to test fly these airplanes in the jungles where we are building them. What we really want and need and have been hoping for, working for and praying for is that the Ecuadorian government would certify these aircraft for use in the Ecuadorian jungle and would buy some for government humanitarian use.
The Ecuadorian government recently bought two Cessna aircraft for use in the jungle. Those two planes, just a bit larger than two of our four-seater bush planes cost over a million dollars. For less than that, we could set up a first class assembly facility and could produce seven aircraft. But who, in a relatively unstable political climate would put their neck on the line to support a project to build aircraft in the Ecuadorian jungles?
Well, the obvious answer would be the director of the Ecuadorian Civil Aviation. But, if we are praying for miracles, why not just pray for the 'Big One'; why not ask for the president of the country? The director of Aviacion Civil can be trumped by any number of other government officials, but no one trumps the President. I'm sorry to admit that I did not have enough faith to ask for the president specifically. I just prayed for 'someone' who could champion our cause and help us put national God Followers in the pilot's seat of ministry aircraft in Ecuador and then Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil...
Well, God has given us an opening miracle. It would be smarter of me to have waited to tell you until we actually had an offer of support from the President but I decided to let you know now. I have been thinking a good bit about my heroes of the faith recently. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in Daniel 3 really impress me. When the king threatened to execute them in a fiery furnace they humbly but steadfastly declared their confidence that God could deliver them out of the king's hands. But they added, that even if God chose not to deliver them, they would still worship only Him.
So let me stand with those three young men and declare, "I don't know what God finally has planned for our projects to complete the design of the Maverick (flying car) and get it into production. And I don't know how God might supply what we still need to develop a market for our SA-STOL (South America - Short Take-Off and Landing) "Preacher Pilot Plane". And I don't know who might join with us to buy a Christian Camp Facility to use as a regional training center where we could train lay pilots and lay dental techs and medical technicians and mechanics and optometry techs. And I don't know how we are going to get the permits we need to continue the development of a "Preacher Pilot Plane" that can be flown by national pastors and doctors and evangelists and school administrators."
This I do know. We have been very careful to try to join God in what He is doing rather than taking on projects we want to do for Him. I know God is able. The fact that the president of Ecuador visited Shell Mera and took time out of his busy schedule to check out our first real "Preacher Pilot Plane" and took time to talk to Galo about it, is proof that He can do the rest too. Thanks to those of you who helped us build the first RV-10, and to our partner who helped fund this plane that the president is examining in the pictures below. And thank those of you who give to support Itec and to those who have been our partners in design and don't let me forget those who have been our cheer-leaders.
I really do not know what will come of all of this. But I wanted to give God credit and to thank those of you who have helped make what we are doing possible - before we know the rest of the story. I also want to be sure that I invite any of you who want to invest more of yourselves in what we are doing to please do so. I am committed to letting God be Jehovah Jireh - our provider. But I am also committed to getting better at inviting His followers to join us in what God has called us to do. Consider this your invitation to get involved, get more involved or to invite others to get involved in what we are doing to put more and more God Followers in the drivers seat to carry out Christ's commission to more and more people in hard to get to places.
NOW LETS LOOK AT THE PICTURES
Galo is in the striped shirt and the President is in the white square tail shirt.
The lettering on the side of the plane is a play on words. "Bien Hecho" means "well done" or "way to go". It also means "well built". So you can read the slogan as "Well built- in Ecuador", or "Way to go - Ecuador." Remember, the planes that we are building there in Ecuador are the first planes that have ever been built as an enterprise, in the history of the country.
The slogan on the tail is quite obvious. It uses the colors of the Ecuadorian flag and says "Ecuador first" or "Ecuador is number one". The man with the pilots epaulets on his shoulders is Galo's uncle. Henry and I have been friends since we were kids. After flying commercially for several years, Henry joined Mission Aviation Fellowship. He now runs the only flight school in the jungles. He has offered to help us begin a training program if we can find a partner who is willing to invest about $45,000 (half the cost of one of these planes) so that we can put it into service right there in Ecuador. The plane would be used for training and would be used to make flights in support of Waodani, Quechua and Shuar believer's efforts to care for the physical and spiritual needs of their own people. Evan Bensler, our staff medical doctor, who we hope will end up in Ecuador is working on his pilot's license and is getting pretty close. Ministry in the jungle and to jungle people depends heavily on air transportation.
We have designed and built a mold for a large cargo pod that will hang under the fuselage. The pod will make it easy and safe to carry lots of cargo and supplies in the plane without danger of injuring passengers in the event of a forced landing. (The pod was not installed during the president's visit).
In test flying the two seat version of this plane, I was able to land over 50 or 60 foot trees and stop in less than 300 feet, the length of a football field. Amazing. This plane will go into and out of any place that could be called an airstrip.
It is our hope to be able to open an international training center Near Shell. A SA-STOL bush plane would be the perfect "vehicle" to move medical, dental, optical, maintenance and evangelistic teams around the jungles. Can you imagine how excited my Dad must be at the prospect that what God called him to do as a North American pilot flying a North American plane sixty years ago, could now be done by a Waodani tribesman flying a plane he helped built just down the road from our old house that still stands along the runway there in Shell?
(Special thanks to Chris Heintz who designed this plane and to his son Sebastien and family who have helped make parts and pieces affordably available to us).
And, of course, thanks above all else to God for making each of you part of these projects in different ways, and for giving us employ in a small corner of His amazing 'work shop'.
For the Itec team,
Steve Saint
