Monday, April 6, 2009

Just another day in the life of a MAF pilot!

Today I had another exciting day of flying. First thing this morning I flew a work team into Pignon. Pignon has many teams that come in who help build schools, houses, hold worship services and also assist in the hospital. The team we flew in today is there to work in the hospital for two weeks. An important part of MAF's work here in Haiti is to transport these teams to the remote villages. Upon arrival, a sick, elderly women with open wounds all over the side of her face was waiting at the airstrip to be transported to the Port au Prince hospital. Since Port-au-Prince has a more advanced hospital she could receive further care for her condition there. It was sad to see how frail she was and to see the pain she was obviously experiencing. She was even too weak to climb into the airplane by herself so I had to assist her. Please remember this lady in your prayers that she may be able to receive the medical attention she needs at the Port au Prince Hospital.
After landing at the Port-au-Prince airport and unloading passengers and cargo, I took off for La Gonave to pick up a Haitian Pastor and his family. As I neared the coast of the Island of La Gonave, I spotted some little islands below that were literally packed with no more than 30 shacks! I couldn't help wonder what would happen if a small tidal wave washed over their island! As I turned final to land, I noticed that a large herd of goats were leisurely grazing on the side of the narrow airstrip. Just as I touched down, the goats startled by the noise of the aircraft, ran in all directions, including straight onto the runway right in front of me. This forced me to apply the brakes much harder then I like too. Thankfully I was able to come to a complete stop before hitting any of them. After that scare, I was able to return back to the Port-au-Prince airport safely without any more "incidents"
And thus ends another day in the life of a MAF pilot.


















4 comments:

Dave and Trichelle Beeke said...

Thanks for the update, Jason. You certainly are providing some important service to that area.

-Dave

Anonymous said...

Wow- can't imagine living on one of those little islands!! thanks for all the updates-love reading your blog!take care

curt van beek said...

nice little island

Jenny said...

Wow Jason - never a dull moment. Bet you never thought you'd be dodging goats on an airport runway.
We'll keep praying for your safety!