Affordable Mission Aviation
Hope On Wings is based on the concept of keeping it simple.
- Simple rugged 4- place airplane desgned specifically for bush medical work. Costs less than $100,000 delivered to PNG. Costs about $22 per hour for fuel in PNG and $5 per hour for maintenance.
- Simple powerplant that burns about 3 gallons of low octane auto fuel per hour and costs less than $1000 to overhaul.
- Well trained pilots who have assisted in building their own plane and had extensive time flying the actual plane they will use in the field.
- Low pilot training costs due to using airplanes that only cost $25 per hour to operate in the U.S.
- Select and train pilots that have spent time in a third world country and preferably serving in a mission aviation environment for up to a year. We will provide this opportunity when we are able.
- Each pilot will service up to 15 volunteer PNG national laymen who are chosen by, trained by and answer to their own Adventist Mission district directors and mission personnel.
- Our goal will be to set up communications with the villages served by these laymen and provide regular air support to take medical emergencies to town hospitals and bring in necessary supplies.
- Support for this simple mission aviation concept will come from believers who are able and whom God impresses to give. Nothing will be charged to those receiving the service.
Mission Aviation Struggles
Mission Aviation has always faced a fierce uphill struggle. The reasons are many and yet they are simple:
- Cost of airplanes for both acquisition and maintenance.
- difficulty of getting aviation gasoline. This is a more recent development.
- Most people have the concept that airplanes are only for the rich making it difficult to ask for funds from the body of Christ.
- Most people do not understand the reason airplanes are necessary, having never lived in a remote setting where the airplane was the only connection with the outside world.
Cost
The standard airplanes of mission aviation for years have been high wing Cessnas like the 206, 182 or 172. New, these planes start from more than $250,000 for the 172 and on up to $500,000 and up for the 206. Added to that are the fact that the certified engines are extrememly expensive to overhaul or rebuild, costing an average of more than $20,000 for every 2000 hours of operation. This often times increases to more than $30,000 when having to send the engine away for the work.
Currently due to fuel availability problems, many mission organizations that rely on commercial work for their funding have turned to larger turbine engine planes such as the PAC 750 and the Kodiak. These planes cost nearly $2 million by the time they are in the field and the cost of overhauling or rebuilding is astronomical. Also they consume copious amounts of fuel.
Trends
Due to these high costs and the recent lack of aviation gasoline causing prices to skyrocket and many of the old cessnas to be no longer cost effective, a large number of mission aviation organizations have turned to providing charter commercial services to offset the costs and allow their organizations to become self funding. The large turbine engine planes are perfect for this sort of work and these organizations have been able to grow and provide a much needed and appreciated service. In PNG these organizations are extremely valuable as they often provide the only link to so much of the country. They have also found that by providing charter services, they are able to get around the country and see the bigger picture of the needs.
Then why the Hope On Wings concept?
You may ask then, why does Hope On Wings feel it is necessary to provide an alternative to the organizations already serving in PNG? Again, the answer is the word "Simple." There is so much need in Papua New Guinea and all of the organizations serving there together only begin to scratch the surface. The lay movement that is so powerful in reaching the hidden villages in the remote interior, are not in any way capable of affording the cost to charter even the smallest of the available planes in the country. Few are making an effort to reach this niche that is crucial to finishing the work God would have us do to reach all of the 850 kindreds and tongues in this forgotten land. Trying to expand a program that requires investments of $2 million for each new airplane and expensive training programs to prepare pilots, can be a real nightmare. To say nothing of the fact that it costs around $1000 per hour to operate the plane so it must be full of paying cargo to be in the air.
Hope On Wings believes that with a simple plan with a simple airplane, we can put up to 20 of these small planes in service for similar costs for each one of the large turbine engine planes and up to 5 planes in service for the typical costs of a standard mission airplane. If each of these airplanes is dedicated to supporting 15 national lay missionaries.... You Do The Math!
BushKing STOL View Details
Each pilot supports up to 15 national lay missionaries
Cessna 206
PAC 750
Papua New Guinea Volunteer Missionary