Oshkosh Part 2

This blog post is basically from my journal, I was trying to think of a way that was best and most accurate and since this was written only a day and a half after it all happened I decided that, with some editing, it would be the best way to let everyone know what is going on.  Enjoy!

The Air show in Oshkosh Wisconsin is over, Robby, Sam, Jonathan and I drove the two trucks home with the Mavericks.  It took us only two days this time which is very nice.  For one it gave me more time to move out of my old house for Brian Reeds’ family to move into, and for two, it gave me more time to relax before returning to work this Monday.  

On our way home we stopped through Nashville and my dearest family drove the three hours to have dinner with me and my friends.  What a blessing it was! There is nothing that can replace family.  I have the most beautiful sisters and mother I could ever ask for, a brother-in-law that is just plain out awesome, and a younger brother who is just as awesome and whom I do not deserve. My niece and nephew are so cute and extremely hilarious even though Dominic is only months old he can make me laugh, and Vesper is only 2 and has a vocabulary bigger than mine!

While at the air show, I met several people that I found incredibly awesome.  Several people that I met and found really awesome were in the Mission Aviation tent.  JAARS, MAF, and several others were there.  I met several of them and some of them even came to the Maverick booth.  Though I like a lot of what they do, and I myself have wanted to fly for them before, I did not feel the attraction that I once felt.  There was no nudge from God leading me to any one of them.  This was both a relief and discouraging.  A relief because I do not have any desire to leave ITEC, but discouraging too because I didn’t know how God wanted me to use aviation in the mission field once I got my license.  

During the last couple of days at Oshkosh I felt more and more that God wanted me to spend more time flying and studying and working mechanics for my A and P license when I got back.  I told Troy this and he was fine with that.  He had told me that if I ever felt the need to take a few days and study or fly then to go ahead and do it.

Friday I had planned to do several things including fly.  I was confident that God wanted me to put more effort into it and not just work construction. He brought me here to build, yes, but to learn to fly and get my mechanics license too. I went into town to send off a package to home, get my hair cut and, of course, get some coffee:). I received an email the day before from Dr. Busch telling me that I would get my letter from the FAA before his copy came to him and to let him know when mine came through.  I made my Starbucks stop first and then headed to the UPS store.  On my way there, Mark called me from ITEC telling me that I had a letter from the FAA. I nearly crashed the car i was so shocked and excited.  I was 75% sure that it was my medical certificate.  I had done everything God had told me to do and jumped through every hoop and used the people that God had put in my life to help me.  Even though I was confident, I prayed.  I told God that whatever was in that letter when I got to ITEC, I would still follow Him, I would not turn away, no matter what the cost.

When I got to ITEC and opened the letter, I felt my life-long dream shatter all around me.  My medical certificate had been denied.  After all the hoops I had jumped though, after all the tests I had done, after all the people I had met with, my dream of flying was not to be.  I didn't know what to do, as I turned each page, I was sure that there was going to be some sort of loop hole that they would let me fly.  I couldn't believe that this was happening.

My biggest question is, “Why? Why, God?  I know You have brought me all this way, and now you will not let me have my license?”  My whole life has lead up to flying in ministry, and God lead me to Steve Saint, to ITEC, he taught me so many things on so many adventures, and now I cannot fly? 

I sat in the conference room for what felt like hours but in reality was only about 30 minutes.  I texted Steve and asked if I could come over and talk to him after telling Troy about the letter.  I got there and found out that Troy had already texted Steve telling him about the letter.  I didn’t know what to do, I was totally devastated.

I talked with Steve and Ginny for nearly 2 hours.  I learned so much from them, it would take me all night to write it all down, but I walked out of there knowing that this is all part of God's plan. After being at ITEC for 6 months, I told Jamie that I realized that my view of missions has changed so much, and I have changed so much that I don;t even know who I am.  I had changed more in the last 6 months than I had in the last 6 years and that still holds true.  I told Steve and Ginny that, and I got the same answer from them as I got from Jamie, they looked at each other and then looked at me and said, "That’s a great place to be."  It is certainly not an easy place to be, though I am sure it is a good one. 

Steve and Ginny told me  stories of other men and women of the faith that had their dreams crushed only to realize God's dream--people like Steve's dad, Nate Saint, and people in the Bible like Job. People who knew that God had a reason for doing the things that He did and moved on following God regardless.  I plan to still follow God. I have no plans to stop. I am solid in my faith. I refuse to denounce God in any way or form.  There is obviously a plan that God has for me and it does not involve me having my pilot license--at least not yet.  I have not lost hope.

I am praying that I will get the opportunity to travel with Steve more or travel to represent ITEC in some form or another, then I will at least get to be in air some.  

I called my dad this evening to tell him about the FAA.  He told me a story that gave me hope and encouragement.  It was the kind of story that I believe every father should be able to tell his son at least once.  It was a story that shows you their is hope, and that your father was able to overcome and God gave him his dream.  

The story was that my dad signed up for the Navy to fly.  I inherited the same dream of flying from my dad.  After doing his physical he was told that his vision was 20/25 and the limit was 20/20, no exceptions.  My dads dreams were crushed, just like mine. A year and a half later, he graduated and ended up on a ship.  He was not the top of his class, nor the highest ranked, but when he was on the ship, he worked his tail off. He learned everything he could, and worked to the best of his ability. And the people that mattered on the ship noticed.  After that first tour, he was informed that the vision limit was changed to 20/30.  So he tried again to become a pilot, and after months of attempts, he got called from Washington offering a position as an NFO (naval flight officer) the back seat of the jet, The NFO basically runs the mission, does a lot of the co-pilot work which includes navigation.  He knew that was not what he wanted to do, he wanted to be the pilot so he turned down the offer, and continually attempted to become a pilot. One day, he got that dream and became a helicopter and jet pilot.  

After hearing that story from my dad, I respected him and really loved him as my dad.  It was probably the first time we actually connected on a scale that large and that close to the heart.  I am hoping to see him at Thanksgiving as long as I am still in town.

As for what is next, I am going to remain working for ITEC. I want to stay working full time ministry.  I have a lot I can learn from these people and I still am not losing hope that I will one day get my pilot license.  

My mind is in quite a weird place.  It is telling me that I should be in shock, but God has poured out his grace on me and I am still able to function and not fall into self-pity. Somehow, I know that this is not the end.  I know that I follow a God that can change anything in an instant, and regardless of whether I become a pilot or not, I will still follow Him.  I know that God is the Pilot-in-Command and I will stay with him no matter what maneuvers He does. I will make my plans and watch God smash it to bits as He places my steps on the trail He wants me to walk.  

One more observation is that my whole life, I have always had an end goal, or something to achieve. Once I accomplished one, I moved onto the next.  Now, it seems like God took away all those goals to teach me to let Him write the story and direct the way.  I do not regret making those goals, nor do I think I will refrain from making other ones.  On the contrary, God cannot use a man that sits still, so I will make plans and goals and sit back and watch God destroy them and show me His plan or simply point me in a direction.  

            If there is one thing I have learned in my time here at ITEC that is worth mentioning, it is to be flexible.  I can make all the plans that I want for each day’s work, but I have to be able to drop everything in an instant.  My day can change in one phone call. Or my week, or even month. I cannot even make plans more than a week or two out because I never know if I am going to be in town or not.  Once I was asked if I wanted to go flying, I obviously said yes, and after boarding the plane and taking off, I was informed that we were going to a town north of Atlanta.  Thankfully that night we flew back and I didn't have be out of town unprepared:)

I love you all and am very grateful for your prayers and support.  Have a wonderful day!!

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Oshkosh Part 1

Again, i wrote this blog about a week ago, so you will have to go back in time.  I am calling this Oshkosh part 1 because I plan on writing about the rest of the air show and the trip home.  Thats the plan anyway:)  Hope you like it.   

So I am in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the biggest airshow in the world.  It took us 3 days to get up here due to a combination of blown tires, news interviews, and people unwilling to drive late into the night, not to mention the people who could not manage to drink less. However, despite all the crazy turns our trip took, we managed to overcome our obstacles and arrive safely.

We set up the booth with all 5 of our Mavericks on Sunday morning and when we got back later in the afternoon we tried to relax some.  We were all so exhausted from the trip not to mention the past several months of working incredibly long hours.  I must say that I am not included in the long hours.  I rarely work on the Mavericks so I was more of a hindrance that a help in the Maverick shop. Automotive Mechanics is not that foreign to me, but this is an aircraft so it is a bit more important that things are done correctly, and I am not as adept at mechanics as I am at construction.  

Monday, the air show began.  The early crew got there around 8 am to put the final touches to our booth and get the Mavericks ready to display when the doors officially opened at 9.  Because we are the only flying car in production not to mention that the Maverick is plain out cool, our booth is constantly flooded with people.   After mentioning how amazed I was at the amount of people in our booth, I was informed that this was a slow day.  Quite the thing you want to hear when you repeatedly tell everyone every awesome thing you know about the Maverick.  I must say, I am becoming quite the salesman, every time I talk to someone new, I sound more and more professional.

           

Our booth is right across the taxiway from the War Birds.  And since we are celebrating 100 years of Naval aviation (1911-2011) there are hundreds of the most incredible planes pulling in right near our booth.  I really like the old military planes, they are all huge! Every time I walk up to the engine I realize that each blade on the prop is almost as long as I am tall, and some are even longer than that.

Tuesday evening we brought the original Maverick home with us.  We are flying at the air show Friday or Saturday morning and we wanted to give it a check ride and make sure that it was fit to fly since we haven’t flown it in a few months.  There is a guy who has a private airstrip on his farm about 3 or 4 miles away that we took off from.  It was great, Troy did the test flight and it flew wonderfully.

This morning we woke up to quite a bit of rain.  It wasn’t too hard, but it had been raining all night and didn’t stop till about 2 in the afternoon.  I rode in the Maverick with Jamie while Steve drove it back to our booth.  There were several very important things that were in the tent that were wet.  For one, the computer that was set up with the Maverick simulator was sitting in a puddle of water, for two, someone’s backpack was left open with a laptop and iPad and both were damp.  And for 3, several books were wet and our white Maverick T shirts got wet and the color is all smudged in the material.

After we were all set up, it was still drizzling, and only a few people were in the booth so I went and walked around to see the planes.  I went from plane to plane admiring each one and enjoying the time by myself in the rain and relatively quite time.  As I looked at planes, jets, helicopters, and visited each booth and pricing flying equipment that I plan to get as soon as I have my license, I spent that time thinking.  I had gone with Steve to park the cars in the lots and as we walked back I asked a question I really wanted to ask for a while.  I wondered what I did or didn’t do that made him get impatient with me.  I asked the question in more detail and with some examples but that is basically what I was asking.

           

For an answer I got more of a life lesson, and definitely not what I expected at all.  I have spent a lot of time wondering whether I should bring anything up or whether I should just deal with it, but to my utter shame, I thought he would be apologetic and sympathetic and understanding ,so I brought it up.  I have some how come to this point where I think that I am right, and invincible, not weak in any way, have a good work ethic, and not easily swayed by anything.

Steve pointed out some things about me that I have been refusing to see, I honestly didn’t even realize that I had been turning a blind eye.  In the circle of guys I hang with now, I can be swayed so that I stay in their good books and remain a “friend”.  I also realized that these past few weeks, my work ethic has plummeted, I dislike even mentioning it cause it is quite a blow to realize that I am letting down the men and women that have taught me to work.  This is on a much different scale than I remember, because God raises bar in our lives all the time and I have been taught to realize when God does that, and I missed it this time.

But most of all, the most painful, yet most obvious is the realization that I have weaknesses and that I am not invincible.  I don’t mean that I would survive a bullet to the head.  What I mean is that I thought that I was strong morally and spiritually on all fronts, there was nothing that could get to me.  I could withstand any attack the enemy throws at me, no matter which angle.  I am just as likely to fall as the next man, I don’t like having weaknesses, and like even less admitting the fact. But it is the truth.

           

I write all this for several reasons. First and foremost is that I need prayer.  And I will give some specifics here.  1.) Please pray that I would be more faithful with reading my bible. I tend to be on and off with it.  And I continually tell myself that I am too busy.  That is a lame excuse and should not be tolerated, we would never dream of getting up in the morning and not brushing our teeth, therefore I should not leave for work without reading my bible.   2.) Pray for my medical to come through.  After all the loops I have jumped through to get this medical I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  I met with the medical examiner I met at Sun-N-Fun and he send it into the FAA.  However just this past weekend the FAA was on the news and they are going through a bit of a crisis of some sort, the details of which I will spare you so you don’t get too bored.  

           

To all the people that have invested in my life: I promise to work harder to remember what you taught me and to walk the straight and narrow and to walk constantly with Christ in sight without anything getting between me and Him.  I love all of you so much and cant wait to see you all again.  

Your brother in Christ,

Austin  

Pray for Medical

This blog post was actually written on June 29th so you will have to go back in time to make sense of some of it:)

At the start of June I started training for a marathon I plan to run at the end of November.  I actually have two races planned, a half marathon at the beginning of October and a full marathon at the end of November.  I got about 2 weeks into it when I got shin splints.  It was quite the way to start this long, hard core, training.  I took two weeks off from running, and iced it a few times a day.  Well, I thought it worked.  I ran 4 miles before Volley Ball on Monday just to see how it help up.  I didn’t want to just jump into 6 and 7 milers right off the bat.  It seemed to do fine.  But this morning, I was only able to do 3, my right leg was in some ridiculous pain. 

            In a previous blog, I talked about meeting an Aviation Medical Examiner at Sun-N-Fun Airshow.  I am meeting him on the 7^th of July to figure this last bit of my medical certificate problem.  He made me a VIP appointment, I am the only person he is seeing that day.  I did incredible on my stress test, thanks to your prayers.  I broke the record, at least for that office.  So something to add to your prayer list is that we would finally get everything figured out so I can get my medical certificate.  I only have a few lessons left with my instructor and then all my solo time and then I can take my check ride for my license. 

            I don’t fly as much as I used to because it costs money to have my instructor in the plane, I generally fly every couple weeks to maintain my skill keep up with what I know.  I went flying last week for the first time in quite a while and did surprisingly well.  Landing is generally where I have the most trouble, but during my last lesson, I did 4 landings and they were all really good. 

            I signed up for a Volley Ball league at the YMCA in Ocala about a month ago and tonight was our first game of the season.  I already go on Monday nights just to have fun for the most part, but also to practice and meet people.  Tonight, our team played really well, and won both games, 12-25 and 17-25.   The other team I had never seen at the Y before so I don’t know how much they play.  I must say, I was pretty lucky to be on this team.   The team leader asked me to be on his team right before I signed up.  They are all really good players and I am learning a lot from them. 

            Tomorrow I am headed to something that my church does called Dinner D8.  Basically, there are about a dozen families in the church that host a dinner at their house once a month. Everyone that wants to be a part of Dinner D8 sign up and the church does a drawing for each house and that’s where you end up for dinner that month.  There are generally about 3 or 4 families at each Dinner.  I had a great time at my last one and am really looking forward to tomorrow's.

            The Mavericks are coming along pretty well.  They are nearly finished with one, now they have two more. The reason this one has taken so long is because we have changed so much on it.  It is slightly longer, and a more powerful engine, and the list goes one.  So every time we change one thing, we have to adjust all the other parts that it affects and then we have to draft it in the computer so we know how to do it in the next Maverick.  So now that we are almost finished with this one, the others should quickly follow, at least that is what I am told.  At ITEC however,  things change so quickly I think that it should be fined. Every day is organized chaos.

            Thank you so much all of you who answered my mom’s email and helped me with support.  It was very much needed and even more appreciated.  Please be praying for appointment on the 7th with the Aviation Medical Examiner.  I really would like to get this resolved.  God's will be done, not mine.  I love you all so much.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Update

To my dearest supporters,
Please forgive my serious gap between my last blog and this one.  My lame excuse of being too busy is not valid because in the end, we are all busy.  
To catch you up with everything that has happened since my last blog would take an entire book, and trying to decide on which of the crazy events to tell is too difficult for my tiny brain.  Between flying a helicopter with my best friend Jesse, my trip to visit the village with Jamie and Jesse, moving to a new house, watching a triathlon, spending time with Steve and Ginny… the list goes on for quite a way.  So though I may refer back to those events, I won’t be telling all the stories, sorry.
As far as where things stand right now, I have moved to a house about 10 minutes from ITEC with 7 other guys: 3 interns, 2 men that are working with other organizations that partner with us, my roommate from ITEC, Jonathan, and Robbie, who is a engineer and knows engines like the back of his hand.  I moved in last week and spent the week working on getting it ready, though I was not able to complete it in time, I did manage to get most of the repairs done.  The interns arrived Monday around lunch, Drew, Brian, Dan, and Alicia .  They are all here for the next 5 or 6 weeks working on video stuff for ITEC.  When they arrived, I quit working and after dropping everyone’s stuff off, we went to lunch.  It has only been a few days since they got here, but I have had a blast with them, I spend most of my time working on my own, so getting to spend time with a bunch of people my age after work has been a real blessing.
The Life University building is nearly complete, I think that it should be totally useable by the end of next week, provided I am not dragged off to work on something else.
Two weekends ago, I was in south Georgia to watch Jimmy and Jamie do a triathlon along with Jimmy’s wife and Neil Brown.  I had met Neil before, he goes to the same church as I do, in fact he sits up front right next to where Jamie and I sit, but I had no idea that he was into running, swimming, cycling, and outdoor sports in general.  Jimmy and Jamie kept referring to him as “coach”.  So as the day went on I learned that he has done several marathons including the Boston marathon,  adventure races, and several triathlons.  In fact, for his first triathlon, he did an Ironman.  Upon hearing this, I was astonished. On the way home, I peppered him with questions, all the while taking notes.  In the end, I asked him to coach me for my marathon and after I finish that I want to do the adventure races.  He had me pick a marathon and now he is making me a training schedule.  I picked a half marathon on October 1st, and a full marathon November 27th.
I am still working on getting my medical certificate, at this point, all I need to do is do a stress test for the FAA.  I finally managed to get an appointment with a cardiologist down in Inverness, FL.  I am doing the test June 2, some prayers would be nice for that.  I just want it to go smoothly and not have any hiccups.
Friday, I am going to Ocala to volunteer for a middle school event that our church is putting on.  I am a team leader over 15 middle-schoolers. To be honest, I have no idea what to expect; I am just going to show up and find out.  Another one of my friends who is also a team leader keeps telling me that I am not going to have a voice by the end of the day.  As long as my team beats his team I will consider it a worthwhile sacrifice. :)
I was asked to share my testimony on Tuesday night at our college age meeting that we do every week.  Guess we’ll see how that goes too. I actually have not gone in the past 2 weeks because I have been working late so I suppose I better make sure that I am not working late next week.
Thank you all for your support, I could not do this without your help. Hope you are all doing well, have a wonderful day.

Your brother in Christ,


Austin

Joel and Daniel

So this is the first blog that has not been edited by another party, so forgive all the lovely mistakes. Also, the shuttle Endeavor did not end up taking off on Friday, there were some problems during the pre flight and it was postponed. Anyway, here goes...

So Daniel and Joel arrived late Friday night, or more accurately, early Saturday morningJ It was so awesome having them here, words just don’t quite do the emotions justice.  Their visit flew by, almost literally.  I had a great time letting them meet the friends that I made down here, going to church with me, having Easter with the Saints, working with the guys at I-TEC and taking taking them to Rainbow springs and to play Volley Ball at the YMCA.

Saturday we slept in then headed to Steve Saint’s house to help him work on the playhouse for his grandkids.  We pretty much spent the morning there and then the afternoon we just kind of hung out.  It was great to just spend time with them.

Sunday after church I brought them to Rainbow Springs then headed over to Jesse’s house.  All the Saints where there as well as several other relatives,  there was also a missionary from Kenya there.  Joel Daniel and I hung out for a while then played on the tire swings, well we actually spent the whole time trying to make whoever was in the swing regurgitate their lunch buy spinning them as fast as we could, and also trying to slam the tire swing and it’s unfortunate passenger into the tree.  Fortunately for the passenger, Jesse must have strategically placed the chain, because try as we might, we could not hit the tree. 

Upon arriving back at the house the grandkids deduced where we had been and I was elected to push everyone. This would have been simple enough had there not been two tire swings.  I was constantly running from one to the other.  Luckily it started to rain and we all had to go inside, and when the rain passed, Joel and Steve’s Nephew Jonathan were elected to go out and pushJ

            Monday and Tuesday they helped me work on Life University, and that was SSSOOO awesome.   There were windows that were installed several days before they got here and needed to be caulked, a couple of doors that needed to be painted, a big brush pile that had to be cut up and brought to Jesse’s burn pile and the paneling on the back wall had to be replaced.  I was dreading having to do all that on my own, it would have taken 4 or 5 times longer If I had to do it on my own.  Not to mention that I am a terrible painter and even worse at caulking windows.           

            It was almost like old times, all of us teasing and insulting each other,  and telling inside jokes that only as life long friends could have.  It was so awesome, I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. But as I said, it was “almost” like old times,  We made a catastrophic mistake, after all morning on the first day of no caffeine we knew that there was a problem.  During our lunch break we went into town to rectify the problem, and the following morning I made my Lowe’s run early and stopped at a Starbucks to buy us all drinks and prevent us from repeating our failure of the previous morning.

There were a few weeks before I moved here that Daniel and I worked together at a job that was pretty close to home.  So us being so brilliant minded decided to get some over time.  We would arrive on the job at 5am and not leave till 5 or 6pm, no breaks, not even lunch.  We would stop at a gas station or some wonderful place where there was an abundance of caffeine and buy a lovely stash of it to get us through the day.  It was during this time that we formed the motto, “Late to bed, early to rise, work like heck with blood-shot eyes”.  And believe me, that was us.   All of us kind of made caffeine a necessity, if we were going to work, we may as well get a lot done quickly.  We were at a restaurant one day and saw a small bard on the wall that read “Drink Coffee, do stupid things faster and with more energy” I think we embodied that one tooJ  and since I am on the quoting track, I saw a coffee cup at a coffee shop that said, “With Enough Coffee I can do anything!” 

They lift I-TEC on Tuesday night and to spend a few days with Daniel’s brother David.  Troy gave me today off so I could meet them at Daytona Beach.  I took the opportunity to get here early enough for the sunrise, but my luck is plain out bad, this is the second time I have shown up for the sunrise and it was overcast.  I left home at 4am to make it here, and I didn’t get to see it!

I am typing this at a Starbucks that I came to with my family while they were here during New Year.  If you step outside you can see the beach.  Just before coming in here, I had a pretty neat encounter.

I passed a guy near this Starbucks at about 6 this morning and saw him again sitting on a bench not far from were I was sitting on a brick wall drinking my coffee.  I went running up the beach about ¾ of a mile and then turned around and headed back, by this time it was pretty light outside and as I looked left, I saw him again this time standing with his head down almost like he was praying.  One of my pet peeves is that I have to stop my runs on a mile, I hate stopping it at half or quarter miles, it has to be at a mile.  Well, I had to get over that, I felt like God wanted me to meet this guy, and I was only at 1.41 miles.  I kept trying to talk myself out of it, I wasn’t afraid to meet him, I love talking to people, but I didn’t want to stop at 1.41 miles.   I knew he had been there for about 2 hours already and was sure that he would leave before I could finish half a mile and then I would have a terrible day knowing that I missed God.

So I ran back to those steps and luckily I got to 1.5 miles before I got there, at least it is an even stopping point J I ended up walking over there and talking to him for about 15minutes.  Turns out that his health is not doing so well, he doesn’t have much time left to be alive, he has had several heart attacks and he heart is causing some other problems as well.  I am no stranger to heart issues so I told him my story of all the heart issues that I had and what I am doing today, he seemed really encouraged, and he even  brightened a little, I don’t think he really has any friends.  He said that he usually comes out to the beach at 5am every morning and sits out there till the sun comes up.  He was in West VA for a while but he couldn’t take not seeing the beach so he moved back here, this morning was his first since being back.      I don’t really know why all that happened, we never even exchanged names, we just talked for a while, but I do know that God wanted me to talk to that man and I am glad that I did. 

I love you and am very grateful for your financial support and more importantly, your prayer support.  Really looking forward to spending time with Joel, Daniel and David.  It has been a while since we last hung out together, I am sure we are going to have a blastJ  We are going to see the shuttle “Endeavor” take off today as well. Pretty excited, I haven’t seen it take off since I was a little kid.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

             

               

Blown!!

    Monday, I was finally able to get the A/C working in the Maverick building, and Tuesday was spent doing odd jobs that need to be done around the building.  If all goes well tomorrow and Friday, I should be able to start working on Life University.  
    I had my flying lesson cut short today; the right tire blew on us a few seconds after landing.  No, it wasn’t a hard landing that blew it, though I have done my share of them.  This landing in particular was a pretty good one, actually, but while I was raising the flaps, the plane started to veer to the left, I pressed the right pedal to correct my course but it hardly helped at all.  After Charlie tried, he said it was a flat tire, and of course, he was right.  We pushed the plane off the runway and walked back to I-TEC’s hangar to get some tools and help.
    We got a few people and some equipment and headed back out there.  Ray is a flight instructor and aircraft mechanic for YWAM and since Jesse wasn’t able to help at the moment, he came.  Also, Joel and Jeremy came. They are both with YWAM and are learning to fly as well.  They are part of the team that is going to be driving/flying the first two Mavericks from here all the way to the Amazon jungle in Brazil. (The Beyond Road’s Office has maps of all the countries they are going through taped to the wall.) They are a blast to be with.  

It took about 20 min to get the plane back to the hangar where Jesse and I replaced both rear tires.  We figured that while we are at it, we might as well do the other one.  The nose wheel seemed fine so we left it.  I was razzed about blowing the tire on the plane by everyone. They have seen some of my “not so good” landings before the tire blew, quite humbling.  I was delighted to find that the tire was completely worn down and I just happened to be the unfortunate pilot that was flying when it decided to kick the bucket.  

I’m suppose to have another lesson Thursday morning.  Monday, provided everything works out, I am suppose to spend the whole afternoon learning how to make a flight plan and then do my first cross country flight.  That basically means that I am going to fly more than a hundred miles and land at 2 other airports, Cross City and Gainesville.

I was also reminded last night at church that Saturday I am suppose to make a trip with most of my friends at church to Jacksonville.  We are going to see a play called ‘The Passion” performed at the home church of one of my friends.  I was also told that this Sunday we are doing a huge luncheon at the church and we are not having Community time (Sunday school) so we get to sleep in.  Well honestly, I like our Community time better than our meeting during the week so that is kind of a bummer, but I do get an extra hour and a half of sleep though, hard to beat that.

It was great to be home for the wedding, and I really enjoyed spending time with my friends and family, especially my niece and nephew, Vesper and Dominic  Also, it was really awesome to spend time with Joel and Daniel.  I really miss living with you guys and having all our fun adventures, cant wait for your visit!  I love and miss all of you, have a wonderful week.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Sun-N-Fun

Most all of ITEC was down in Lakeland at the Sun-N-Fun air show so ITEC was pretty quiet.  Ryan and I were suppose to fly down in the Cessna 150 but due to weather we were unable to fly down.  In fact, the weather was so bad, it produced several tornados, one of them actually going through the air show.  As far as I know, 40 planes have severe damage to them and there are a few others that have minor damage.  Unfortunately, one of those planes was I-TEC’s Zenith 801 that we had up for sale.  There are some things that we can save from it like the engine and possibly the fuselage, but other than that, it is a complete loss.

Friday morning, Ryan and I were able to fly down; the weather was really nice, and we had a pretty good tailwind so we made the flight relatively quickly.  I got to do about half the flying while Ryan was reading the procedures and stuff for landing there.  I must say, I do feel pretty bad for the guys in the tower that have to tell us what to do and where to land and all that loveliness.  There were hundreds, if not thousands, of aircrafts there, it was a big fly in, pilots from all around were flying in to this event. it is called, “The Spring Break for Pilots”.

The airport was closed so that the Blue Angels could practice so we had to stay in a holding pattern for about 20 minutes, which pretty much means we were flying in a huge circle around a lake with about 15 other planes.  We finally landed, set up camp and headed to I-TEC’s booth. They were just getting things set up and setting things out in the sun.  Turns out, everything was soaked in the rainstorm the day before and everything was laying out to dry.  All our fliers, TV where the videos of the Maverick were playing, books, DVDs, etc, were wet but not entirely destroyed so we put them all in the sun to dry.  I put on a Maverick shirt and started passing out fliers and talking to people about the Maverick.  

No sooner had I started, then Troy came up and asked me if I wanted to go with Steve and Jamie on their trip.  After finding out that we would be back in time for my trip to the Village, I said yes. The trouble was, I had flown down, not driven, and we were suppose to leave the next morning.  This wouldn’t normally have been too big of a deal (esp. if I had a Maverick.) Ryan likes to fly as much as I do if not more, and I am sure that he would have flown me back, the problem was that the airport was closed for the day.  But God planned ahead for me, Jesse had both his car and suburban at the campground so I was able to drive his car back that night.  

So, since I was not going to be at the air show for the next 3 days, I decided not to work the booth and to have a look around.  Jesse had told me to bring all my medical stuff cause a guy at the FAA booth that might be able to help me get my medical.  I suppose it was worth a try, but it was a no go, he was able to tell me that all my medical stuff was in the FAA system and ready to review, and he sent a few emails to let them know I was asking about it and to try to get it pushed through.  

I was told of an organization called Stallion 51 by one of my mentors who used to work for them about 20 years ago.  I was looking for them to talk to them and see if they remembered Nathanael and to get to know them.  They are based in Orlando which is about 2 hours or so away and it would be great to get down there and see what they are doing.  I was watching the new airforce jet called the Raptor fly around and do its demonstration and then another plane started flying in formation with it.  It was an older WWII P-51 bomber, and when they announced it, they said that it was with Stallion 51.  So, now I knew that they were there, but when I went to go meet the pilot, there were hundreds of people that were wanting an autograph or picture so I stood there waiting for a while. I was getting close when a guy came up and grabbed my shoulder and asked what my name was.  I noticed that he had a Stallion 51 shirt on and his name tag said he was a medical guy for them. When I told him my name, he asked if I had met Lee, the pilot, yet.  When I said no, he pulled me up to the front and introduced me to him

“Hey Lee, this is Austin, he is training to become a pilot”

It took me a moment to come up with something to say, not only cause I had just been drug through the remaining crowd of fans, but my mind was reeling.  How did he know that I was training to become a pilot?  He was right of course, I only have 8 lessons left and half of them are solo, if I had my medical, I could have easily had my license by the end of the month of March.  

Turns out that Lee did remember Nathanael, and we talked for a little while about aviation before I took my leave.  However, I didn’t get the chance to walk more than a step.  The guy who introduced me dragged me over to a spot between the planes where a few boxes were. He asked if I had any brothers, I said I had a younger brother named Elijah.  He then handed me not one, but 4 books that are about these planes. There are pictures of the planes and their pilots from WWII and a bunch of information about them.  Ryan’s grandfather races these planes and we found a picture of his dad flying one and his grandfather flying one.  I thanked him then started to ask him about medical stuff, I explained that I was having problems getting my medical and explained my past heart issues briefly and told him that I had talked to the FAA and what they have told me.  He handed me a card and said,

“Don’t go to them, come to me, they do it for a job, I do it for a hobby.”

This guy has credentials a mile long, he has done physicals for astronauts, military jet pilots… the list goes on.  We were about to walk away, when stopped him and asked,

“How did you know that I was training to be a pilot?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said,

“Buddy, I do this for a living, I could just tell.” And he walked off

I walked away completely in awe of how God works.  I was honestly getting tired of waiting to talk to this guy.  This was my only day that I was going to be at the air show and I wanted to go have a look at some other booths.  In fact I did leave and then for some reason came back to it.  I would have missed God if I would have not gone over there. And then, I had the strangest thought that shot through my subconscious, when that guy grabbed my shoulder.  When I turned and saw him, my first thought, was "This guy is an angel."  I was once again reminded that God is all around us, if we only keep our eyes open to see it.  I was reminded of so many things that day, and as I drove up to Dunnellon late that night, I was astonished, and in awe of who God was and how He works, and most importantly, how much He loves His children.

Steve, Jamie and I are about to land in Dunnellon, I am in the back seat of the RV 10 behind Jamie.  It has been a wonderful trip, I will try to write about it before I leave here.  I am flying commercially out of Orlando on Thursday to the village for my friends, Johnny and Maranatha’s wedding.  I love and miss you all, cant wait to see you!!

Your brother in Christ,

Austin