Participants:
Series Code: OTG
Program Code: OTG000026A
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00:01 Last week on Off the Grid:
00:02 After 2 years of working on aircraft 8838 x-ray, the hard 00:06 working mechanics of Adventist World Aviation 00:08 deem the aircraft ready to fly. 00:11 This aircraft underwent a total overhaul and refurbishment 00:15 process transforming an old Cessna 182 00:18 into a beautiful masterpiece equipped with special 00:22 modifications, specific for the mission field. 00:27 After backbreaking work, 8838 x-ray took off from the 00:31 AWA maintenance facility headed for the mission field of Guyana. 01:26 With Happy hearts Ray and Julie Young are the team, who will be 01:30 ferrying this plane down across county, over open water, 01:34 to the eagerly awaiting missionaries in Guyana. 01:38 The plan is to fly the plane from Wisconsin all the way down 01:42 to Florida, and then island hop through the Caribbean 01:46 till they reach the main land of south America. 01:51 The journey is a dangerous one, and Ray must be very cautious 01:55 and make calculated lifesaving decisions regarding weather, 02:00 landing spots and navigation. 02:03 His wife Julie is by his side as they begin 02:07 this long journey together! 02:10 With Happy hearts Ray and Julie Young take off 02:14 from the Sullivan airport in Wisconsin. 02:17 This is a joyous adventure for the couple. They both have 02:21 put their lives on hold for the past few months as they left 02:25 their home in Canada to come and dedicate their time 02:29 to finishing up this aircraft. 02:31 Now they will be the ones, privileged to see the project 02:36 through to completion, when they deliver the plane to Guyana. 02:41 But there is a lot of ground that needs to be traveled 02:44 before they can do that. 02:46 This journey will take them several days of flying, 02:50 dependent on the weather. 02:52 When they left the maintenance facility a fast moving 02:56 storm system was headed their way. 02:58 A storm system that could very easily ground them 03:02 and leave them stranded for days. 03:03 So as they fly, they must keep a very vigilant eye 03:07 on the weather surrounding them and take no risks of flying 03:11 into bad weather. 03:13 The day before we left we were taking of course a look 03:16 at the weather and trying to predict over the next week or so 03:20 that we knew it would take to deliver this aircraft 03:22 with what's happening out there. 03:24 We had a hurricane to think about and look at. 03:28 Whether it's going to go in our path. 03:30 Locally on the first few legs we had two other systems 03:34 colliding. So we had to hurry up and load up the plane 03:39 and get ready to go the day we left, or we probably would 03:43 still be sitting on the ground at home. 03:45 Leaving from Wisconsin, Ray's flight route takes them 03:49 through Chicago's airspace, a very busy 03:52 and heavily jet trafficked area. 03:55 Obviously it's very important that Ray be in constant 03:58 contact with the ground operators and stay the exact 04:03 direction and altitude they direct in order to keep 04:06 from any midair collisions. 04:08 With large jets flying all around him, 04:11 Ray needs to be at the peak of his game. 04:15 Any mistake could be a fatal one 04:17 So he pays close attention to the instructions he is given 04:21 and does exactly what he is told by air traffic control. 04:24 He also tasks Julie to be an extra pair of eyes and keep 04:30 a look out for planes flying close to them 04:33 or in their direction. 04:36 This is a highly stressful time, but the couple keeps their 04:40 composure and navigates through the Chicago airspace safely. 04:45 Soon the city sky line transforms to open crop fields 04:49 and farm land. 04:51 Ray and Julie breathe a sigh of relief as they soar over 04:55 the beautiful flat lands below them. 04:57 But it isn't too long till the horizon starts showing signs 05:01 of the weather front that they were trying to outrun. 05:06 It appears that the front is moving faster 05:08 than they anticipated. 05:10 Ray is forced to fly at a lower altitude to stay out of 05:14 the oncoming turbulent winds. 05:16 Ray can't help but feel anxious. 05:20 Well, to fly in the rain with a small aircraft, we don't have 05:24 the de-icing equipment, nor do we have the power to blast up 05:28 through it quickly, like you would with a large 05:31 commercial aircraft. Plus the aircraft isn't certified 05:36 or licensed to fly in instrument conditions. 05:40 We are required to fly by a set of rules called VFR - 05:44 Visual Flight Rules. So we must maintain visual reference 05:48 to the ground at all times. 05:50 Which flying the cloud does not allow you to do. 05:53 When the weather is bad, you are grounded. 05:57 Thankfully, the journey continues on for the next 06:00 couple of hours uneventful. 06:02 Although the skies are threatening them with bad 06:05 weather, the conditions are still safe enough to fly. 06:09 Well, I gave Julie the task of helping look ahead at 06:13 airports coming up. Looking up their frequencies. Looking up 06:17 their runway elevation. Should we need to use them 06:21 for an emergency stop, due to weather or mechanical conditions 06:26 Those first few legs we didn't know how the mechanical of the 06:29 aircraft is going to hold up. So we were keeping an eye 06:33 on every single airstrip in front of us, most of the way 06:36 down here. So she was tasked with looking those up, 06:40 getting their frequencies ready, getting their circuit altitude 06:43 information to me. So that if I had to make a quick emergency 06:47 decision, I had all the tools and information handy 06:51 and ready to go. So we could handle the situation 06:55 with as much safety and grace and that as possible. 06:59 Ray tasks Julie with helping him manage the navigation 07:03 system, and monitoring the conditions around them. 07:07 Making a long trip like this with only one pilot 07:10 can be very overwhelming. 07:12 Thankfully Julie is able to be Ray's right hand 07:17 and help take some of the responsibility. 07:20 Even with the help of his wife, Ray feels the pressure 07:24 of being the only pilot. He must perform at a 100% 07:28 for hours at a time, with no break, 07:31 unless they find a place to land. 07:33 This job is both physically and mentally draining, 07:37 so it is important that they plan their flight with many 07:41 breaks along the way. 07:43 Well, it definitely was maximum on the stress meter. 07:49 There was a lot of work, that had to be done and 07:52 get settled in to the airplane. 07:54 First time we flew it with a max load. 07:57 So I am wondering how it would handle with that size 08:00 of load is what was going through my head 08:02 being careful to keep it within the numbers. 08:06 And to get it setup and cruising handling all the extra 08:11 radio work as we transition through a very busy airspace 08:14 right off the bat. 08:15 So our hands were over full over flowing let's say for the 08:21 first hour or two into our flight and that we got 08:25 to settle in to a little more normal pace. 08:29 Of course as the only pilot, everything falls on your 08:33 shoulders and it was more stressful than the flight 08:36 I had previously made with Jud Wickwire 2 years back, 08:40 because we could take turns flying the aircraft 08:44 One guy could take a little nap, he could rest. 08:47 The stress of being on your game all the time it is a lot harder 08:53 on a single pilot, than it is when you can share the workload 08:56 with a fellow pilot. 08:59 As they continue to fly south, the clouds seems to close in 09:03 around them more and more. 09:05 Ray makes the decision to fly at a lower altitude. 09:10 They had planned to make it to Georgia for their first 09:13 rest stop, but the cloud cover is forcing them to make 09:18 their first stop in Indiana, 09:20 only 3 hours after beginning their journey. 09:28 Hey, we are in Huntingburg Indiana First leg of our flight 09:33 completed and it was exciting. 09:39 Some low ceilings little bit of rain. 09:41 The first day was hectic than it settled into a little bit 09:47 of a lull and than the weather started creeping down on us. 09:49 We had to get down pretty low to get under some bad weather, 09:54 but we managed to squeak through as far as we could, 09:56 to our first rest stop. 09:59 For journeys this long, it is good practice to fuel up 10:02 every time you land the plane. 10:04 The first order of business once on the ground is to find fuel 10:08 and top off both tanks. 10:10 These Cessnas hold their fuel in the wings of the airplane. 10:14 After fueling, Ray immediately checks the weather to see 10:19 how quickly the storm system is headed for them. 10:22 It's fools play. 10:24 This is God's asset we are not putting it at risk for nothing. 10:29 He doesn't like what he sees. It seems as if the weather 10:32 has caught up with them. He makes the calculated 10:36 decision to not fly any further today. 10:41 We stopped for today because ceilings are low. 10:46 We have a thunderstorm with hail right in our path 10:50 and we are running out of daylight. So it would eat up 10:54 too much of our time to try to divert around it. 10:57 Better stop now and be safe. Start again in the morning 11:01 when we have lots of daylight. Unfortunately once we got 11:05 there, got fueled up the daylight hours were 11:08 dwindling on us and we weren't about to fly into 11:12 potentially bad weather and darkness at the same time. 11:15 That would be just foolish, se we spent the night there. 11:19 We continued on the next day, which turned out to be 11:21 the wise decision. 11:24 Overnight, the storm that has been threatening them all day 11:28 finally catches up with them. 11:30 Even in the morning the flying conditions don't look 11:33 too promising. After studying the weather predictions, 11:36 Ray formulates a plan. 11:39 The plan for today is to skirt a little bit of bad weather 11:43 Down into Mississippi and than we are going to go south east 11:50 and trying to make it down into Florida today. 11:52 What is the obstacle? 11:54 The obstacle is, we are right between 2 fast moving systems. 11:58 And if we just hit it right there is a little window of time 12:01 that we can squeak between the two systems. 12:04 Kind of like Moses crossing through the sea and the waters 12:08 have opened up and we got a little channel to squeak through 12:11 That's what we are going for today. 12:14 It seems as if the bad weather is chasing aircraft 8838 x-ray. 12:19 Altimeter 2, niner, niner, three remarks lighting data missing 12:27 Almost the same as yesterday. 12:30 Huntingburg traffic November 8838 x-ray is taxiing 12:34 to position on 27 left hand turn out. 12:40 Max power! 12:48 They made a wise decision to continue 12:51 on their journey, however. 12:52 The skies are looking hopeful I got a little bit of blue sky. 12:56 It's broken. That's always a good sign. 12:59 It's a little rough and windy, but that's good, because 13:02 it's clearing all of the bottom cloud out of the low lying areas 13:06 Yeah, it's looking very hopeful probably 90% chance of success 13:11 so far on this flight. 13:12 It seems like the bad weather reports keep coming. 13:15 All around them are ominous black clouds 13:19 that threaten their safety. 13:21 It is that system, that's waiting this morning to pass 13:23 through right here and we are scooting around 13:24 the back side of it. 13:26 OK, OK, well that's gone, I can see 13:28 The new system is that one over there coming in, so we got 13:32 maybe a 50 mile window of time here to do what the good Lord 13:38 intends us to do. 13:42 In order to avoid a very turbulent ride, Ray takes 13:46 the plane above the clouds and flies at an altitude 13:51 of over 8,000 feet. 13:53 We took off early in the morning day 2, leg 2 of our trip. 13:57 And everything was going pretty good. We were up around 8,000' 14:04 Just clearing the tops of a lot of weather. 14:07 Up above the clouds, the sky is bright blue and clear. 14:13 Flying at this altitude also has it's disadvantages. 14:17 There is a strong headwind pushing back against them 14:21 which in turn increases the amount of fuel they burn. 14:25 They are in no danger, however but they do need to monitor 14:30 their flight time at this altitude. 14:32 It would be nice to pick up a cell tower here somewhere 14:37 and get a little weather update. 14:42 But in the meantime, it's a welcome break 14:44 from dodging ominous storm clouds. 15:05 Ray and Julie Young have been flying at 8,000 feet 15:08 for some time now, and Ray decides that it's time to drop 15:12 his elevation and see what the weather is like below the clouds 15:17 However, dropping below the clouds proves to be a risky one. 15:22 The storm system that has been chasing them the past 2 days 15:25 has only worsened. 15:28 The clouds are thick and the visibility is very minimal. 15:32 This pushes them to an incredibly low flying altitude. 15:39 What should I do? 15:42 The mountainous terrain below them seems too drastically 15:46 closed in for anyone's comfort. 15:49 They need to land the airplane and they need to land it now! 15:55 I always knew, I was probably going to have to go a little 15:57 to the east to get around this, but I should've stayed up top, 16:03 but who knows what's up ahead, right? 16:06 Let's find something on this track, that we are now on. 16:11 OK if you keep going straight on our right there is a small 16:16 airport to the right and up there ahead. 16:20 This very quickly escalated into a dangerous situation! 16:24 Julie does her best to locate the closest runway to them. 16:29 But it is still miles away. 16:32 Get my fuel where I want it - fuels on both. 16:35 You have a visual? 16:37 Mixture is going rich-ish I do not 16:40 It should be right out here somewhere. 16:49 I've been trying to fly into the headwind here just to keep 16:52 a little better look. 16:54 Is that right there? 16:57 Where the tower is? 17:03 Well, where that long building is over there? 17:04 That looks like a big stretch there. 17:06 It does! 17:07 I want to go a little bit into the wind, so I can turn it 17:13 downwind. Rather than just do a base and plunk her in - aye? 17:18 They don't have enough fuel to continue flying above the clouds 17:22 with the oncoming headwinds, and the air below the clouds 17:26 is far too volatile and turbulent. 17:29 Although their next scheduled stop isn't for another 2 hours, 17:33 it became clear that they needed to land this plane 17:37 as soon as possible. 17:40 November 8838 x-ray about 3 miles east of the airport 17:46 inbound for landing. 17:49 Heading right at it, right now. 17:51 I see it right there. 17:53 Because immediately when you cross over the power lines, 17:55 you're right there. 17:57 Thankfully within a few miles, they were able to find 18:02 an airport and do an emergency landing. 18:05 There's runway markings. 18:07 Jah, that's it. 18:10 We're in Calhoun Georgia. 18:13 Thomas David area Traffic, Cessna 8838 X-ray turning 18:17 downwind left 17. 18:20 Landing check. 18:40 Once on the ground, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. 18:44 They both thanked God that He protected them in what could 18:48 have been a very dangerous situation. 18:52 Due to the headwinds and the length of time 18:55 that it was taking 18:57 we decided to go down and underneath the cloud cover 18:59 for the last hour or two of our leg, but unfortunately once we 19:05 got down underneath the cloud cover, it was extremely rough 19:09 weather and extremely low ceilings. So after getting 19:15 beat up pretty hard by the turbulence, we decided to pick 19:19 the next airport in front of us and did an emergency landing 19:22 at that airstrip. And sat there for a few hours got some more 19:28 gas to make sure we have lots of fuel on board and within a few 19:31 hours the weather broke again and we were able to continue on 19:35 in what I felt was the safest conditions. 19:39 After waiting a few hours for the skies to clear, Ray now 19:43 needs to make the decision to either stay in Georgia 19:46 till the weather passes, or risk bad and turbulent weather 19:51 again and continue to Florida. 19:54 Both decisions have consequences that needed 19:57 to be carefully considered. 19:59 If they stay in Georgia, they could be stuck there for several 20:03 days, till the weather clears. 20:06 If they continue their journey, they could again run into bad 20:10 weather that might put them in danger. 20:13 After weighting the options the Young's decide to move forward 20:17 and continue their flight. They take off into the skies 20:21 and once again climb to a safe altitude. 20:24 You got to make your best decision, based on knowledge 20:28 and experience. And than don't leave your 20:31 gut out of the decision. It's a balance of both. 20:36 It seems as if they might made the right decision. 20:41 As they continue to head south, the skies become 20:44 clearer and clearer. The more distance they put 20:49 between them and the storms brewing in Georgia, the better. 20:54 The weather was very tight, but we were able to squeak through. 21:01 And looking back on it and even looking forward praying that God 21:05 would open the door for us and it appears He did. 21:08 It was only a small crack, but we were able to squeak 21:11 through it. You definitely knew by looking at two other systems 21:16 about to collide that it was kind of like Moses 21:21 and the sea parting. We just had that little window of time 21:25 to get through and we had to take advantage of it and we did. 21:28 Otherwise we would've never made it through that weather 21:32 we could've been held up with on this flight for 21:34 an indefinite amount of time. 21:36 God was definitely looking after us. 21:38 Definitely opening opportunities. 21:41 They weren't big, but they were just big enough for us 21:44 and our little airplane. 21:46 After a very stressful second day, the Young's are relieved 21:50 to see clear blue skies. So the trip to Florida is only 21:54 a few hours and they enjoy every moment of the calm ride. 21:59 As the second day comes to a close, and the sun begins to set 22:03 over the Florida horizon, Ray and Julie have almost reached 22:07 their destination for the day. 22:10 They watch the beautiful sun, as it sinks lower and lower. 22:16 They have just enough time to reach their destination 22:19 before the sun sinks away for the evening. 22:22 When they reach the ground, they have shocking news awaiting them 22:27 Well, when we landed, we did the emergency, quick circuit, 22:33 quick landing there in Georgia. we than got to sit and watch 22:36 the weather channel of the weather that we've just passed 22:39 through. Two systems colliding right north of us. 22:44 Basically, had we stayed as said earlier, we would been stuck 22:50 there for a week or more in Wisconsin before the weather 22:54 may have cleared up enough that we could come through 22:57 so God was definitely opening the door for us, 23:01 but it was a pretty narrow crack that we had to sneak through. 23:05 We had to do it in a timely manner and it appears as though 23:10 we just made it through by the skin of our teeth 23:12 in a lot of areas, otherwise we could've been stuck 23:15 on the ground waiting for weather for weeks 23:17 before we could've ever made it out of there again. 23:21 As it turned out looking at the weather behind us, 23:24 right on our heels, just hours or days after we snuck through 23:28 between systems, the two systems collided and spun tornadoes 23:33 and did all kinds of destruction and everything behind us, 23:36 as we squeaked our way down here. 23:40 Had Ray and Julie chosen to stay in Georgia, they would have been 23:44 directly in the path of storms and tornadoes that would have 23:50 destroyed the aircraft. 23:52 It was God leading them, that they were able to escape 23:56 the storm and the skies cleared enough for them to reach Florida 24:00 God was definitely at work protecting the Young's 24:04 and 8838 x-ray. 24:07 They all say a prayer of thanks, that God's protection is over 24:13 them and also over this precious airplane. 24:34 The next morning, after a much needed rest, the Young's are 24:38 again faced with terrible news. A hurricane has developed 24:42 in the Caribbean directly traveling the same route 24:46 that they need to take to reach Guyana. 24:50 So after two incredibly wonderful, but stressful days 24:55 We landed in Florida, and hurricane Gonzalo is right over 25:01 top of our next fuel stop and kicking up winds and possibly 25:07 very bad weather. Unfortunately over the Caribbean we don't have 25:11 the best of weather reporting coverage, so we kind of have to 25:15 take educated guesses. So we decided to err on the side 25:19 of safety and stay in Florida for an extra couple of days. 25:23 Until we could see that Gonzalo has actually changed direction, 25:26 and moved a little further from our flight path. So that 25:30 the winds and bad weather wouldn't disrupt our travels. 25:36 The risks is too great to travel onward. 25:39 They are safest staying put in Florida till they are able 25:43 to see what comes with this hurricane. 25:46 They park the plane in a safe location and bunker down 25:50 for a few days. 25:52 So hurricane Gonzalo is coming up on Turks and Caicos, 25:57 which is our next fuel stop. Once we leave Ft Lauderdale 26:00 Executive airport. 26:02 So we decided to spend a couple extra days in Florida. 26:05 Until we could see which direction the storm was 26:09 going to go. Whether or not it was going to get off our flight 26:14 path so we would not have to divert around it or fly through 26:17 it or waste our precious fuel fighting winds and possibly 26:23 running short and not making it to our next fuel stop. 26:27 Ray watches the weather like a hawk, constantly keeping an eye 26:30 on what options he has for delivering this plane 26:33 as soon as possible. 26:36 The Young's are grounded in Florida for now. 26:39 I just felt like from the moment we took off and the 26:44 weather systems, the way they were, it just seemed like 26:47 we were being chased by weather. 26:49 It felt like the devil was mad at us. That we were bringing 26:53 this aircraft down here. 26:54 Can't explain it. I've only been flying for 30 years, but I have 26:58 never seen weather systems and collisions and catastrophic 27:03 weather like this. 27:05 That weather we squeaked through the next day ripped up towns 27:08 behind us. Tore up trees. Caused all kinds of damage. 27:11 People died. It was horrendous, the storms that we somehow were 27:17 able to squeak through. It's just unexplainable, 27:21 other than God was holding back the winds of tides so that we 27:25 could squeak through and get this asset of His delivered 27:29 in a timely manner. 27:31 But despite the setback, they are not discouraged. 27:35 No, the past couple of days has shown them, 27:39 God is clearing a way for them. 27:41 They are in high spirits as they know that they are 27:45 on the Lord's mission. 27:48 Oh, you know that, you made a difference for sure. 27:52 I knew that before I started it. Because I could see 27:56 the difference these aircraft are making. 27:58 Years ago, when I came down to service the 206, 28:02 long before I started on this project. 28:06 It's just unimaginable in this kind of heat and humidity 28:10 in that the simplest things that we can just go to a hospital 28:15 or a doctor and get looked after It's like disease goes rampant 28:21 here in this environment. And it's so critical to get people 28:25 even with severe dehydration or what ever, out of here 28:28 to where they can get the best possible medical help 28:32 that they can get. Just hours or days of not getting sufficient 28:37 medical help in this environment 28:39 Once you experienced this environment you would understand 28:45 How hard and difficult it is if you don't get medical help. 28:48 So an aircraft is the only way to get them there within an hour 28:51 we can usually get them to medical help. 28:55 Otherwise they would be looking at a canoe ride, or something 28:59 for a day or two down the river Just to get to here, 29:02 to get on the barge, To take another two day ride 29:05 on the open ocean, to get to a hospital. 29:07 You know even with diseases and things at home we don't have 29:12 4-5 days to go see our doctor. When we finally realize we are 29:17 at that critical, critical stage, where you need 29:19 emergency help. So there is just no way these people could 29:23 survive. Or anybody over here could survive 29:26 without the use of an aircraft. |
Revised 2015-11-05