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On It's Way

Yes, it fit!
R44 to the Philippines

Did you ever see a helicopter loaded into a shipping container?  You could have watched it happen on the morning of February 5.  You have been praying for the R44 being rebuilt to serve missionaries on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.  Finally its “moving day” arrived. 

On that morning, a shipping container arrived at NTM Aviation in McNeal, AZ.  The helicopter was ready to go.  The staff had disassembled it, shrink- wrapping and cushioning each piece.  They had planned every inch of space in the container and had pre-made the braces and brackets needed.   In just one hour, they finished loading the helicopter, and the container was ready to be trailered to the port in Long Beach, CA,  where it will be put on a ship bound for the Philippines.  It should arrive April 8. 

Meanwhile in the Philippines, temporary help came to the missionaries waiting for the new R44.   Pilots Brian Schaadt and Brian Pruett flew an NTM Aviation R44 several hours over open ocean from another island. 

“The rest of the week will be busy, beginning in the morning,” wrote Brian’s wife Katherine the night before the flights started.  “The heli is loaded and ready to bring in supplies to one of the locations.”

In the course of the week, they’ll provide flights for “several missionaries who need to come out of the mountains for medical appointments and supplies,” says Brian Pruett.    

The flights will do double duty as check-out flights for Brian Pruett, who will be piloting the new  R44 when it arrives.   He’ll be getting familiar with the locations and learning the finer points of flying the helicopter on this island. 

In April when the R44 container arrives in the Philippines, Brian Pruett and Josh Dalton will reassemble it, do test and check-out flights, and get it into regular service, providing flights into locations not accessible by the previous Cessna 185.

Tags: Aviation, Helicopter, Philippines
POSTED ON Mar 07, 2016
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