Asas de Socorro

On May 30 I got to go check out Asas de Socorro, which is where Joel works and trains. This is also where Michawn goes to help out and work on her Portuguese (mainly just by being around people speaking it, but does a little studying there too). At Asas de Socorro they have missionaries, students, and employees. They train missionaries, teach people how to do maintenance on planes, and also train pilots. Asas de Socorro has been running for 50 years and has never had a plane to crash or anyone get hurt! Amazing huh? They are so good at what they do that outsiders want them to do maintenance on their planes, build engines for them, and etc. This type of maintenance for outsiders gives the Asas students more hands on training time; there would not be a whole lot of that if they just worked with the Asas planes. Since Joel has his pilots license from the states he does not have to attend the classes Asas, but he does have to take all the test that are required for the students. Because of this he still has to put in study time. He also has to get more flight hours here to obtain his pilots license in Brazil. We did not get to go flying that day but Joel plans on taking me up while I am here. Every morning they start the day off with a little devotion in the hanger, then students go to class, they do maintenance on the planes that need to be worked on, and they fly. This is what they do all day long. So that is Joels life as of now.
Michawn; however, goes to Asas every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons from about 1:30-5. This coming week she will start a project of sewing little salvation booklets together for the mission teams to take to give to the little children during the mission trips. These little booklets are kind of like our salvation bracelets in the States.

These pictures are of where Joel spends most of his time.


This is the flight school/maintenance hanger. To the left of it they are building more classrooms and on the right of this hanger there will be another hanger built to house JAARS which is WYCLIFF aviation dept.


This plane actually got done with maintenance that morning and is now ready for a test flight.


As you can tell this plane is still being worked on.
Nice pose Joel! ;-)


This is another picture of the plane that is having maintenance done to it.


This is the inside of the plane that just got done in maintenance.



This is the runway. They actually have a paved runway at the back, you may can see it if you double click on the picture and blow it up. But once they are finished with all the training and schooling and actually start to fly for the missions they will be landing in the Amazon. These places will be very hilly, have lots of trees, and some landing will actually be done on water. Training and preparation is very rigorous because you have to be highly qualified and good to do these kind of landings.


This is the headquarters for Asas de Socorro which is just down the road from the hanger. This is where Michawn works and studies her Portuguese.