TAKING TRAINING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Months of training at JAARS in Pre-Field Orientation (PFO) recently culminated in a week of flying in the North Carolina mountains for six men who will serve as mission pilots overseas. Mountainous terrain has unique challenges of wind and weather, and if these aviators are going to serve in the green band of rainforest regions, they need to be prepared to fly as safely as possible.
JAARS didn’t take them to the mountains unprepared. “JAARS does a good job of building you up to the point where you need to be, so that when you arrive at Mountain Week, you don’t feel like you’re hanging on by your fingernails,” helicopter pilot Greg Raychard said.
During Mountain Week, the helicopter pilots made reconnaissance flights, landed on ridges, and descended straight down into “holes” cut out among the trees.
Meanwhile, the fixed-wing aircraft pilots soloed on grass airstrips, including the formidable Strawberry Ridge, which is only 1,000’ long with a 10% slope— very steep compared to the standard 3% slope in the United States!
This training prepares the pilots to land on difficult runways overseas, such as the Nankina runway in Papua New Guinea; Nankina is 1,772’ long with about a 10% slope. People like you make it happen!
To learn more and watch some videos visit: jaars.org/MW24
