I had planned to go with Gary Roberts our mission pilot to South Sudan this past week but apparently it was not meant to be. There was a schedule problem then early one morning as we took off a warning light came on showing the alternator was not operating properly but as we landed it seemed ok. Played with some connections all seemed ok so tried again and had to land again then it finally was consistent and he finally found a broken wire but too late to go as it is a 10 hr flight with almost no place to land most of the way. Much of the way is over Central African Republic (CAR). Next day we took off early but an indicater showed one of the magnetos was not functioning as it should. (The plane has two magnetos so it can still run ok but not quite full power) so aborted the trip and came back after 45 minutes into the flight. His overflight permits over CAR were expiring etc after all the delays. He found the problem was a condenser in the magneto which he replaced. The plane is fine now He says he never has had 2 mechanical problems in the same week before. I later saw a internet headline that 150 were killed in some fighting in south Sudan but I think in a different part from where we had planned to go. We were to visit some government officials and see and evaluate 2 hospitals in northeast South Sudan but maybe some other time when everything is calm. Maybe the Lord made the wire break or the condenser quit. We were never in any danger so far as the plane was concerned. Gary is a very careful pilot and mechanic and has extra safety equipment on the plane to detect problems like that.
Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love Rollin and Dolores
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