What must happen to make the mission possible?

Say for example, our mission for today is to transport ministry workers to a location 60 nautical miles (NM) from our base in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; a flight duration of about 30 minutes.  In this country, driving to the same location could take hours, depending on the condition of the mountain roads that are winding and steep.  Many hold the image that everybody and everything is just piled into the airplane and away we go; good imagery, but that's Hollywood.

In reality, the flying part is the end result of many hours of painstaking preparation.  The terrain here in the western highlands of Guatemala is unforgiving to say the least.  Mountain, volcano, narrow steep valley, and of course unpredictable weather, are all factors that are left out of the movie version of the mission.  The pilot must be well trained, experienced, level headed, emotionally, and physically prepared; but that's another story.  Given that these and other factors are met, let's look at what it takes for the aircraft to be up to the task.

Some aircraft still fly safely even though they are 40 plus years old; a car that age would have long ago been turned into bicycles or aluminum siding on a house.  Why is aircraft able to pull this off?  Because, every part of an airplane is under strict life-limiting or inspection regulation,  that's right, regulation!  Meaning that an aircraft is not airworthy if any critical system or part has not been repaired, replaced, or inspected, according to regulation.   Think about how much that would cost you if we applied this thinking to your car.

How many months have you driven on bald tires or with a fan belt that has been worn down to a few strings before you purchase and install replacements?  In aircraft that is a no-go; the difference being that in an automobile, at worst, you're stuck at the side of the road .  In an airplane, the consequences of operating outside of strict regulation are fatal.

Airplanes are constantly being inspected by pilot and mechanic to ensure all systems are operating safely.  The idea being: fix it before it is worn to the point of failure.  This means special tools and equipment are needed to determine if a part is still useable.  In addition, special records are kept to determine when it is time to replace life-limited items.  All this and more go into making  sure the 30 minute flight operation saves and not costs lives. 

Click on the links in the left hand column, there you can read about some of the routine, and not so routine maintenance occurrences.