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So you want to fly?

randys-links-for-aspiring-missionary-pilots

This page is introductory in nature, based on the historical experience and perceptions of the author.
Up to date information and policies concerning Ethnos360 Aviation (fka New Tribes Mission Aviation) should be viewed at ethnos360aviation.org

Where do you start?

So, you are interested in serving in missionary aviation!

I’m glad to help in any way I can. Nearly everyone reading this is coming from a different starting point, but most will have some common ground leading toward the Biblical objective. 

Ethnos360 Aviation primarily serves the ministries of Ethnos360.

The objective for Ethnos360 is: A Thriving Church for Every People – that is, to establish thriving churches of Christ-followers in every ethnolinguistic people group in every part of the world. 

When you live near the ends of the earth, it really helps to have an aircraft to get there!  Teaching people to observe or obey all that Christ commanded requires a sustained effort over many years. Aviation teams help make that possible to accomplish in one lifetime. 

The aviation perspective on this page will be based on the ministry of Ethnos360. That includes a focus on leading people groups who are unreached with the Gospel, and unengaged by the Church, into a relationship and close fellowship with the Living God of the Bible. Aviation ministries desire to provide sustained, faithful, reliable service to the people who are working to accomplish the Biblical objectives. 

Aviation personnel hold to high standards as professional aviators to serve missionary teams and remote people groups. Would you like to join the team?

Training Time - Preparing Yourself to Serve

Though not necessarily in this order, engaging with Ethnos360 as a professional aviator requires, technical, spiritual, and relational preparation:

  • Preparing to be a qualified and effective missionary. (4 years)
  • Preparing to be a high quality aviation professional. (Often 4-6 years)
  • Preparing a team of senders and supporters who will work with you to bring the Good News to remote people. (1 year)

Missionary aviation is glamorous… for a little while. 

It doesn’t take long for that enthusiasm for glamor to wear off and a pilot to begin asking, “Why am I here?” For this and many others reasons, missionary aviation organizations are usually looking for people with a high level of commitment; who have the heart to serve as a career missionary and who have professional aviation skills. 

If your heart is not in what you are doing with your skills, then a lot of time, effort, and expense will be invested for too little return as you get bored, tired, or discouraged enough to leave the ministry to work somewhere else. Turnover of personnel is a constant challenge for organizations trying to accomplish some long-term objectives; providing reliable aviation support to people living in remote places. 

It often takes a career missionary pilot ten years to get the training and experience needed to effectively serve in another country. That’s a long time. Most of the people who start moving toward a career in missionary aviation, intending to serve, don’t persevere to complete the equipping process.
 
Three aspects of training time include: 
  • Missionary Equipping
  • Professional & Technical Training
  • Team Building / aka Raising Support in Funding, Prayer, and Logistics

Missionary Equipping

Are you ready?

  • What are the qualifications to be a missionary?
    Anybody can share their own personal testimony about what Jesus did for them with someone else.
    Anyone can have a part in sending, supporting, and serving people who are qualified to do this work.  Not everyone can be Biblically qualified to ordain deacons and elders in a church at home or overseas.
    Everyone can do something.
    All of us started out as enemies of God who were redeemed by Jesus. How can we invest ourselves to free people who are still being held captive and are still enemies of God?
  • What do you need to be doing now to be able to serve well later in your desired capacity?
  • What is the mission? According to the Bible, what are missionaries trying to do?
  • Who sends missionaries?
  • What are the qualifications for church leadership?
  • Would your local church leaders want you to represent them in doing God’s work on behalf of the church in a faraway place? If not, what are you doing to change that now? Are you engaging your church leaders to be discipled and equipped?
  • In what ways are you glorifying God in serving other people where you live now?
  • Are you prepared to serve people, leading them to know and obey our worthy Savior?
A prerequisite for serving as a missionary with Ethnos360 (including pilots and mechanics) is a working knowledge of what God has written in the Holy Bible. Some people receive this through intentional training in their home church. Others go to a school. For people who do not have training I recommend attending  the two year program at Ethnos360 Bible Institute.
 
Career missionaries with Ethnos360 also complete two years of training at Ethnos360 Training before continuing on to Ethnos360 Aviation for specialized training. https://ethnos360.org/training/ethnos360-trainin

Technical Training

A secular organization can teach you to fly. The FAA Standards are the minimum requirements for training and certification. Anyone who meets those standards can teach you. However, wouldn’t it be better to adopt the values of instructors who share your passion to serve God?

I received a lot of my training at local airports (and wasted a lot of time and money doing so). Beware that many will quote costs near minimum standards rather than practical world averages. Your total costs may be quite a bit higher than anticipated. A less organized training program or instructor will cost you more. Your less frequent flying or less diligent study habits will also likely cost you more than an organized and intentional missionary flight school. 

Missionary aviation training organizations will most likely save you time and money. 

Some key advantages of being trained by an organization that focuses on missionary aviation are: 

  • Experience – Many missionary aviation training organizations are staffed by people who have already done what you desire to do. They will teach you things incidentally and intentionally that you may not realize that you need to know. Their standards are more likely to coincide with the organization where you will serve.
  • Integrity – As a general rule you will be trained by people holding to a Biblical and conscientious standard of integrity. They often want to train you well in a timely manner without cutting corners or prolonging your training for monetary reasons.
  • Accountability – Missionary aviation schools usually have high standards for all personnel as well as systems for maintaining those high standards.
  • Judgment – Aviation is full of judgment calls. When you are trained by experienced missionary pilots they will pass on their integrity and experience while guiding your decision-making processes with Biblical standards of goodness. Good or bad, what an instructor teaches or demonstrates will greatly influence what you do over a lifetime. The greatest advantage of learning from a missionary aviation training organization is the good judgement you will inherit. That’s worth a lot!

Team Building

The first question most of us ask when considering a career in missionary aviation is this: “How am I going to do this alone?”

The general answer is: “You can’t.”

God designed His work to be accomplished by His Body, the Church. Even if you are wealthy and can pay up front for much of what you do, God’s work is a spiritual work requiring a supernatural change in the hearts of people as they embrace His written word by believing Him. We are working toward a spiritual result which only God can provide. The physical, financial, and spiritual obstacles are many. Opposition is fierce. Dependence upon God is the only way this works. (John 15:5) 

Most of us quickly realize that getting training and maintaining a sustained presence as a missionary aviator in some remote part of the earth is going to require a lot more financial support than we have in our possession. This work is going to require faith in God’s word that He will provide. 

Many people go into debt to get their training and are thereafter not free to serve in missionary work because of that bondage. While there are organizations who want to relieve that burden for committed workers, it is best to find ways to avoid being trapped.

God’s normal and ordinary provision for His work is through people who give of their own resources, by faith, to meet needs in other parts of the Church or the world.  Faith comes by hearing God’s word. People must know about the needs before they can respond in faith. 

That’s where you come in. Your personal and ministry needs are going to provide opportunities for other people to hear about God’s work among unreached people groups. You may be a vessel for them to do something to meet those needs. 

Ministry is not about us, but about the people we work to engage. So, you have the privilege and responsibility to tell others what you want to do, why it is important, and invite them to engage along with you for the glory of God. 

These two pages may help clarify what I mean.

Personal Support
Money and Missions

 

The Common Minimum Standard

“You can get your aviation training anywhere.”  You will hear this eventually.

All USA training organizations will be training to FAA standards as a minimum. 

Missionary Aviation Organizations

What You Can Do Now...

So You Want to Be A Missionary?

There are some things you can do now to prepare to serve well later. 

Getting Acquainted With Aviation

General Aviation Resources – Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)

Free Resources 

It’s never too early to begin changing the way you think about aviation. It is not required that you start with a school. You can hire an instructor at your local airport. A school is great because instructors will guide you through a logical sequence of information related to other things you are learning. A good instructor, like a good tutor, can help you learn quickly. The challenge is in finding an instructor that is good. 

At some point in time you will realize that every training program refers to, draws upon, and teaches toward understanding of the official information published by the FAA. The more you progress in your training, the more dependent you will be in referring to the FAA resources. They are all public and free on the FAA web sites.  So, the sooner you get familiar with the FAA sources the more quickly your aviation training will progress. As a professional pilot and as a flight instructor you will be required to be personally acquainted with this material to a professional and teaching level. 

All USA training organizations will be training to FAA standards as a minimum. 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

If you are serious about an aviation career, the sooner you get to know these the better for you, especially for teens looking into aviation.

The FAA books can be downloaded for free from the faa.gov website. The books are very informative and many are beautifully illustrated with colorful graphics.  They are useful at every level of flight training and are the sources from which many other books gather information.  All commercial training programs, of necessity, draw from these source documents. 

Much of the information and resources can be accessed from these pages:

  1. Pilots – https://www.faa.gov/pilots/
  2. Aircraft Handbooks & Manuals – https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft
  3. Aviation Handbooks & Manuals – https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation
  4. Federal Aviation Regulations: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14tab_02.tpl (Parts 61, 67 & 91)

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Introduction to Ethnos360 – stilluntold.org/intro