Fifteen minutes after the SIL airplane left, the weather in Mt. Tawa actually cleared enough for it to land, but by then it was halfway to Ukarumpa. We arranged for another radio rendezvous at 3:00pm to update the weather and consider plan B. Then it rained some more.

Neil, Heath, and I gathered in the living room to pray. When it came to my turn, what came to my mind was thankfulness for the safety of the plane and passengers. The Mt. Tawa airstrip is not easy on its best days. At least one airplane has been damaged when downdrafts forced a plane dangerously below the approach end of the runway. More than a few others have had hard landings as they descended into rising terrain. It has been 13 years since my phone stopped ringing in the middle of the night to let me know about an airplane incident or accident, but I have not forgotten the anguish of sitting with a widow and children after a fatality. The SIL pilot made the safe decision. That was a good thing. We admitted our dependence upon God and prayed that His will be done.

After praying, I stared out of Neil’s living room window up the ridge at the airstrip, as if the heat of my stare could make the rain and fog evaporate. I thought of all the upcoming connecting flights that would disconnect if I didn’t get to Ukarumpa Tuesday. And it kept raining.

The rain stopped around 2:45pm. As it pushed north, we began to see the clouds thinning to the south and blue sky peeking through. The fog began rising from the valleys on the afternoon air. When Neil gave the 3:00pm weather update to the pilots in Ukarumpa, he reported that the ridges to the south were clear, the ridges to the north were clearing, and the normal traffic pattern was open. After weighing the implications of a return flight Tuesday afternoon against adding a flight to get us on Wednesday, the pilot decided another flight Tuesday was a better option. That decision was made around 3:20pm. At 3:21pm, Heath and I walked out the door with our suitcases and backpacks, as well as Neil’s, to make the hike to the airstrip. Neil would stay back to give the pilot another weather update at 4:00pm while the plane was en route.

During the hike up to the airstrip, our entourage grew to between 80 and 100 people. Everyone wanted to carry our cargo, shake our hands, and hug our necks. Walking alone the hike might take 10 minutes. With a crowd it took about 20 minutes. We made it to the top end of the airstrip and parked our gear to wait another 35 minutes for the plane. Heath entertained the crowd first by pulling out a bag of mini-Snickers candy bars and boxes of Nerds. He wisely delegated the distribution responsibility to our Folopa friend James. As always, distribution was by clan and family. That distracted everyone for several minutes. The kids held three or four tiny Nerds candies in their hands like they were priceless treasure. When the candy ran out, Heath regaled the crowd with tales of jumping out of airplanes and other military adventures, all translated by James.

Neil was winding his way through the village as the SIL plane came into sight. The plane made its normal circle to approach and touched down around 4:15pm. The pilot loaded our gear while Heath and I made another round of hugs and handshakes. Neil moved from embrace to embrace toward the plane. More than a few eyes were misty. Some of those were mine. I never know if the next time I see these dear people will be when we stand around God’s throne. I remembered the words of the old Folopa warrior who spoke in church describing their uncertainty whether Neil would ever return.

As the plane lined up for departure, the Folopa waved helplessly at us. The pilot eased the throttle forward. We tumbled down the hill and fell into the sky. With multiple cloud layers and scattered rain along our route back to Ukarumpa, the options were to go high and hope for a way to descend visually at our destination (since there is no instrument approach in Ukarumpa) or to go low and hope that the gap between the clouds and the ridges was sufficient to allow the Kodiak to slip through. The pilot opted for the low route. The copilot (me) was appropriately supportive. Flying low in spectacular mountain terrain, over deep canyons, by sheer rock cliffs, above cascading waterfalls and past isolate villages is breathtaking—in a good way. For most of the flight, the clouds and rain posed no particular problem as we cruised along at 165 knots. But as we got closer to our destination, the weather report and view from our windshield indicated low clouds and rain at the airport. About 20 miles out from Ukarumpa, clouds and ground began noticeably converging. The pilot slowed the plane to 110 knots in order to have more time to evaluate options and to increase the maneuverability of the plane. We hugged the ridges to our right so that we had maximum space to turn left if needed. Rain blocked several ridges. We passed them by as we continued to survey the options. Airports behind us were open if needed. Our pilot made radio contact with another SIL on the ground at the airport for a weather update. The ridges surrounding the airport were covered in clouds. The only possible approach was from the northwest. Fortunately that was precisely our location at that moment. Through light rain, we could see a gap between the clouds and the ridge, so the pilot turned across the ridge. As we crossed into the Aiyura valley, we flew out of the rain and saw the airport just a mile away. The pilot quickly transitioned for the landing and brought us to a soft touchdown. As the ground crew unloaded our baggage, a light rain began falling. If we had been 5 minutes later, we probably would have had to spend the night at another village. Instead, by God’s grace, we were back on schedule for our onward flights.

The SIL pilots here know that I used to fly with MAF. We all came from the same schools and had the same flight training. There is high respect and good camaraderie between SIL and MAF pilots. I told the SIL pilot that he was good enough to fly for MAF. He smiled and accepted it as the compliment I intended.

As I changed my shirt later that evening, I noticed that I both the left and right sides were stained by the sweat of Folopa embraces. I may not wash that shirt.

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