Missionary Aviation Fellowship... anyone involved?

jwp_145

jwp_145

GhostRider in the Sky
Does anyone have any experience with this organization? After I get my A&P and student loans paid off I'd like to fly missionary supply. I've been in contact with them but was just wondering if anyone had any experience with them... I've asked before but really only got replies from Max about my use of the word "Missionary".

Thanks in advance.
 
I forget the name of the church or school, but i've been told if you didnt attend this specific church or something... you cant fly fo them, PERIOD.

seems ridiculous since you're an A&P!
 
I'd like to do this too (as a pilot), but I don't have an A&P and can't get one until I quit my job. But, if I quit my job I can't support my family, so that probably isn't going to happen for me anytime soon. Someday I will fly as a mission/relief pilot somewhere in the USA or outside of the USA, even if it isn't with MAF. I don't know if I can get my A&P while flying for MAF, but I kinda doubt it.

I meet all the flight time requirements (currently working on CFI, but it is listed as "recommended" not required), the only things holding me back from MAF are the A&P requirement, possibly my age (40 yrs old), and possibly the "active involvement in a local church and/or Christian service" statement. Not exactly sure what they mean by that though. Do I need to be a pastor, or a youth pastor? I attend church regularly, but not sure if that is what is meant by "active involvement" either. I meet all the other requirements listed, as well as some other useful skills and talents.


These are the requirements from their website:

1. Growing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
2. Personal commitment to serve cross-culturally based on a clear understanding of God's command to make disciples of all nations and serve the needy.
3. Team player with a servant heart.
4. Affirmation by other mature Christians of spiritual maturity and suitability for missionary service
5. Two years of active involvement in a local church and/or Christian service.
6. Minimum of 12 hours of college level Bible courses or equivalent Bible training. The Biblical training should provide in-depth study of both the New and Old Testament books. Discipleship training, seminars, Bible teaching, formal Bible studies are also considered in evaluating Bible knowledge.
7. Good health, physical stamina, and perseverance.
8. Willingness and ability to raise personal financial support. After acceptance, MAF will train you on how to raise your support. We'll be with you every step of the way to help in this important process.

Requirements​

  • Commercial pilots license with instrument rating and minimum 400 hours total time
  • Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic license
  • 50 hours of High Performance time
  • Recommended: Certified Flight Instructors rating​
 
ntbjounin said:
I forget the name of the church or school, but i've been told if you didnt attend this specific church or something... you cant fly fo them, PERIOD.
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Sounds like maybe you were misinformed to me. I've never heard that before and seriously doubt it's legitimacy, it just doesn't sound logical.
 
Active involvement is kind of subjective, but, I would assume it means membership in the church and being active in one or more of the various ministries of the church.

My church "Cowboy Church of Ellis County" has many, many ministries. (No wise cracks, we do live in Texas man) and no, you don't have to be a cowboy to join:bandit: It does help if you know which end of the horse is the productive end.:panic:

We have a youth ministry which incorporates Sunday school and bible classes, campouts, trail rides, Buckaroo "U" and rodeo events like goat rustling for the real young ones. On the older youth and adult side, we have a huge covered arena that we hold bull riding and team roping practice nights that are open to the public and we have short services in between sessions. We have a cowboy band. We also have traditional bible studies. We also have a security team that works the various rodeo events that is made up of local law enforcement that are members of the church.

Granted, not all churches have a whole lot of things to be involved in, but "Active" generally means you do more than go to services on Sunday morning
 
I was looking at going through their evaluation process this spring, but was unable to due to financial reasons. If you want any details feel free to shoot me a PM.
 
They have a non-mechanic pilot position as well

All faith based requirements as before
.
Pilot (without Mechanics license)​
Requirements​
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1000 hours total time [/FONT]​

  • Commercial License and Instrument rating​
  • 100 hours of instrument experience​
  • 200 hours in high performance aircraft​
  • Up to 500 hours of CFI time may be considered toward the 1000 TT​
  • Up to 500 hours of SIC (Second-in-command) time may be considered toward the 1000 TT​
  • Maintenance help / duties will be expected on the field
    ​

RECOMMENDED (and will be weighed for acceptance in the pilot only category)
​

  • CFI or CFII​
  • Turbine experience​
 
I'd love to be involved in missionary aviation someday, hopefully after I get my commercial. It's awesome to see people using aviation to advance the kingdom of God.
 
kazoopilot said:
I'd love to be involved in missionary aviation someday, hopefully after I get my commercial. It's awesome to see people using aviation to advance the kingdom of God.
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And if you're not much for God - check out www.pilotsnpaws.org - I did a rescue flight for them and it was the most rewarding experience of my life. Saved a Border Collie who was about to be given the blue needle. Now she's in a loving forever home.
 
I looked into doing Missionary Pilot type work a while back and made a bunch of calls to different places. It seemed it was pretty much standard to have to go to missionary school for 6 months or more. Then you needed to go "door to door" to raise money to fly missions. About the time they all started mentioning going door to door to raise funds I lost interest.
 
Hey thanks for the info Bill. I used to ride bulls and was involved in the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys until about three years ago. Basically, we just organized a little church service in the morning (Saturday and/or Sunday) and also had a group prayer before each rodeo. We also handed out bibles at the rodeo to anyone that wanted one (free). It's hard to find places to buck around here in the midwest, they're out there, but I usually had to drive four hrs or more (sometimes even up to two states away) just for a jackpot. Summer time gets a little better since there are alot of county fairs that have rodeos though.

I don't have 1000 hrs yet, but no worries. I figure I have a few years before I can go do this anyhow so I should have the hours and Instructor Certificates by then and who knows, maybe even my A&P by then too. :)

I'm not just limiting my search to MAF, I know there are many other mission/relief organizations that also look for pilots.

Kazoopilot,
I see you've moved to Niles. If you can afford it, maybe we can get together and rent a plane out of Andrews University (C20) and do some x-countries together as pilot/safety pilot and talk about mission aviation sometime.
 
I checked out an Church affiliated orphanage in Bolivia. They indicated a pilot would be VERY welcome to spell their main guy. I think about everything in the country gets moved by aircraft.
I found them to be a very inspiring group of US missionaries.
 
Our FBO is on the same field as their training headquarters. They are an awesome bunch of guys. Yes you need an A&P as well as a commercial. They have a pretty good process for evaluating candidates.

It is a program for those genuinely interested in spreading the Gospel and helping people. If you are only looking to build mountain flying time or time in general they will weed you out quickly. That's not the kind of people they want on humanitarian missions. Active involvement in a church is a must but it doesn't have to be any particular church. You won't find better people than those in that organization. It's always a joy to interact with them.

And yeah it's awesome to have the Kodiaks around all the time.
 
jwp_145 said:
Does anyone have any experience with this organization? After I get my A&P and student loans paid off I'd like to fly missionary supply. I've been in contact with them but was just wondering if anyone had any experience with them... I've asked before but really only got replies from Max about my use of the word "Missionary".

Thanks in advance.
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I personally don't have any direct experience, but another guy on the forum, Chechakoo was going through their initial indoc process when he met a beautiful woman, got married, etc. He'd be another great guy to talk to.

And there are also plenty of other organizations that do this kind of work in all sorts of places.

dcramer16 said:
I looked into doing Missionary Pilot type work a while back and made a bunch of calls to different places. It seemed it was pretty much standard to have to go to missionary school for 6 months or more. Then you needed to go "door to door" to raise money to fly missions. About the time they all started mentioning going door to door to raise funds I lost interest.
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That's pretty standard for any missionary endeavor. If you'd like to do some humanitarian work that includes a paycheck there are places like AirServ, etc.

BillErvin said:
They have a non-mechanic pilot position as well
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I did not know that; that must be pretty new. For those interested in this kind of work I would think Alaska experience would be highly advantageous.

modernicarus said:
I'd like to do this too (as a pilot), but I don't have an A&P and can't get one until I quit my job. But, if I quit my job I can't support my family, so that probably isn't going to happen for me anytime soon. Someday I will fly as a mission/relief pilot somewhere in the USA or outside of the USA, even if it isn't with MAF. I don't know if I can get my A&P while flying for MAF, but I kinda doubt it.
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There are a few smaller places you could work at up here and gain some valuable experience while making time to get an A&P, if you so desire. SOme of those places would probably welcome you in the shop so you could log the time and get an A&P by the apprentice route.

texas_pilot said:
I checked out an Church affiliated orphanage in Bolivia. They indicated a pilot would be VERY welcome to spell their main guy. I think about everything in the country gets moved by aircraft.
I found them to be a very inspiring group of US missionaries.
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I'd be very interested to get in contact with that group. Sounds like something I could do on a short term basis. Do you know what kind of airplane they have?

kazoopilot said:
I'd love to be involved in missionary aviation someday, hopefully after I get my commercial. It's awesome to see people using aviation to advance the kingdom of God.
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Amen.
 
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