I had waited a few days to post this update because I was waiting on Mom to send pictures to go with it. However, she has not been able to do that yet due to internet connection troubles. Anyway, here is a brief update from the day after the accident.
Friday (August 8) – We both got up about 6:15 this morning. It was a cold, clear morning, and looked like it would be another beautiful day. After breakfast and quiet time, we started the laundry. There were only two loads of clothes so I was able to wash both our blanket and bedspread. I was thankful to get those washed and was so happy to get out in the sunshine. Thank you, Lord, for a lovely day.
Daddy had just turned off the generator when we heard the whirr of helicopter blades. So I hung the clothes, and he took off for the airstrip.
NTM came in with the helicopter and brought four mechanics. NTM had met together yesterday to decide what to do, and they decided to try to salvage as many parts of the plane as possible. (Otherwise it is a $200,000 loss.) They set up a tent to give themselves shade for working. They were here almost all day today and thought they might have to be here next Monday and Tuesday too; but they got a lot more accomplished today than they expected they would. The people helped them turn the plane back over, and 40 or 50 people pulled the plane up out of the gully. The other people all cheered as they brought it up. It really seemed to encourage the NTM workers to have the people there cheering them on. Mike (the helicopter pilot) said he has seen lots of accidents but never one of this kind.
The men said that there was no fault on Ray’s part -- he did everything that he was supposed to do.
Amazingly, they got almost everything taken apart today; and this afternoon, another pilot came in with a plane and took most of the parts back to town. (He also brought in our LP and drum of diesel.) The wings and fuselage are still here, and the engine will need to be taken out of the plane. The helicopter will have to sling the bigger parts back to town. The Lord gave them wonderful weather all day, and the plane and helicopter left about 4:00 this afternoon. The plane had left first, but when the helicopter took off, the wind from the chopper blades picked up the plane wings and blew them down into the gully. The helicopter pilot turned around and came back. The mechanics got out to check things over. Some of the people went down into the gully to bring the wings back up. One of them got a bit more bent. When the helicopter took off again, they had some of the people sit on the wings to hold them down.
Daddy was back and forth to the airstrip a number of times today and was able to get a few pictures too (still waiting on those). After I hung out the clothes, I got a little something to eat and then lay down for a morning nap. After nap, I added a note to C&C’s e-mail and tried to send e-mails again. We couldn’t connect to the server yesterday evening when we tried. I was thankful to get a connection today, and C&C’s e-mail was sent off okay, but the other e-mail would not go no matter how many times I tried.
After lunch, Daddy went out and got the clothes in. I wanted to go help, too, but the wind had gotten pretty strong -- not good for the ears and lungs. So I cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for nap.
After nap, I finished up the phonics pies before starting on these journal notes. Then I prepared broccoli and carrots and put them on to cook for supper. When they were done, I warmed up some of the leftover rice and chicken.
“5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” I Timothy 2:5,6