Pilots! Did you complete a mission?
Tell us about how Our Lord blessed your flight.
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NEO NEWS – Inaugural Mission of Mercy Completed…
Cleveland, Ohio – On Sunday, May 6th, the Northeast Ohio Chapter
of Pilots for Christ, successfully completed its first Mercy Flight. At 10:30 am, PCI-NEO members Shane Bell &
Eric Milnar departed Northeast Ohio in a Cessna 172 bound for the Canandaigua
Airport (D38) in Western New York. After
arriving in Canandaigua, they met their passenger (Liz) who was traveling to Cleveland
for an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic.
Liz suffers from an anemia disorder and the doctors in her local area
have yet to find a cause or a cure. She
hopes the doctors at the Clinic can help relieve her suffering. Shortly after 1:30 pm, “Compassion Flight
56U” departed D38 for Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) in Cleveland. After a 2 hour flight under clear skies and
smooth flight conditions (Praise God!), the Cessna landed at BKL & was met
by PCI-NEO member Corey Jensen who provided transportation for Liz to her hotel
for the night. Eric went along to help Corey
navigate the streets of Cleveland. Before departing from NY, the flight crew
prayed with Liz, asking for God’s blessing upon her and that she would be
surrounded by God’s love and mercy. Liz
was also given a prayer shawl that was knitted by Ethel’s Prayer Shawl Ministry
at Christ Presbyterian Church. Liz can
wrap the shawl around her and be surrounded by God’s love and warmth.
 
In-flight over Pennsylvania Arriving at BKL Liz in
Cleveland
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The
Arkansas Capitol was covered in prayer during the 50 capitols flight by
Arkansas Pilots for Christ pilot Shane Roberts and his prayer partner
Jason Vincent. Here is his account of the flight. "Prayer Flight 2012
started out at Hot Springs Memorial Field with the cloud deck at 4100
and winds blowing out of the south 8-12 knots. For this trip, I would
be accompanied by Jason Vincent who is a former Air Traffic Controller
in the United States Air Force and faithful servant of our Lord and
member of Hot Springs Baptist Church where I am an associate pastor. As
we approached Little Rock at 3000 MSL, we dialed up approach on 135.4
and declared our intentions. As we approached the Little Rock area,
approach gave us altitude at our discretion and simply maintain VFR. As
we neared the Capitol building, I put
in 10 degrees of flaps and pulled power to 80-85 knots. We made three
wide circles around the Capitol building. As we circled the first time,
we prayed God to give wisdom and grace to our Executive branch of
government (President, Governor, etc.). On the second circle, we prayed
God's wisdom and grace for our Legislative government (Representatives
and Senators). On the third circle, we prayed God's wisdom for the
Judicial government (Supreme Court, judges, etc.). As we completed the
third circle, we flew directly over the Capitol building and headed back
to Hot Springs where the Lord delievered us safely back on the ground
safe and sound. To God be the glory!" 
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Member at-Large, Art Snyder
(Not pictured, with a group of men who flew over Albany, NY on National
Day of Prayer, praying for our Nation, State, and local cities.
We Were able to complete the prayer Flight over Albany NY
Friday night at about 5:00 Pm. Due to weather and schedules that was the
first opportunity. The picture is
taken at ALB where we landed. The men praying felt it was a very
worthwhile mission. ATC gave me clearance off the end of runway 01
and diverted traffic around us while we circled.
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Here is a report
from the Minnesota chapter. Neale Thompson and I got airborne at about
3:00pm and did a touch-and-go into and out of St. Paul Downtown Holman Field in
close proximity to the skyscrapers and the capitol building. Neale
vocalized the prayer for our state. We then headed east to enter Wisconsin
airspace and prayed for our leaders and brothers and sisters in Wisconsin then
headed south towards Iowa, our goal to pray in Iowa state airspace. We saw
the line of thunder cells pop up in front of us at about 20:00z just like the
weather forecast had predicted. Flight Watch verified what we were seeing
and described what lay behind. We followed their suggestion to deviate a
bit southeast of our track to Austin MN to skirt clear between two cells then
back to a southwesterly heading after circumnavigating the most ominous
cell. Neale prayed for the leaders and inhabitants of Iowa as we crossed
the boarder from Minnesota. Our arrival into Mason City (NCW) was
uneventful but the sky turned from gray to black just north of MCW as we
refueled and checked the weather. It was oddly calm given the proximity of
the two huge cells that would block our way on the return trip. Just as we
were walking out to the plane in a matter of seconds the winds went from zero to
what looked like in excess of 30 knots sustained (wind sock straight out) as a
tremendous in-flow into the base of the storm cell hit us. While I was
still about 30 feet away the ailerons of the Cardinal began fluttering wildly
and the plane began rolling away and picking up speed. I hadn't insisted
it be chocked when the fuel truck pulled up earlier because it was dead calm on
the ground when we had arrived and clear sky overhead. Big lesson learned
here. ALWAYS chock the aircraft!!! So here I was running after the
plane. My heart sank as I got close and the wind in an effort to
weathervane the Cardinal shoved the tail around and lifted the far wing. I
was able to grab the right wing tip and arrest the motion as Neale caught up and
took hold of the tail. One lineboy then another showed up and we stood in
the blowing wind for what seemed like forever (probably only about 1 or 2
minutes) until it subsided enough to point the bird into the wind. We
attempted to tie it down but while fumbling with unworkable ratchet bands
offered by the lineboys, we decided the wind had calmed enough to allow us to
climb aboard and start up. Based on radar images our plan was to depart as
soon as possible and then out run the two big cells by heading east until clear
enough to work our way back north. That worked and we remained clear of
the cells. The arrival back at Airlake (LVN)was uneventful. We
thanked God for blessing and for protecting us and for having helped us to
complete our mission of prayer-in-the-air over three states. One couldn't
help but marvel with awe and ponder with humble gratitude the tremendous power
of God as witnessed in the beautiful vistas of His natural creations like storm
cells seen from the vantage point of a GA aircraft cockpit.
>
> Oh
Lord, the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are Yours, now and forever!
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The Kansas City Heartland Chapter had one
flight by Fred and Doris Hetrick. They took their pastor and a friend
along to help with the praying. Stay around 2,500 over the Capitol of
Kansas - Topeka. Doris said it really felt good knowing that the entire
country at that moment was praying. WOW!
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The Michigan Chapter National
Day of Prayer, May 3, 2012, over Michigan Capitol Building around 12
Noon, in cooperation with "Prayer Flight" and flown by Pilots for Christ
Michigan Pilots. (2) aircraft, (5) believers! What a wonderful time
for testimony when Air Traffic Control asked me the significance of my
request to overfly Michigan's Capitol Bldg, and I was able to tell
them.."as part of a National Event to pray for our Nation, State,
Counties and Cities that all would return to the Grace of God!, as Lori,
Tony, and Gayle prayed, and Michael and I flew.
On an open mike for
all to hear. After about (20) seconds of silence the controller came
back and said we were cleared for the flight.
Praise God!
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