Brazil Hangar

Our aviation team in Brazil recently expanded operations to include the Rio Branco, West Brazil region, to better serve remote church planting teams and communities. Initially, a local company provided temporary access to a hangar in Rio Branco, but due to pressure to locate elsewhere, that access will soon be revoked.

Without a hangar, flight services will be severely reduced or halted, jeopardizing the progress of church planting teams working in remote villages. These church planting teams and communities rely on helicopter support for supplies, medical emergencies and transportation. Without it, they face long, hazardous journeys by land vehicle, on foot and by river to get in and out of their isolated  locations. Each trip easily costs them a week or more of time that could otherwise be spent on language learning, literacy, translation and foundational teaching.

Rachel, a church planter in the K people group, where the team is about to launch a literacy program, put it well: “What if work that is finally gaining momentum suddenly has no helicopter service? The work becomes sluggish, and the many difficulties [of travel] become too great for some of the missionaries to continue their work in the villages. Will there be indigenous groups wondering if God is strong enough to get His message into their language or to do so before they die or before their children are grown?” 

Church planters currently working in seven other communities would echo Rachel’s words.  They all, along with their children, amount to more than five dozen people relying on the helicopter for air service. In this season of renewed progress in these works, none of them want to see setbacks because of lack of aviation support.   

To ensure long-term stability and reliability of helicopter service, we urgently need a permanent base of operations for the R66 helicopter. Our aviation team has identified suitable land on which to build a permanent hangar, conveniently located near the mission guest house, hospital and city center.  The proposed site has an elevated area ideal for the hangar and helipad, and the team already has plans drawn for the construction of the hangar. 

However, all of this involves a complex and costly process of surveys, permits, excavation and construction. If we can demonstrate active progress by purchasing land and beginning construction, authorities may allow continued use of the current hangar until our own is completed.