(Faith Telegraph, July 22, 2009)  A missionary pilot in South Africa was forced to shut down the left engine of his plane and make an emergency landing because of a broken wire on a switch that is supposed to confirm that the landing gear is fully down and locked.
 
"When you select gear down you are supposed to get three greens to indicate that each wheel is down and locked," Paul Middleton, a pilot with Mercy Air, explains. "Meatloaf might believe that ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’, but in aviation, three out of three is immeasurably better."
 
Paul flew the plane past the airport tower several times for them to examine the landing gear with binoculars. Although the tower reported that the gear looked safe, Paul shut down the left engine rather than take the chance of the gear collapsing and the prop striking the ground upon landing.
 
The plane landed safely and was met by fire trucks and a support vehicle, while the airport was shut down for about ten minutes.
 

An examination of the landing gear revealed that a wire connecting a switch on the landing gear had broken off. "A spot of solder and a few test gear swings back at the Mercy Air base only 8 miles away and we were on our way again to fuel up at the start of our ten day missions' trip," says Paul.  "Safety was not an issue with this incident at all and we are thankful for the high level of maintenance we get from the staff at Mercy Air that inevitably helps avoid far more consequential adventures."

 

Paul believes this experience is a good example of what missions is often really like.  "Missions is not always about big victories and breakthroughs," Paul explains.  "A lot of missions stories focus on the successes and the battles won, which is fair enough.  However, on the field there are many battles not necessarily won or lost, but more drawn."
 
Mercy Air is an independent Christian-humanitarian aid aviation service that provides missionary transport, medical support flights as well as evacuation and supply flights during disasters

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Paul and Cathy Middleton: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Airport

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