On Thursday, July 31, The GCA Skymaster N538JP crashed in the mountains near the city of Coban due to a mechanical failure. Miraculously, there were no injuries.Early in the morning, I was called by the folks at the clinic in Playa Grande and asked if I would transport an 11-year-old boy to Coban for treatment at the regional hospital. I put on my new GCA shirt that has the words "God is My Pilot" embroidered on the right side (in Spanish), gave Jennifer and the kids a hug, as is my custom whenever I leave for a flight, and walked down the road to the plane.
I did a thorough pre-flight inspection and made sure I had enough fuel for the first flight and other planned flights that I would need to make afterwards. I then flew from our village of Mayalan to Playa Grande where the patient, his mother, his aunt and her baby boarded the aircraft. Before departing, the mother asked me to wait a moment so that we could pray. I told her that it is my custom to pray after I arrive at our destination, to give thanks. We prayed for a moment and then departed for Coban.
During the approach to Coban, while on the base leg, after applying full flaps I heard an extremely loud bang. The aircraft immediately rolled hard to the right and left aileron had no effect. The roll rapidly continued until we were nearly inverted and was uncontrollable. I retracted the flaps, a process that takes several seconds, and the ailerons gradually became effective again. When the aircraft was finally level, we were extremely low, in a tight valley completely below the surrounding terrain and heading away from the runway to the East. Not only that, but both engines had stopped running. Within a few seconds, we made a controlled crash into vegetation on the crest of a narrow ridge. The plane impacted on the main landing gear and traveled for a short distance before the nose gear dug in and caused the aircraft to flip over at least twice before comming to rest more or less right-side-up, with one wing stopped by a small tree. Had we impacted much sooner, the plane would have driven into the side of the ridge. Later, it would have skipped off the top and ended up far below near the highway.
The door of the aircraft flew open on impact. Fuel was running out of the wing and into the cabin. I turned off the master switch and one of the fuel control valves and immediately began helping the passengers un-buckle their seatbelts and shouted to them to leave the plane. The boy's mother handed me the baby and I gave the baby to its mother once she got out. The mother and I then extricated the 11-year-old boy from his seat and they both climbed out of the plane. We all walked away in the very tall vegetation and bushes using the path that the plane had made when in crashed. I asked everyone if they were OK and they all replied that they were.
At that point, I got down on my knees and thanked God in a loud voice, from the bottom of my heart in a way that I have never done before.
God is my Pilot. Please join me in thanking God for saving us all.
Today, Monday, August 4th, with help from many friends in Coban and others who came to help, we have completed moving the wreckage to a safe location. Our immediate plan is to return to the the US and try to obtain another aircraft as soon as possible so that we can continue our ministry in the Ixcan. We save many lives with the service we provide in this region and there is no reason for us to stop serving.
It is my hope that we can find a plane that might be a bit more suitable for the very short and rough airstrips we use. Perhaps a 182 or 206. GCA owns another Cessna 337 that is nearly ready for sale and is being cared for by our friends at AGAPE flights in Florida. We hope to be able to use funds raised from that sale to procure another plane.
Please pray with us that we will be able to accomplish this work quickly.
We are preparing to return to Ann Arbor, Michigan. We would be delighted to visit with you and a group of your friends, your church, Bible Study or Rotary Club to talk about this ministry and how they might be a part of this God-fearing Life-Giving ministry. Please write to Jennifer at Jennifer.Rice@GreatCommissionAir.org or leave a message on her Michigan number at (734)846-4092.
Watch for a future Blog entry about our Lord's provision hours before, during and after the crash. We have a list of at least 20 GodSpots - ways we can see (spot) His hand on this whole situation.
With all our love and greatful appreciation for yours, and your prayers,
Praise Him!
Rob Rice
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10 comments:
Wow your still here. We call that a miracle.
Your student
Wow. Praise God indeed that everyone is okay. Reminds me of the song that says "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me!"
We are giving thanks to God for keeping you safe. We pray for you often.....May God provide the airplane necessary for His service. Blessings to you all!! Sarah Humber
God, as always, is awesome. So glad you made through that roller coaster. You were under His "wings". We will be helping you with the cost of the new airplane.
The Lord gave Jennifer this verse: "He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
Joshua 4:24
Wow, what an amazing story! Was it assymetric flap extension that caused the excessive roll? Thank God for your skills and quick thinking!
I have a C 182 you may wish to consider. It is hangared at KFNL (Loveland, CO). I will price it reasonably; it is in excellent repair. ekbpilot@hotmail.com
Jason, it seems as though it was more a case of instantaneous asymetric flap retraction (one flap suddenly retracted). Thank God retracting the flaps worked!
Dear ekbpilot@hotmail.com, thank you very much for the offer! We could do about 50% of our medical flights with a 182.
First, though, we are going to try to find a Cessna U206, which allows us to carry stretchers and larger medical missionary groups.
Bless that old Cessna 336 for not taking all your lives....very sad to see that picture.God was watching over you...337pilot from Ca.
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