R66 Helicopter: Tearing Down to Build Up

Brett Randolph on the left and John Mark Estelle on the right

On December 7, 2016, an early Christmas present arrived at NTM Aviation headquarters in McNeal, AZ.  Pilots John Mark Estelle and Brett Randolph flew in with the blue R66 slated for ministry in the Philippines.  After months of delay due to a shipping snag involving rotor damage, everyone was relieved that it was finally here. 

Within hours of its arrival, zealous NTM Aviation mechanics started dismantling it.  Why take apart a perfectly good helicopter? First of all, it needed to be repainted.  But why paint an already perfectly painted helicopter?  Several reasons.

• For conformity.  The mark of our fleet is white with red accents.
• For safety.  A white aircraft is much more easily located in the event of an emergency.
• For identification.  No one will mistake us for another entity, whether in the air or on the ground.  

So the work began.  Hours of wet sanding to prepare the surface to receive the fresh paint.  Hours of masking off all the parts that didn’t need paint.  Hours of painting, re-sanding, and giving a second coat.

Now the helicopter will be reassembled and flown to test it all out.  Then it will be disassembled again.

And why disassemble a perfectly good helicopter?  To pack it into a shipping container and send it to its new home in the Philippines.

There it will serve church planting teams in the scattered islands of southern Philippines as well as the mountainous regions within the islands. 

Meanwhile back in the Philippines, Brian Pruett is flying the smaller R44 on the island of Mindanao where the R66 will eventually go. 

“I’m still here sweating in the tropics and keeping up with a normal flight schedule,” writes Brian.  “Our missionaries are all in the tribe still working as they should be!”

They can’t wait, though, for the R66 to arrive.  The R44 will soon be “out of hours” and no longer legally fly-able.  Pray that its hours last until the R66 replaces it.  Otherwise, missionaries may have to come out of their ministry areas until flight service is available again.

Your gifts to the R66 Project will help get this helicopter to the Philippines and keep it serving.   The R66 will open up flight service to missionaries in the most isolated mountains and islands of the Philippines.  Thank you!