January 18, 2022 Little Women, Fighter Pilots

The Liberty Gazette

January 18, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By guest columnist L.M. Alcott 

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without a midnight flight to see everyone’s lights from above,” grumbled Jo.

“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to live where the weather isn’t foggy, and other girls are stuck on the ground,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff. “No matter. We haven’t enough money for avgas anyway.”

If those lines sound vaguely familiar, you might recognize them as a slight deviation from the opening lines in my classic novel, “Little Women.” I’ve been watching the world from “the other side,” and have been eager for my famous girls to keep up with the times. Allow me, therefore, to introduce you to “Little Women, Fighter Pilots,” my updated version. 

“Mother thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when so many people are losing their jobs. I’m afraid I don’t care much for sacrifices.” Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty airplanes she wanted.

“We’ve each got a dollar, and the unemployed wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I want to buy Meteorology for Naval Aviators for myself. I’ve wanted it so long, and I work hard for my money,” said Jo, who was a bookworm. 

Meg protested. “I work hard for my money, too. I want Beryl Markham’s West with the Night. I want to be an airline pilot!”

“You should study and enlist,” said Jo. “If you go to the airlines, you’ll just be shut up for hours with nervous, fussy passengers, who are never satisfied. Fly for the military if you want a real life!”

The girls woke up Christmas morning to find aviation books, both novels and flight training manuals, under their pillows. Each girl read and studied voraciously on the required topics such as aerodynamics, regulations, and weight and balance computations. They supplemented their reading with Flying Magazine and various pilot memoirs. 

As the years went by, each girl entered the military and learned to fly. Beth also became an airplane mechanic, and when she retired, she opened a shop. Business was great, as pilots trusted her and knew her to have a superior work ethic. Meg married Mr. Brooke, and after leaving the Air Force, she opened a charter business, selling shares for on-demand flights on luxury aircraft. Amy flew for the Navy for eight years then used her artistic talent to run a specialized aircraft paint shop. She won prestigious contracts with companies such as Alaska Airlines and others that love wild paint schemes. And that leaves Jo. Having accumulated five kills flying her F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, she retired and inherited her aunt’s Plumfield Airport, where she set up a flight school and penned the best-selling novel, “Flight of the Marches.”

But some things never change. My novel still ends the same because truth doesn’t change. The sisters are grateful for their blessings and affirm that we shouldn’t work for materialism but as part of life’s journey and a way to express our inner goodness. Contact me to pre-order.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 11, 2022 Great Expectations - A Slight Adaptation

The Liberty Gazette

January 11, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By guest columnist and novelist, Charlie J. Dickens

My father’s family name being Piperiouscubaneck, and he having designed the Piper Cub, when I learned to talk, I thought my name was Piper. So, I came to be called Piper. 

Ours was the marsh country, down by the George Ruby bend of the Trinity River, within, not as the river wound, but by air, twenty miles of Trinity Bay, which receives waves that sneak past the Bolivar Peninsula to swap drops with the Gulf of Mexico.

I was given the opportunity to take an apprenticeship with Archibald, an airplane mechanic at the Liberty Municipal Airport. As I grew, I came to love the airplanes that landed and took off from that little airstrip every day. 

But life wasn’t all tailwinds and blue skies. My parents had died when, one foggy day at the edge of the bay, I could faintly make out the only thing that seemed to be standing upright; the beacon by which the pilots navigated to the runway. I knew I needed to find my way, too.

So, I learned to fly and often took my girlfriend, Astralla up for flights around the area. We would land at all the farmers’ grass strips and visit with the residents, farmhands, and dogs. The dogs were always my favorite, and so it should be no surprise that when the big city lawyer came bumbling boisterously down from Dallas to reveal to me a great expectation from a mysterious benefactor, I had no need to think twice that when I pass, I should leave it all to my favorite dogs. 

Astralla was a cute girl I had known since childhood. When I came over to play, I would help her guardian, Miss Havashot. Poor Miss Havashot. She had more of a problem with the juice of potatoes, corn, and barley than she actually had with men. Alas, men were here for her to blame, and she projected her sad life of mistrust onto sweet Astralla with such fortitude that I would never be able to call her my wife.

The expectation I was to receive sent me on a life journey of more twists and turns than the Trinity River, highlighted in a most sad way by my own snobbery, I admit.

Having moved to Dallas, I hung out with useless rich guys and pretended with them and other highbrows. I bought shiny new jets and whisked my new false friends around the country to ski resorts and other parties. That life, however, was nothing but a vapor trail which I obliterated like a 5G cell signal breaking a critical instrument approach when I learnt that my fortune had come not from a grateful Miss Havashot, but from an FAA inspector whom I had once helped as a boy. I wanted nothing from that scoundrel, so I quit my circumstances and returned to Liberty County to live the rest of my time an honest pilot, flying life-saving blood and organ donations to the sick and injured, now understanding that fortune does not equal happiness.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

January 4, 2022 A Christmas Rescue

The Liberty Gazette

January 4, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Long time air racing friends, twin brothers Mike and Mark Patey, have served their local community for years by working with their county sheriff when search and rescue is needed by air. Over Christmas, they flew a rescue of a different kind. 

When airlines cancelled many Christmas flights, Mike Patey posted this message on Facebook: “Over 2,000 flights cancelled today. Mark and I would love to help. If you know someone stuck at an airport and not able to get home for Christmas, maybe we can help. No charge. We can bring a family together for this special holiday.” 

The brothers live in Utah. They’d fly Mike’s Pilatus, an airplane with ten seats and a range that would allow them to fully cover seven states, from Wyoming to Southern California, and another three partially, like southeast Oregon and northwest New Mexico. That included major cities such as Denver and Los Angeles. 

“Christmas is for family,” said Mike, “born into or ‘chosen’ family, is all the same.”

Both men are high energy and neither needs to sleep much. In fact, they are known for their full-throttle lives. By 10:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, they were heading to Los Angeles to pick up a family who had thought they would be sleeping in the airport when, after several delays, their flight was finally cancelled. They had hoped to find a flight the next day. But Providence shone upon them, and they were whisked away in “Santa Patey’s flying sleigh” and brought home in just two hours. 

Many people follow the Pateys on social media, and word got out fast what they were doing. The FBO in Provo, Utah was so moved by their actions that they would not let them pay for fuel. The night continued like that for Mike and Mark, as they blasted through the starry sky uniting loved ones and making new friends in the process, like Brecca and Sergio Ponce. The young couple was celebrating their anniversary, excited to come home for Christmas for the first time in three years when their flight was canceled. They had given up on making it home when a friend shared the Pateys’ social media post. 

Brecca called it a “Christmas miracle,” but Mike Patey sees it differently. “If you’ve been blessed with a talent, or a gift, or resources, you better give it back, or you don’t you don’t deserve to have it anymore,” he said. It’s just the way they were raised.

After spending the night delivering happiness, the brothers tucked the airplane back in the hangar and went home to their wives and children to celebrate Christmas.

The Patey brothers are highly successful businessmen, serial entrepreneurs. But we all have been given gifts, and those gifts weren’t meant to be hoarded or kept secret. The One who gave us our gifts is best honored when we give them away. Maybe there’s a New Year’s resolution in that. Here’s to your 2022. May it be your best year yet for giving and receiving.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 28, 2021 The Giving Season, Part IV - MAF

The Liberty Gazette

December 28, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

We hope you enjoyed a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to 2022. We round out our series for the Giving Season, aiming to create awareness and present opportunities for all of us to help change lives. We’ll finish the series with the Christian mission organization, Mission Aviation Fellowship, MAF.

Based in Nampa, Idaho, MAF was founded in 1945 by WWII pilots who had a vision for using aviation to spread the gospel. Since that time, MAF has grown to a global family of organizations serving countries in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Indonesia, and Latin America, supporting the work of missionaries, Bible translators, and relief and humanitarian agencies. 

They fly to more destinations than the six largest airlines in the world combined. And they land on dirt and grass airstrips in jungles and on mountains. Often, the only safe way for missionaries to travel is by MAF airplane. They can reduce an all-day walk to a 12-minute flight.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had been born in another country? An underdeveloped country? In poverty? In times of war? Life in those circumstances is far different from our experience here. For many people living in these remote areas, it is because of MAF airplanes that they hear about the love of Christ. Through swift air travel, missionaries bring help, hope, and healing to isolated people.

MAF serves people in 13 countries, using aviation to overcome geographic, political and religious barriers. They bring medical care, educational opportunities, technology for clean water, community development, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. MAF also serves in six restricted access nations which they cannot name. They collaborate with their Latin American affiliates to boost the total to 34 countries.

Here are some interesting statistics: Every 19 minutes, an MAF aircraft is taking off or landing. Every flight hour saves five days of travel by foot or other ground travel. MAF’s fleet flies over one million miles each year.

You may recall the movie or book, “End of the Spear,” about Nate Saint, the MAF pilot who was martyred by Waorani Indians in Ecuador in 1956, alongside missionaries Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully. Much of the tribe later came to Christ. But you might not have known that it was Betty Greene, a WASP (Woman Air Force Service Pilot), who flew MAF’s inaugural flight in 1946, taking two Wycliffe Bible translators into a jungle in Mexico.

A new inspirational documentary, “Ends of the Earth,” was released in 700 theaters nationwide in October. The film shares true stories about the commitment of MAF pilots and others who serve around the world. The documentary explores faith, the passion to help others, and how hope emerges from tragedy. It was created to inspire viewers to consider serving others, whether we do it on the other side of the globe or right next door.

Here’s to a better “us” – all of us – in 2022.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com