A Monday in Mexico — UIM Aviation

It’s about 9:50 in the morning on a Monday. I’ve got one passenger in the back and we are flying back to Chihuahua City at 9,500 feet. The terrain below is beautifully intimidating; a mix of high, pine forest peaks and deep canyons within the Copper Canyon region of Northern Mexico. In the distance I see the only road to the mountain community we’ve just departed from. To get there from Chihuahua City takes over 8 hours by vehicle, a hazardous drive. In the airplane, it takes us about an hour and fifteen minutes with a nice tailwind push.

My day started at our Chihuahua airstrip at 6:00, in the dark. We’ve had a lot of wind lately, so I drove up and down the airstrip removing thorny mesquite bushes that had blown on to the strip over the weekend. The 1-3 inch long thorns can do serious damage to airplane tires.

The plan for the day was to fly two Mexican pastors and an American missionary out to a remote community and then fly a Christian Tepehuan lady back to Chihuahua. Originally my Chihuahua teammate Michael and I planned to do the flight together, so we could accomplish some IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) practice, however, after calculating our aircraft weight and balance, we realized only one of us could go on the flight. We decided that I would do the flight solo with our passengers. We got everyone loaded up along with their luggage, groceries, and other supplies for the missionaries they were visiting. The flight out was smooth and we landed with a warm reception from the missionaries in the community and the Mexican Army soldiers who protect the airstrip.

Before loading up for the return flight to Chihuahua, I took the opportunity to walk the airstrip and throw rocks off that would be hazardous to the airplane. During my landing, I had noticed a number of large rocks on the airstrip and had to avoid them during the landing roll. Erosion on these mountain airstrips is a big problem. Between the rainy season washing dirt away and wind erosion caused by the prop blast from every takeoff and landing, dirt seems to always be leaving and rocks always seem to be appearing, it seems out of nowhere.

After walking the airstrip, I got my passenger and her luggage loaded up. My passenger was a sweet Christian Tepehuan lady, one of the members of the small church in town. As I interacted with her during the flight, I was struck by her warm spirit and smile. Typically the indigenous people we fly are very serious and show little emotion when we fly. Depending on the people group, showing emotion is often thought to allow evil spirits to enter one’s life (regardless of whether the cause is fear or joy). It seems like you can identify Christians here by their willingness to smile and the joy in their eyes, caused by a life set free from the bondage of sin, death, and their animist beliefs. It’s very impactful to see. I gave her the passenger brief and we laughed about the “air sick” bags as she said she wouldn’t be needing one. I chose to take that as a vote of confidence in her pilot.

We landed safely back in Chihuahua before the winds kicked up, something to keep a close eye on during the windy season here. My passenger was able to get a car ride to where she was going next, and I put the airplane away in the hangar and prepared it for our next flight. Driving back home I felt thankful for another day to serve the pastors, missionaries, and fellow believers in this beautiful and challenging place. We are just a few hours flight south of the US border, yet a world away.

Thank you for your support of the ministry of UIM Aviation, whether it be financially, through volunteering, or prayer support, ministry here in Mexico is truly a team effort.

Written by Aaron Varela, UIMA Field Pilot from Chihuahua, Mexico