Misconceptions

In the two decades since Imie Mark III started working with Ethnos360 Aviation, dialogues with people in the USA tend to go like this:

Person: You work in aviation — so you’re a pilot?
Imie: No, I’m a mechanic.
Person (often without realizing what they’re saying): Oh … you’re just a mechanic.
*Awkward silence*
Imie: Sure, something like that.

Rodney, a citizen co-worker and believer

More Than a Mechanic

Imie is the maintenance scheduler and administrator at Ethnos360 Aviation in Papua New Guinea, and while he is a qualified pilot, God redirected his path to work with aviation mechanics.

Regarding his team, Imie says: “It’s a bit ironic to think that, at the moment, all our mechanics actually do hold pilot ratings, and yet for different reasons and in different ways, this is where the Lord’s led them for now. Regardless of how it may appear to some, they’re far from being ‘just mechanics.’ They’re men who have surrendered themselves to the Lord, using the love He’s given them for aviation to speed the work of reaching the unreached peoples of the world with the gospel.”

Why aviation is needed

Necessary Workers

“In the current context, our expatriate Ethnos360 Aviation mechanics are licensed both in their home country and here in Papua New Guinea. They’re not only skilled technicians, tackling anything our planes or helicopter throws at them in order to keep the fleet safe and reliable, [but] they’re also expert jugglers … between the manufacturers, our home office, our airworthiness authority back home and the airworthiness authority here. They wear any number of other hats — project manager, innovator, leader and trainer to name a few.”

Being a mechanic isn’t a downgrade because the men are unqualified, but rather [it is] a calling and a vital role in missions. And now, as more missionaries join the field, more aviation workers are needed in order to assist them. Please pray with us for more workers.