About Jim Manley
Jim Manley claims two professional passions - flying and writing. He flew instruction, air taxi and air-attack for the US Forest Service before joining MAF. Then he served 17 years in Ecuador as a pilot, radio tech and program manager. Now he writes for MAF and serves as webmaster for the MAFLT.org website. He’s published numerous articles and his first book, Call For News, came off the presses in Dec 2010. First Valentine
I inhabited the sky that day. Jesus let me play with clouds, soar with eagles and race the wind.
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The Christmas Art
Meanwhile, during our fun, a rare giver never made it to the hospital, but died aboard Mike’s airplane.
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Dead On
I made life and death decisions for patients, passengers and myself based on discerning subtle terrain features. Great uncertainty, great stress, great chance for error. Until…
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Daily Decisions
Jungle flying demands a myriad of decisions. Difficult weather, unexpected detours, and unpredictable people combine to make … another day in the life of an MAF pilot.
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Fitting In
As I locked my harness, dad tapped my shoulder and asked, “What about that?” pointing to a man outside with a 12-foot blow-gun.
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Pray for That?
“Lord,” I prayed aloud. “I really need your help. Please help me to start this engine.” I climbed back into the cockpit.
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No Time
I can’t push the airplane. And neither wish, nor will, speed it faster than physic’s laws allow. But I can extract all they contain. I lower the nose, add power and settle on a high-speed, 200-foot-per-minute descent. My front seat passenger raises an eyebrow at the plan change. “Emergency in Mashient,” I shout over engine [...] Read the Rest »
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Needy Circle
Open sky above, clear air below, but a layer of cotton-ball clouds hangs just above the Amazon jungle hilltops. With barely room to fly between them, I slow the airplane to 80 knots (92 mph) and set 20 degrees of flaps. Here, close to the earth, everything seems fast. Tuck in close to clouds above, [...] Read the Rest »
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The Beast that Opened Eyes
As the small pickup backed towards the plane, my confidence wavered. The truck’s rear springs compressed completely. The tires rubbed wheel wells at every bump in our grass ramp. In its bed a diesel powered generator hunched like a docile beast whose size and weight substituted for ferocity. The HCJB mission hospital in Quito ran [...] Read the Rest »
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