Diesel Cessna 182 PROJECT
A
new era of missionary aviation has dawned. SIMAIR is actively
pursuing the purchase of a diesel engine aircraft that will use Jet
Fuel to address the skyrocketing prices and increasing scarcity of
Avgas. The purchase of this diesel plane is critical to the
continuation of SIMAIR’s service in Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo, and Ghana.
SIMAIR
was established over 50 years ago to provide safe, efficient, and
reliable air transportation for the missionaries in West Africa.
No other dependable aviation service exists for missionaries in this
region. In countries with harsh climates, increasingly unsafe
roads, and scattered people groups, SIMAIR has flown over 10 million
miles, saving countless hours of road travel and days of recovery
from grueling trips. A few hours in the plane replaces up to 3 days
of road travel.
SIMAIR enables missionaries to focus their time and energy on evangelism and discipleship, church planting, Bible translation and literacy, theological and general education, medical care, and rural development. By providing logistical aid for everything from mail and essential vaccines to transportation for short-term teams and emergency help, SIMAIR allows missionaries to continue with their important roles in reaching people with the transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ.
NEED
As
the world focuses more and more on this impoverished yet open portion
of the Muslim world, numbers of mission and development organizations
and personnel are both increasing and scattering to more remote
locations. As Niger stretches 1,000 miles from east to west and
800 miles from north to south, the services of SIMAIR are essential
to span the distances of this vast and arid country.
Unfortunately, the escalating cost of Avgas (aviation fuel) has all but closed down SIMAIR’s vital ministry. Even when available, Avgas has reached the price of $12 US per gallon, causing the price of a routine flight to be out-of-reach for the average missionary. Thankfully, there is a way to continue to serve missionaries at a much less burdensome cost.
New diesel aircraft engines have recently been developed on smaller 4-seat aircraft. These new engines use Jet Fuel and are 30% more efficient than Avgas engines. Jet Fuel is only $4 US per gallon, as compared to $12, and is widely available. SIMAIR currently spends $90,000 US on fuel in an average year of flying (500 hours). The same number of hours flown in a plane with a diesel engine would cost only $18,000 US, saving missionaries $72,000 US each year.
VISION
We envision once again being able to affordably fly anywhere missionaries need to go, at the time they need to go. We see providing short-term missionaries without language skills or with a limited window of time, safe and speedy transport to outlying stations… supplying key medical ministries at Galmi and Danja urgently needed medicines and personnel... turning weeklong treks to ministry locations into day trips, decreasing the stress on separated families… gathering church presidents and leaders, separated by hundreds of miles, to encourage and strengthen the church and mission partnerships in Niger… rapidly responding to any medical emergencies… reducing our costs for serving missionary families in remote locations, allowing them to preserve their energies for the ultimate task of furthering the Kingdom of God.
The Solution!!
The
anticipated cost of this aircraft is:
Price of Cessna 182 ……… 100,000 USD
Diesel Engine retro fit …….80,000 USD
Repainting ……………………….10,000 USD
Ferrying to Niger………………10,000 USD
Total cost …………………....200,000
USD
We anticipate approximately 72,000 USD + in savings in fuel costs alone, annually.
If you would like to contribute to this project, please contact us at simair@sim.ne. The SIM project number is NE97740.
SIMAIR's goal for the future is to continue to provide the service we have provided for over 50 years. Would you like to be a part of this work, working together to fulfill Christ command to go and make disciples of all nations?We look forward to hearing from you. Thank-you once again for taking your time to review this presentation with us, and may God bless you as you consider your part in this effort.