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MISSION AVIATION VISION by:
Victor Abah OJABO I am Victor Abah OJABO. A Mechanical Engineer and been working for Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria for sixteen years. My wife is Ngor Elera OJABO. A Lawyer with about eight years of practice. We are blessed with Victor (11 years), David (9 years) and Enoche (4 year). We have been friends of CAPRO and chapter members for about 11 years in Port Harcourt and now in Warri. The Lord
laid this vision in my heart nearly five years ago. I did not quite
do much about it until after about two years because the first thing
the Lord wanted me to do was to go train to fly aircrafts. In April 2003 I took the first step of faith to go to the United States of America to train to fly. I trained for 23 days with Custom Pilot in Spring, North of Houston Texas to get the Single Engine Land Private Pilot License. The Lord was as usual very faithful during the training, a reported storm heading towards our airport in the last week of training was broken up within Four hours and our training continued. This would have meant no more training for the period and consequently no practical examination and hence no license. Also on the day of the test, the wind was reported light and variable and the practical flight was stress less and glorious. All these were answers to our prayers by THE FAITHFUL GOD. When I got back to Port Harcourt after the training, I shared with the brethren in the chapter and in the Port Harcourt office. After praying, we took the next step to register Angel Flights Academy. Angel Flights Academy will operate in two key areas; Angel/ Mercy Flights to various mission fields of Africa and beyond and Pilot training to sustain the Mercy Flights. We will partner with Start Again Ministries and as many Mission Agencies and fellowships as have similar vision like Angel Flights Academy and willing. Apart from the Nigerian registration of Angel Flights Academy no formal partnership documents have been written. By December 2003 after discussing with some more brethren the Lord led us to look at some area of flat lands in Kauna near Kafanchan. With the wide expanse of flat land (well over 2km x 2km) and minimal number of trees and shrubs on it we believe it will be easier to develop runways/ taxiways and hangars for the initial base of our operation. Discussions are still ongoing with the land owners to purchase the land. By November 2003 when we knew we will be having about 3weeks of vacation, my wife and I wanted to spend the period with Mission Aviation Fellowship somewhere in East Africa. The program coordinator wrote back to say with a Private Pilot License I could not participate in any Short Term Mission Aviation flying and that I would require to still do some jungle flight training. We realized later we could have asked to help with Logistics and the sort at their operation base. This would have given us a good insight of what is involved. June 2004 saw me returning back to Texas to continue my flight training. I was training for the Instrument Rating when my mum suddenly went to be with the Lord and I had to cut short my training to attend the burial. My Plan is to return at the next available opportunity to complete the Instrument Rating training. We feel the Lord leading us to pursue my training to the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument License both on the Airplane and Helicopter. About February 2005 the Lord further laid in our heart to build a warehouse in Port Harcourt. This will serve as a forward base for materials from this part of the country to the Mission fields. Currently the land has been fully paid for and the site preparation and fencing has commenced. Praise and Thank the Lord:
Pray earnestly for:
under the name of “Angels Flight
Academy”. This branch of the Ministry is to train pilots to support over 1,000 missionaries
throughout Africa. Angels Flight Academy
functions in a manor that garners attention and support of major international
political figures, including the President of Nigeria. The Nigerian team is under
the direction of Victor Ojabo.
Incorporated in this program are funds for aircraft and facilities as
wells as operating expenses for the Nigerian Angels
Flight Academy.
Nigeria’s
“Angels Flight Academy” The
proposed new Angels Flight Academy
building will be a duplicate of This building will be energy efficient and able to “stand alone”
in the event of a power outage due to a national disaster or other emergencies.
All facilities will have solar electric/water/heat/cooling and a backup
generator system to function dung times of crisis. Proposed Christian Air Corp Building
A letter from Rev. Jeffrey Larson: “Today,
I’m sitting in the Custom Pilot hangar at Hooks Airport in Houston, TX. As I
write this, I glance out the window to my right and see the hand of God
at work. What an incredible addition to the ministry He has entrusted to us. For
those of you that do not already know; Start
Again Ministries is growing. We began a work to train pilots to
support missionary work around the world and to provide transportation to
mission personnel in remote areas of the world. Our first graduate of the
program is a wonderful man of God. His name is Victor
Ojabo. He came from Nigeria to learn to fly. Victor is the head of missions
at his church in Nigeria and believes the Lord
has called him to support the gospel by providing transportation to remote
villages for mission efforts. Many times over the past weeks we have seen God’s
plan unfolding. First,
we had not planned to have a flight school at this time. I really just “happened”
to stop in at a hangar to look around. We had our first two aircraft in two
separate hangars due to the lack of space. I stopped by this hangar and told the
gentleman that greeted me “I need your hangar”. You should have seen the
look on his face. He asked me why I had said that. I told him that I needed a
hangar for the ministry aircraft and wanted to teach people how to fly to help
preach the gospel. He said, and I quote: “Wow, that’s funny. I
just got off the phone with the airport owner and told him I wanted out of my
lease.” He went on to say that there was about a 2 year waiting list for this
hangar and that the owner did not want to cause a political storm, so the
current tenant had to find the NEXT tenant. We signed the lease that afternoon.
Even funnier, the gentleman said he was closing his flight school and moving out
of state. (A flight school, hmmm, how convenient that was for us!) He
blessed us with all the furniture, computers, books, paperwork, etc that we
would need for just a few dollars. What a blessing! Then, to top off our good
fortune, the job out of state did not work out for him.
He stayed on as the Lead Flight Instructor and became a wonderful
addition to our staff. Meanwhile,
Victor Ojabo, from Nigeria, had been praying. He was only able to
secure a one month VISA to come to the U.S. for flight training.
Originally he had planned to go to Oklahoma for his training, but he felt
the Lord led him to Houston, Texas. A friend of his had told him about our
school and that we trained missionary pilots. That was odd, since we had never
advertised! On April 2nd Victor arrived from Nigeria, came directly
to our school, and took his first discovery flight.
He said that God had told him to come and that he was here to learn to fly.
Lessons started on April 3rd and he passed his F.A.A. private pilot
check ride on Saturday, April 26th! The next day, he returned to
Nigeria to rejoin the mission group and begin serving as a missionary pilot. Now, through our very first graduate, we have been invited to go to Nigeria to set up a flight training school in country to support over one thousand churches’ mission activities. What an incredible opportunity to spread the Gospel of Jesus. We are currently planning a trip to visit our brother Victor Ojabo in Nigeria and to meet with local officials to begin developing the school.
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During
the period of training I met Rev. Jeffrey Larson (now Bishop) and
Sister Angela Larson (Owners of the School where I trained) and
Founders of Start Again Ministries Inc. They were so delighted with
the vision when I shared it with them and want to Partner in it.
Discussions have been ongoing and Rev Jeffrey and Sister Angela have
a plan visit Nigeria soon.
Christian
Air Corps’ main building plan, and will be located in
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. As previously noted, there are over 1,000 field missionaries
who perform humanitarian missions throughout Southern Africa.
