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Servicio Aereo Misional: the Forest Angels
The Wright brothers would be very happy to know that, 100 years after their first flight, some people use aircraft for worthwhile causes.
Deep in the Amazon forest of Ecuador, a handful of pilots and two undomitable small aircraft defy every type of difficulty to resupply and sustain from the air the Shuar-Achua native communities. This remote people lives in small settlements scattered across a wide and almost inaccessible territory.
Father Adriano Barale, head of the Servicio Aereo Misional (SAM), describes in his own words the activities of the company he created 30 years ago: a small air operator like many others, but one of the few not inspired by profit but to provide for human care and wellbeing.
"The Servicio Aereo Misional, with its seat in Quito, was set up to reach with relative ease many of the outlying remote locations in the Provinces of Morona Santiago and Pastaza, a rainforest coverd area near the border with Perù. Therefore, the main task of SAM is to link up a network of 180 airstrips, corresponding to villages otherwise only reachable by long and dangerous expeditions through the wilderness of the Andean cordillera and across the meandering courses of broad rivers.
The SAM history
Beginning in the 60's, Misiòn Salesiana de Oriente began to charter aircraft from small local operators such as Aerotaxis Ecuatorianos SA (ATESA), in which the religious organization also had a minority stake. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the 70's, with the rapid development of the oil prospecting activity in North-Eastern Ecuador, the situation began to deteriorate. The mercy flights booked by SAM were often postponed or cancelled in favour of oil-related flights. In a short time, the majority of the local air operators focused their activity in this higher-yield market.
In 1974, after two years of increasing difficulties, the bishop of the Mendez vicariate, Mons. José F. Pintado, the head of the Misiòn Salesiana de Oriente, Father Martin Fernandez and his technical advisor Father Adriano Barale, took the decision to set up the Servicio Aereo Misional. This new operator immediately began its activity with its first Helio Courier, an aircraft with outstanding STOL capability, and also able to operate from primitive airstrips. Being used to help people, the Courier was aptly named "Auxiliadora".
From its advanced base in Macas, the main town of the 3,000 ft. high Rio Upano valley in the Andean highlands, Auxiliadora was actively engaged to reach the most distant missions, well inside the Amazon basin, East of the Cutucù Cordillera. It was immediately evident that a single aircraft was not able to satisfy the increasing needs of SAM, ranging from urgent liaison and supply flights to emergency medical support missions.
Fortunately, in 1975, a German parish priest and his parishioners donated a second Courier to SAM. This was of course named "Auxiliadora 2". The following year, Servicio Aereo Misional received its third aircraft, a Cessna T 206H Turbo Stationair, giving a major boost to the company capability. Despite the successive replacement of worn out aircraft, the SAM fleet composition has remained as two Couriers and one Cessna until today.
Results
The original and current task of SAM is to give direct support to the Amazonic Ecuador missions inspired by various religious orders, avoiding time-consuming forest trips. Years ago, the missions were small facilities formed by a chapel, a school and a small protected play-ground for the children. These basic facilities have grown in dimensions and functions, becoming centers of social support for the surrounding native populations. At the moment, more than 200,000 people are directly supported by the tireless activity of Servicio Aereo Misional.
The following data helps to give an idea of the effort performed by the small airline: about 1,700 flight hours per year with an average of 500 flights a month in the dry season. In 2001, the last year with three operational aircraft, the significant tally of the 150,000th flight was reached, half a million of take-offs and landings using almost exclusively unpaved airstrips devoid of any form of navaids. Moreover, the SAM activity is continuously hampered by the extreme weather conditions typical of the equatorial zone.
Todays problems
Although the Servicio Aereo Misional is a non-profit venture, the constant deterioration of the Ecuadorian economy heavily affects the running costs of this small operator. For example, all invoices have to be paid in US dollars, inflation pushes up the salaries and the fuel price has gone up during the past few years, from 10 sucres (less than 1 US cent) to 3.05 US dollars per gallon. On the other hand, the people are poor and the public institutions have no more resources to support public interest activities like those offered by SAM.
Urgent needs
Of all the present difficulties, one is truly dramatic for SAM. The Cessna T 206H which entered service in 2000, after two years of demanding service, is now grounded due to unexpected technical problems, reducing by one third the overall capability of SAM.
We know that the overhaul of the aircraft implies the replacement of both the engine and the propeller. The total price for a refurbished 310 hp Lycoming TIO-540-AJ1A engine and an airworthy McCauley type B3D36C-432-C airscrew, including shipment and custom expenses, is about 60,000 US dollars, an amount well beyond the current means. SAM desperately needs its Cessna back in the air to fully restore its previous activity. To this aim, we kindly ask the support of all types of foreign institutions and individuals."
Padre Adriano Barale (Salesiani di Don Bosco)
SAM President
Administrative seat
Servicio Aereo Misional
(Mision Salesiana de Oriente)
missales@mo.pro.ec
Calle Equinoccio 623 y Quesera del Medio
Casilla 17-12-891
Quito
Ecuador
Tel 00593 - (0)2 - 2551012 / 2505247
Fax 00593 - (0)2 - 2506660
Operational base
Servicio Aereo Misional
Hangar Aeropuerto
Macas
Ecuador
Tel 00593 - (0)7 - 2700142
Fax 00593 - (0)7 - 2700574
Per aiutare il Servicio Aereo Misional si possono inviare contributi tramite il Conto Corrente Postale 10741106, intestato all'Associazione Missioni Don Bosco Valdocco (ONLUS), Via Maria Ausiliatrice 32, 10152 Torino, indicando nella causale SAM Ecuador / Padre Barale.
Nella foto: Helio HT-295 Trigear Courier HC-BTC del Servicio Aereo Misional (Ecuador) al suo arrivo in una missione nella foresta amazzonica. (SAM)
(Aeromedia, February 2004)