SERVANT
AIR MINISTRIES,
INC.
ANNUAL REPORT
12/31/2010
Servant Air Ministries, Inc., 2010 had a very good year providing
flight training and air transportation. With the fuel prices and
insurance premiums stabilizing, Servant Air Ministries, Inc. was still
able to fly a total of 277.25 hours utilizing our three aircraft.
Over all we were up in the number of hours from last year’s hours
flown, based on fuel prices and resources. This being the ministry’s
17th year of the organization’s existence, Servant Air continues to
provide quality missionary flight services to the Southeast part of
the United States and the Bahamas. The ministry continues to meet its
mission statement of providing a new chapel on the field at Merritt
Island Airport, and providing individualized missionary flight
training and ground school experiences. Air transportation consisting
of mercy flights is provided for various ministries and churches
throughout the state of Florida and the Southeast part of the United
States.
A
slate of officers was presented to the Board in our June 2010 meeting,
and the following officers agreed to serve: Dr. Robert E. Lehton was
again elected as President; Mr. Dick Todd was elected as Vice
President, Mr. Ryan Roberts as Board Secretary, and Mrs. Lydia Dixon
as Treasurer. The Board kept its same composition as last year.
Mr.
Fred Pino will continue his responsibilities recruiting and dues
collection, and Mr. Kyle Dixon and Mr. Tom Liston for coordination of
air show evangelism. Mr. Steve Miller will be responsible for
dispatching of flights and Mr. Dick Todd will be responsible for
supervision of the maintenance of the aircraft.
The
financial position of Servant Air Ministries, Inc. remains very
stable, with a positive cash flow, but we have had large expenditures
in the area of maintenance, and our new 8400 sq. ft. Hanger and
Chapel. Much of the general flight training is now being referred to
Voyager Aviation. Our Cessna 172 is now being used for both
missionary flying and flight training, whereas, the Aztec and C-172
are utilized mainly for longer mission flights to the Bahamas, Central
America and throughout the eastern part of the United States. Our
PA-32 is still not completed and the Board decided to sell the
aircraft. We also decided to buy a C-150 for Training and that was
purchased for $15,500.00, and it flew only 7.4 hours, because the
purchase was at the end of the year.
This year our 172 was flown 251.25 hours, mainly in flight training
for our missionary pilots, for mercy flights. Our Saratoga PA 32-301T
was not utilized because in March 2009 we had an incident where a hard
landing collapsed the nose landing gear and the remainder of 2009 was
spent in repair. Our Aztec PA-23 was flown for approximately 18.6
hours. KLD our partner in Mission flights to the Bahamas and was
unable to continue flights because of finances which resulted in less
flights being flown in the Pa-23. Flight instruction increased in
this last year and was conducted mainly by Mr. Dick Todd and Bob
Lehton. The ministry is moving back to more flight training, mercy
flights, and EAA flights which has been the trend over the last year.
Mr.
Dick Todd who is Servant Air Ministries’, A1 and A&P mechanic have
kept all three airplanes in excellent shape, along with the help of
Mr. Steve Miller and Bud Campbell. Mr. Todd continues to be a
blessing to the organization by supervising maintenance of all three
aircraft, which includes annual inspections and routine progressive
maintenance throughout the year.
Over 100 flights were performed for the Young Eagles which is part of
the Experimental Aircrafts Association. Dick Todd, Bob Lehton and Dick
Blondin did the majority of these flights. This year Bob Lehton, Dick
Bondin, and David Rainer have joined Southeast Angel Flight in order
to make more mercy Angel Flights.
Mr.
Ryan Roberts continues to manage our web site, and it continues to run
smoothly. Ryan Roberts at the end of last year put “PayPal” on the
web site to receive donations by credit card for our new projects, and
this had provided some income.
In
September 2010, Dr. Lehton was elected again as Vice President of
Pilots for Christ at the Convention held in Cincinnati and Mr.
Dick Todd was elected as Secretary. Dick Todd and Bob Lehton
presented the Chapter report for the year 2009 at this convention.
Mr.
Dick Blondin has done a wonderful job in representing SAMI at local
airshows. This year with the help of Tim Layne of the Michigan Chapter
we were presenters at the Sun ’N Fun Airshow. Dick traveled in the
C-172 with volunteers daily to man the booth. We also participated in
the Prayer Flight Ministry, praying for our country on May 5, 2010.
The
most exciting event this year has been a dream come true that the
Board has visualized for over ten years, and that is the construction
of an 80 x 80 hanger on the property at Merritt Island Airport. This
hanger will give us a visible presentation of Christ’s ministry on the
field, and likewise a place to store aircraft and have our Chapel
meetings. If you recall on December 31, 2007, Servant Air signed a 20
year lease for .42 acres to build the 80 x 80 hanger with the TICO
Airport Authority. During the past year in 2009, Servant Air received
$212,745.00 in kind donations towards the construction of the hanger.
Over $130,000 cash donations were received bringing the total cost of
the hanger to $334,745.00.
An
amended lease was signed for 20 years beginning on January 1, 2010
with two five year extensions allowed at the end of the term. The
Hanger passed all inspections and received our CO (Certificate of
Occupancy) on December 27th, 2009. We moved in on January
the 2nd 2010. The new hanger will be located next to the
airport beacon which will be a light of Christ on the field. The
Hanger is complete and we want to thank all the volunteers for their
time and sacrifice. We began operations in January and the Tico-Airport
Authority gave us a new lease dated 01-01-2010 with the same terms.
I
want to personally thank Roger Shover, Joe Hicks, Steve Miller, Steve
Hoskins, and many others that went well beyond their call of service
in ministry to this project. Steve Hoskins Construction arrived at the
last moment to help complete the project which was a tremendous
blessing. Further, I would like to thank all the volunteers that
helped us move into the new facility. Also the many long hours for all
the volunteers that assisted in insurance, pre-site work, electric,
plumbing and putting the final touches on the entire project.
We
had to take out a $40,000 mortgage to complete the project, but by
December 31, 2010, it has been reduced to $20,000 at minimum interest
rate.
Jack Parker, Brevard County Sheriff has supported SAMI over the years,
and now his lawn crew cuts our grass on a regular schedule for free.
In
2010 we prepared an overall summary of flights from 1987 to December
31, 2010 to secure a grant from the United Way. This summary consists
of 17 pilots that regularly fly fro SAMI. We have flown during this
period 631 mission flights of 2285 hours. We have conducted 1696
training flights consisting of 1924 hours. Total flights of missions
and training is 2288 flights with 4,212 hrs.
In
conclusion, even with the escalating price of fuel, Servant Air
Ministries, Inc. continued to fly. Again, it has been my privilege to
serve as President of Servant Air Ministries, Inc. for the past 17
years, and I again thank the Board of Directors and volunteers for
their efforts in service in Jesus’ name. We will continue to make
Young Eagle flights approximately four times a year and numerous trips
to the Bahamas and Southeast part of the United States providing mercy
flights. We’ll continue our efforts to provide evangelism at air
shows and work with all ministries throughout the Southeast part of
the United States in providing charity and missionary flight
activities.
We
sincerely thank all the members, Board, pilots and supporters of
Servant Air Ministries, Inc. for a fruitful year in 2010 and expect
the Lord to produce great fruit in this coming season.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert E. Lehton, CFII, MEI, President
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