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David Clapper was ferrying food and supplies to a remote village called Ndundu when his single-engine aircraft crashed in an area 6,400 feet above sea level, The Associated Press and Jakarta Post reported.
Clapper, 46, served with his wife, Beth and their five children in the village of Wamena in Indonesia's Papua Province, working for the Catholic-run Associated Mission Aviation, news reports said.
"They were there as missionaries to share the Gospel," Beth Clapper's mother, Mary Hernley, said Monday. "He would fly people here and there, sometimes for Bible dedications. When the village decided they wanted food, he would fly supplies in for that. Whatever the need was, he would fly."
Beth Clapper and her three younger daughters, Natalie, 14, Victoria, 12, and Jasmine, 10, were at home in Wamena at the time of the accident.
Clapper's two eldest children, Judah, 18, and Tizah, 16, were spending the summer in Manheim with the Hernleys, but left for Indonesia on Monday with their father's parents.
The family had been on the island of New Guinea for about 10½ years, with Clapper flying for about nine. The western half of the island is part of Indonesia, while the eastern half is the country of Papua New Guinea.
Much of the New Guinea interior remains virtually inaccessible except by air. Hernley said that Clapper was cleared to fly into 91 individual villages and had completed between 13,000 and 14,000 flights.
On the day of the accident, Clapper made an unscheduled stop to pick up produce at the request of some villagers he was transporting. The crash happened between the impromptu stop and Clapper's next scheduled destination.Hernley said Clapper's last contact was recorded Thursday evening about 10 p.m., when he called the base after successfully taking off.
A few hours after the incident the Associated Mission Aviation chief pilot contacted Beth Clapper to see how she was doing, Hernley said. She did not understand the reason for their concern until they explained that her husband was missing.
"When our daughter called (us), he was already missing for nine hours," Hernley said.
Rescuers recovered Clapper's body Monday, but postponed transporting it until today, due to weather.
Clapper's funeral and burial will be held in Indonesia, Hernley said, but the family plans to hold a memorial service in the Lancaster area.
The Clappers' Indonesian visas expire in September. Hernley said she believes the family would like to stay in Indonesia a little longer, provided the visas can be renewed.
The Clappers became involved with mission work early on. Shortly after getting married, the couple began volunteer work in Maine.
"They always had a desire to be missionaries and it slowly unfolded," Hernley said.
(826) (210) (120) (81) (16)David Clapper spent three to four years studying at Moody Bible Institute to become a pilot. After Moody, Clapper went to a three-year aviation program in Tennessee.
"He's adventuresome and he enjoys challenges," Hernley said. "He wasn't afraid to try something new. He liked to see things happen.
"He had a strong love for the Lord. Their dream was to go to an unreached people to bring in the Gospel — that's what got them to Indonesia."
Pilots are in strong demand in Indonesia, because many do not want to fly in the dangerous mountains.
While the cause of the crash is still undetermined, Hernley said Clapper's son, Judah, believes it had to do with heavy winds. Often, when it's windy, air pockets form and a plane can suddenly drop, giving the pilot no control of the craft.
"We just think it must be that it was the Lord's time for him to go," Hernley said. "We don't question the Lord. We trust him and know that there's a purpose."
E-mail: stephweaver@lnpnews.com
