WELCOME TO THE FLIGHT CREW
Feet on the ground. Heart in the clouds.
Welcome video from MAF Senior Engineer, John Hermanus
We are celebrating your amazing contribution to the work of MAF! Your support, prayers and generosity have enabled us to continue to flying and serving people in the most isolated places in the world in 2025.
From the impact of the generosity of Aussies during our Fuel for Father’s Day campaign, to funding more firsts around the world and new donor funded aircraft in PNG, give thanks with us for the amazing work that has been accomplished in God’s strength in 2025.
The impact of a jerrycan of fuel
Timor-Leste
Alighting from the aeroplane onto the grass airstrip of Atauro Island, 64-year-old Francisco De Souja Araujo is one of hundreds of patients, along with their families, that MAF flies home each year. “I would like to express my gratitude because of the great journey to arrive in my place in Atauro,” he said, standing with his wife Rosa De Araujo and daughter Murdiana De Souja Araujo, who also travelled with him.
Murdiana, who is one of Francisco and Rosa’s six children, spoke not only of their journey by air, but of their journey through her father’s illness. “My father was sick with tuberculosis,” she said. “Then the hospital called the plane to come and take him, because he was in a very critical condition.
“Such severe illness cannot be treated here. So, he was brought to Dili. There, our father and mother felt the weight of the long duration treatment plan, as the doctors said it would take about six months. Because of that, they wanted to return to Atauro to refresh and then will go back to Dili for further treatment.”
Atauro Island is separated from the main island of Timor by a 3000-metre-deep water channel. Boat crossings often take up to three hours, and at times are delayed or cancelled due to rough sea conditions. Patients from other districts on the main island face many hours of bus travel over winding and often unsealed roads, meaning MAF flights make massive differences in travel time.
Because of one jerry can of fuel and 15 minutes of flight, Francisco and his family were relieved of a long boat trip over rough seas.
Arnhem Land
Meanwhile, in remote Arnhem Land, 20 minutes of fuel means that dedicated Community-Based Aboriginal Teacher Education (C-BATE) coordinator, Lyv Knee can fly to the homelands communities.
Teaching in Arnhem Land comes with unique challenges. Seasonal flooding can cut off communities and funerals or cultural obligations result in high student mobility. In addition, limited housing availability in the homelands has seen some families relocate to hub-communities.
MAF is more than just a way to travel; it’s a vital link connecting Yolŋu educators with their training, their students, and their sense of home.
Through the C-BATE programme, homeland centre teachers can study for a Certificate III in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education while living and working in their own communities, rather than relocating to distant cities—a disruptive move for anyone, but particularly so for tight-knit Yolŋu families.
“Having the option to study is great, and it is a real motivator,” said Lyv. “The homeland centre teachers love study, and it’s an opportunity to get out of the day-to-day and do something different.
Your generosity during Fuel For Father’s day campaign and MAF’s help, homeland centre teachers can be flown to wherever they’re needed most, keeping homeland schools running when road travel is not feasible.
Donor funded planes making an impact
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have a lot to celebrate in Papua New Guinea!
In 2025, PNG received two new aeroplanes – P2-AFD and P2-WET – and MAF pilot, Joseph Tua, became MAF PNG’s first national float plane pilot.
Cessna Caravan P2-AFD is already busy impacting communities around PNG. Remote Telefomin is home to a MAF base and two pilot families where performing maintenance work on essential base facilities isn’t as easy as a trip to the hardware store.
P2-AFD transported members of MAF’s Facilities and Vehicles team to Telefomin. “The pilots fly, but we’re also in the team,” said Felix Kenny, the team’s Senior Carpenter Foreman. “Because we help build and maintain what they need, fixing water systems, power, or whatever is required, so they can live safely and do their work on a daily basis.”
P2-AFD has also transported steel building materials for the refurbishment of an aid post in the remote community of Yambaitok.
“Inside the Kompiam district, where our health services are located, we heavily depend on MAF,” said Pastor Jackson Minao, Chaplain at the Kompiam District Hospital. “If MAF doesn’t operate, then there is no other option in terms of building hospitals, referring patients to and from, or sending staff to where the communities are.”
“In Yambaitok, and all the other aid posts we run, there are no road connections to the hospital,” Pastor Jackson added. “We solely depend on MAF for everything.” The project in Yambaitok is one of several aid post initiatives spearheaded by Kompiam District Hospital, a ministry of the Baptist Union in PNG.
P2-WET, MAF’s amphibious Cessna Caravan, also began its service in PNG last year to much celebration. Western Province’s villages, cradled by Lake Murray’s lagoons and rivers, are cut off from roads and runways. “These extremely isolated communities rely on the floatplane for community development, medical assistance, and transporting people,” said Chad Tilley. A four-day river journey shrinks to ten minutes by floatplane, delivering medicine, supplies and hope.
With the introduction of a new type of aircraft into the PNG program, Joseph Tua stepped forward to be trained on the aircraft. Joseph’s journey to this historic milestone began seven years ago with MAF, a path he never foresaw. “When I joined MAF, I didn’t know I’d make it this far – nearly seven years now,” he reflected. In February 2025, he embarked on a rigorous two-and-a-half-week floatplane training course in Western Province, guided by experience pilot, Chad Tilley. The challenge was steep, shifting from mountain airstrips landings to water. “It’s an honour and privilege to upskill, fly the floatplane, and serve Western Province’s water communities and PNG broadly,” Joseph said.
November of last year, saw P2-WET conducting the first ever Aerial Health Patrol. As part of PNG Sustainable Development Program, the patrol team was flown from Boboa to Kapikam within the Lake Murray region in Western Province of Papua New Guinea and back on the same day.
“Usually, it takes the team 3 hours to travel from Boboa Station to Kapikam by speed boat, but this was reduced to only 10 minutes with the floatplane,” said Joseph Tua.
MAF pilot Chad Tilley shares on this successful experience. “The team were able to accomplish over 100+ child polio vaccines. This was the first health patrol team to fly with the floatplane, and the versatility and efficiency was demonstrated very well to everyone,” he said.
We are so grateful for your generous donations which allow us to purchase new aeroplanes and serve people who we have never reached before.
Funding more firsts
Lake Victoria – Uganda
For a very long time, MAF has worked hard to provide a float plane that would remove isolation for the people living on Uganda’s, Lake Victoria islands.
“Salvation has arrived,” said Pastor Dirisa Walakira, the leader of pastors’ fellowship on Lake Victoria islands when he learnt about the arrival of the float plane this afternoon.
Lake Victoria has over 200 islands, with only one airstrip that’s located on Bukasa airstrip. Because of this isolation, so many services have not been reaching the islands due to the poor transport that currently exists. This new float plane can land on water, thereby serving most of the islands.
“I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude, and I can’t express how excited I am to finally have this aircraft here, because I’ve been working on this for over five years. I’ve seen so many people across the MAF family pooling their expertise together to make this happen, because they deeply care about the people that are going to be reached by this tool.” Sam Baguma, MAF Uganda’s Country Director said.
Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
After decades of isolation, a generous gift from the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) ignites MAF’s return, promising to bridge remote communities with life-saving aviation services.
On July 21, 2025, a new chapter unfolded in Bougainville. Without air access, health workers can trek days to deliver care, educators struggle to supply schools, and church projects falter, but the generous gift from the ABG brings a renewed hope for the future.
Bougainville’s rugged terrain – dense mountains and remote islands – has long isolated communities from essential services. “That is why we need MAF’s air service for education, business, health and church work in Bougainville,” said Pastor Albert.
MAF Launch Team Director John Woodberry, expressed profound gratitude. “MAF has a history in Bougainville from 1965 to 1975, and in helping launch Boug-Air and we have the heart to bring help, hope and healing to people in remote communities around Bougainville.”
Your support of the Fund More Firsts appeal in 2025 enabled our operation to expand into new areas of need and isolation, serving more people, bringing help, hope and healing to those who need it the most.
Thank you.
MAF’s Special Partnership With Healthcare
In our programs around the world, MAF has a special relationship with those who are working in the health sector. Medevacs, health patrols, transporting vaccines and flying patients back home, are all part of MAF’s day to day work.
Timor-Leste
Inggrid Pinto, MAF’s hospital chaplain in Dili, has an intimate connection to the patients and their families who fly in on MAF planes. “I think what we do as a team is really helpful for the Timorese people,” said Inggrid. “Because MAF does not just help to bring them here to the hospital, but we also give them care and support. Sometimes we might think it’s not a big deal, but we can see that, for the patient, especially in their difficult situation, what we do is so meaningful to them.”
Since the early days of MAF’s flight operations, which began in 2007, members of the MAF team have often visited hospital patients who have been flown in on medevacs from isolated communities. However, in 2023, MAF increased their holistic impact by adding a hospital chaplain to the team.
Inggrid took on the chaplaincy role in 2024 after studying public health in Indonesia. The 28-year-old from Viqueque is excited about MAF’s impact on patients and their families.
“We provide them with emotional support and our presence makes them feel less alone,” she said. “We don’t just bring them here and then just let them go. We are with them in their difficult situation to provide what they need.”
After providing an initial ‘care pack’ of essentials on arrival, Inggrid and other MAF staff make weekly visits to patients and their families who have been flown to the national capital. These chaplaincy visits include further practical gifts and an opportunity to chat and pray with patients together with their families. Though the task is often physically and emotionally draining, Inggrid finds joy and encouragement in her role.
“The thing that I enjoy most is building a good relationship with the patient and the family. We really feel happy if they want to open up with us because we really want to help them, to listen to them,” she said.
Lesotho
On the other side of the world, MAF aircraft make a world of difference to patients and healthcare staff in Lesotho.
Delivering gas bottles might not seem a big deal, but to clinics in isolated communities around mountainous Lesotho, getting a gas bottle refilled isn’t as easy as doing a switch at the local servo.
MAF pilot, David LePoidevin recently had a busy day transporting a total of 60 large gas empty bottles, from clinics at Bobete, Thlenyaku, Semenanyane, Manamaneng, and Methalananeng to the city of Thaba Tseka.
In total, David made 21 landings in one day!
From the airport at Thaba Tseka, the gas bottles would then be trucked to the capital, Maseru to be refilled and returned to the clinics. Getting the gas bottles filled and returned ensures that the clinics are able to cook food for staff and patients as well as run refrigerators, vital for vaccines and medicine storage. .
Whether in Timor Leste or Lesotho, MAF pilots and staff work in God’s strength, to bring help, hope and healing to those in need of care, medically and beyond. Thank you for your support in ensuring MAF is available when help is needed.
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Whether you’re sharing why you support MAF, updating your details, or making changes to your regular giving, we’re really glad you’re here.
Your support means so much to us, and hearing from you helps us care for our Flight Crew better.
Need to update your details or regular donation?
You can do that using this form, or contact us at 1800 650 169 or via email at [email protected].
"*" indicates required fields