For over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more
“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read more
This is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read more
The Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read more
When MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read more
It has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read more
In Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read more
To launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read more
Being a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read more
Pilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read more
Saving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read more
Our work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more
“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read more
The unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read more
In March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read more
Hepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read more
All in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read more
Probably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read more
On Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read more
On Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreFor over 40 years, MAF has been partnering with Yirrkala Homelands School and Laynha to bring education to the remote communities of Arnhem Land. Yirrkala Homelands School was formerly part of Yirrkala School, and the services for Homeland communities began in 1974. Since the very beginning, they have been using MAF services to transport teachers out to the remote Homelands.
Read more“She is not dead yet,” replied one of the villagers, “but will die soon.”
A 15-year-old girl was pregnant and trying to deliver, but the baby had turned. There was no healthcare at the time in the dense jungles of Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The people in her village had no hope that this girl, named Lihut, would live.
So they turned to the local witchdoctor.
He and a few other men decided to jump up and down on the girl’s belly, thinking this would help. Of course, it only caused further damage.
On a nearby grass airstrip, a small airplane—a Cessna 185—touched down and John Hook, a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), stepped out. Read what happened next here.
Read moreThis is a story of Grace. Emma Grace. She is alive today only by the Grace of God because, when Emma Grace was just two days old, she was left to die. Read more here.
Read moreThe Harverson family came to PNG to find closure. What they found was connection and love.
Read moreWhen MAF’s Cessna 182 landed in the village of Chukudum, it was the first time ever that the Didinga people in the south-east of South Sudan had seen a Bible in their mother tongue. It had been almost 40 years in the making and the excitement was great.
Read moreIt has been twelve years since MAF has been able to land in the community of Noru in Papua New Guinea. Glenys Watson, First Officer on the MAF flight that recently reconnected Noru by air reports: “As we circled over the airstrip to inspect it, we could see plenty of people were out waiting to see what would happen. From the air, it looked good. The grass was cut short, and the wind was light. We made an approach to land. As we came into land, people lined the side of the airstrip, and all were clapping and cheering. We stopped and shutdown at the top of the airstrip where the majority of the community had gathered. We were met by men with bows and arrows dancing around the plane. As we climbed out, again the community clapped and cheered and hung flowers around our necks. The joy was obvious!“
Read moreIn Ulang, South Sudan, a Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) is currently doing a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention in Ulang County assisting the host community and Internally Displaced People (IDP). MAF recently flew a ton of equipment to the team – primarily tools for manual drilling of water points, well supplies, piping and a water pump – plus a lot of food for the 5-member Medair team who had been eating only rice for two and a half days.
Read moreTo launch the partnership, on August 3rd, MAF Australia General Manager Ian McDougall and Chief Flight Instructor Andy Little will be flying the brand new Cessna 182 Training Plane to Cooktown to formalise the partnership and speak with the school Community on MAF and Missionary as a career.
Read moreBeing a mission pilot these days in Papua New Guinea isn’t that much about flying missionaries. The number of missionaries in the country has declined a lot since MAF started its operation in 1951. Today, the MAF pilot is often the only expat missionary a remote community gets to see. However, the time spent on the ground with the community in many cases is limited to unloading the plane and to sorting out the passengers and loading for the take off.
Random opportunities do exist, however, when the timing is just right and the pilot can spend time with the people on the ground as recently happened to MAF Pilot Rick Velvin.
Enjoy his testimony of allowing God using him in an unexpected way.
Read morePilot Danny Gill has been training in Kenya for the last six months. This is the story of a recent training flight that he took, where he went and the challenges he faced. It is a great insight into the life of a training pilot at MAF. Danny writes, “At the end of the day we usually brief with the instructors and gain tips, advice, and wisdom from what they’ve observed. I was encouraged by having performed better on this day and grateful for the encouraging feedback from my instructor on my progress. The training can be grueling, and I find it’s always playing on my mind, that I never truly stop thinking about the standards and requirements to be met.”
Read moreSaving a life is a big part of being a MAF pilot. Delivering food for the hungry or airlifting the sick and dying from a jungle airstrip; the MAF pilot who takes the opportunity can make a real difference. But, these opportunities include tough decisions. Medical Evacuation (Medevac) calls are vague at best. Details about the rescue often sketchy, and when the financial cost is high, the decision to cancel a day’s flying program to divert to a place far away with no certainty of a good outcome is a heavy burden. Read Paul Woodington’s story about one such decision he recently had to make.
Read moreOur work week started with an urgent call to pick up a baby suffering from serious illness. Alarm clock was set for 3am on Monday morning. At 5 o’clock we took off from our base at Ulaanbaatar international airport and headed off to Arvaikheer, municipal capital town of Ovorhangai county, one hour twenty minutes flight to the West. We landed on the grass runway and taxied to front of the small terminal. A vehicle was already waiting behind the gate to bring the passengers. This time we did not need the stretcher. The main patient was an eight-month year old baby girl, who had turned yellow.
Read more“I was born a MAF kid, in a Kenyan hospital. My parents had already been living in the Tanzania programme for over two years, with my twin siblings, because my dad is an aircraft engineer. It’s safe to say that I don’t know anything besides MAF; I’m a missionary kid through and through.” MAF is Where I am From – read about two best friends who have grown up as “mission kids” with MAF in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read moreThe unseasonal grey clouds and rain showers did not dampen the celebration of the commissioning of a new MAF Cessna 182T training aircraft in Mareeba. Registered as VH-WLX, the plane has been fully funded by Australian donors: Geoff and Bev Atkinson, a legacy gift from Trevor Withnall, and 800 others who responded sacrificially to the fundraising appeal. MAF could not serve without the generous support and long term partnership of like-minded individuals who seek to transform the lives of people living in poverty and isolation. Read more about the event here.
Read moreIn March 2018, senior flight instructor Joe Knighton got a request that was a little out of the ordinary. Through the generous donations of supporters, following a fundraising appeal by MAF Australia, MAF had the opportunity to purchase a Cessna 182 aircraft for training purposes … except the previous owner and the aircraft were based in Perth, which is over 2,000 miles away from Mareeba as the crow flies and more than double that by road. Just a week later, along with fellow instructor David Curtis, the two pilots went on an adventure which would literally span the width of Australia, with a total flying time of 16.7 hours over three days, back to the training centre in Mareeba.
Read moreHepatitis is a very serious, infectious and life-threatening disease. In parts of South Sudan the occurrence is so high that it can be categorized as an epidemic. Dr. David Anthony Tikimo, a specialist in tropical medicine and endemic diseases, has volunteered to help get the spreading under control. Dr. David boards the MAF Caravan in Juba together with boxes of medication and a young girl who had been tested positive with the Hepatitis B virus. The virus had entered the secondary stage, and she was vomiting blood (haemoptysis), her adomen and her legs were swollen, and it was difficult for her to defecate.
Read moreAll in a day’s flying! 9 hours, 13 landings in-between and a total of 270 minutes in the air transporting people and goods around Papua New Guinea. This is MAF Papua New Guinea.
Read moreProbably one of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and supporters back home is “What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?” A story by MAF Australia Pilot, Dave Rogers.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 2 of this story provides more background information on how this charter flight is going to meet earthquake and rehabilitation needs for the people at Mougulu and the surrounded area.
Read moreOn Thursday, the 23rd of May, the Twin Otter P2-MFT did a charter flight from Mt Hagen to Mougulu to transport a sawmill and food care packages to the community there. Also on board were Mandy Glass, MAF PNG’s Communications Officer and Laura Meeks, daughter of our Engineering Manager.
Part 1 of this story is a personal account of the flight by Laura Meeks.
Read moreIn this issue of MAF e-news:
• FLAME teaching, praying and serving in South Sudan
• What do building materials, coffee and a saw mill have in common?
• South Sudan Emergency Appeal
• Andrew raises $6000 for MAF
• NITV documentary, "Galiwin'ku Story of Faith"
