Cessna Caravan Training in Uganda

2019 is going to be a year of great change for MAF in Papua New Guinea. Our current aircraft fleet of tree different types (Twin Otter, Caravan, Airvan) will be reduced to one single type (see following Blog entry). From approximately mid-year will have nine Cessna Caravans only, meaning all pilots will have to undergo type training.
In my role as Crew Training Manager I had the privilege to do this type training with MAF in Uganda. But why travel that far? On the one hand, MAF in Africa already has longstanding experience flying the Cessna Caravan. On the other hand, Uganda operates the MAF Training Centre for the Africa region. This includes a Caravan simulator which makes type training quite a bit cheaper. As MAF PNG will receive the same simulator, I had the opportunity to see first hand how it was used in training.
So, now I am good to fly the Cessna Caravan with a G1000 glass cockpit. At the end of January my training will continue in Telefomin where I'll apply my newly gained knowledge in the mountains of PNG.

MAF Uganda at Kajjansi (near Kampala)

Instructors and students in front of the Grand Caravan

Cessna Caravan Simulator from RedBird: On the outside...

... and on the inside.

Partnership Projects

In January 2019, MAF will launch its third Healthcare Partnership Project. It is special to us as it covers the Western Province, our former work place and one of the poorest provinces in PNG. Read the story below and stay tuned as we will tell more about its impact.

Below the article as published by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Giving Women a Voice

MAF relief pilot Rick Velvin shares another encounter where God used him to be a catalyst giving PNG women a voice and have their ideas heard – just as he was waiting on the ground for the people who chartered the aircraft doing their job.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Memorial to MAF PNG Pilots

In June 1967 John Harverson took off in Telefomin in a Cessna 185 to fly two bible school students to their home village of Olsobip. Radio contact was lost and despite an extensive 10-day search over 8000 sqaure km, the plane was never found. Following a excerpt of a news paper article printed in The Canberra Times, 27 June 1967:

PORT MORESBY. Monday. — The beat of native drums reverberated along jungle-clad valleys in north west Papua today as one of the Territory's biggest ever searches continued for three men aboard a light aircraft missing since Friday.

Two natives expert in the use of the drums were flown into the Olsobip area, near Telefomin, by the helicopter in an attempt to ascertain whether tribesmen in the remote jungle district had news of the aircraft or its occupants.
Overhead, 10 light aircraft and three helicopters continued their search, extending at times across the border into Indonesian controlled West Irian. A ground party of nearly 100 combed the valley floors.
Aboard the missing Cessna 185 are a Missionary Aviation Fellowship pilot, Mr John S. Harverson, 29, and two natives.
They left Telefomin on Friday morning for the 30 mile flight to the small, isolated Olsobip airstrip at the foot of the rugged Hindenburg Range.
...
The general secretary of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship, Mr Victor M. Ambrose, today described the country where the men are missing as, "extremely rugged with often shocking weather conditions".
"Olsobip is down among the foothills. It is a difficult place to get in and out of. He could have crashed into the side of a mountain", he said.
Mr Haverson, the son of a missionary doctor, was born in China. He went to school in New Zealand and came to Australia four years ago.
The search area comprises a 20-mile area of rough terrain at altitudes of from 9,000 to 11,000 feet. Murky weather has hampered searchers in the region which straddles the border between Papua and New Guinea.
Experienced pilots say the search area with its deep ravines and sharp peaks is made all the more treacherous by the suddenly changing cloud formations. Pilots familiar with the Victor Emmanuel Range area said they would be "amazed" if the pilot and his passengers were found alive.


In 1994 and 2005 MAF lost two other aircraft and 3 pilots in the general Telefomin area. I remember the last accident very well, as I had just started my pilot training at Prairie Bible Institute and Madeleine and I had to rethink our commitment to Mission Aviation. And now we are in the same area, fly to the same places.
For the (almost) 50-year anniversary, the Harverson family visited PNG and once again flew over the area, where their husband, father, and brother went missing. In memory of all the MAF pilots who lost their lives serving PNG's isolated places, a memorial was erected at Mt Hagen head quarters.

Memorial at Mt Hagen HQ

In honour of those who lost their lives while serving God

Welcome Back

In my new role as Crew Training Manager I have to go to Mt Hagen at least once a month for meetings. As I am usually gone for several days I try to bring back something special for the kids. Like apples, yoghurt, or chips (crisps).
Sometimes the kids, too, have a little surprise for me when I return. Like a Welcome Card – or the news that our youngest has become a scoundrel.

Encouraging: Somebody is waiting for me 

"Wanted: Lucien Bischoff"

Fleet Change

Within the next year MAF PNG will undergo a major change in its fleet. The three aircraft types (Twin Otter, Airvan, Caravan) operated in PNG have become a challenge to man and maintain efficiently. Thus, at the beginning of this year it was decided to phase out the Airvan and the Twin Otter in order to move to an all Caravan fleet. Find below the press release for the first step towards this goal, the purchase of new aircraft:

Textron Aviation Inc. and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) International are pleased to announce the order of five Cessna Caravan 208 turboprops for its operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with the option for purchasing an additional two aircraft. This is the single largest aircraft investment by MAF International in its history. The five aircraft are scheduled to be delivered from Textron Aviation before the end of this year and are expected to be operational in PNG by mid-2019.
Since 1951 MAF has been serving the most isolated communities in PNG to bring physical and spiritual relief. MAF enables thousands of aid workers, long-term development specialists, mission workers, doctors and nurses, teachers and water engineers to deliver food, medical supplies and relief, water and education to those living in the most remote areas.
During the last decade, MAF has slowly been expanding the operations of the Cessna Caravan; it is now used to operate into 95 percent of the more than 230 remote bush airstrips—many of which are positioned on mountain ridgelines. With the purchase of the five Caravan turboprops, MAF adds to its existing fleet of three in PNG, transitioning to a single fleet consisting exclusively of Caravan aircraft.
Aviation Director for MAF International, William Nicol said, “With an all-Caravan fleet powered by the dependable PT6 engine, significant gains in reliability and mission impact will be achieved. The Caravan provides the capability that ensures an effective, efficient and sustainable operation—a critical consideration when operating with limited infrastructure in challenging conditions, where remote access often becomes a matter of life and death.’
“MAF’s choice to expand its fleet with the Caravan is a testament to the reliability, value and superb performance abilities of the aircraft,” said Jessica Pruss, president, Asia Pacific sales, and marketing at Textron Aviation. “We are delighted to continue supporting MAF with the Caravan, an aircraft the organization can depend on to efficiently accomplish its missions.’
PNG is home to an incredible diversity of tribal groups, with more than 800 different languages and a vast array of local cultures, customs and beliefs. Of the population, 85 percent live in rural areas, relying on subsistence agriculture for survival. With no countrywide road network, overland travel is often lengthy, exhausting and dangerous. The only way most communities can reach the outside world, or be reached by others, is by trekking long distances, often for several days at a time. Effectively “locked” behind seemingly impenetrable jungles, mountains and/or swamps, communities have little or no access to basic healthcare and education; their ability to develop and engage with the wider economy and improve their own standard of living is extremely limited. Access to an air service provides options and opportunities to change these circumstances. MAF’s new Caravan turboprops are a means through which hope and development can be provided for these isolated men, women and children.

Cessna Caravan C208 during take-off in Mougulu

Earthquake Relief Efforts

Last Saturday was my first involvement with the Relief Efforts for the earthquake strikes area. With the Twin Otter we flew about 4.5 tonnes of of supplies to Mougulu a village close to the epicentre that still has an operational airstrip. From there the goods were flown to remote villages by helicopter.

Below is an article published by MAF PNG about some of the work done last week:

Click here to read the story as PDF

The landslides caused a lot of freshwater sources to be
contaminated - unloading bottled water at Fuma

Earthquake in PNG

On Feb 25th a 7.5 earthquake hit Papua New Guinea in the Komo area. It was the strongest we have experienced since our arrival in 2011. In fact, it was so strong that I was on the way out of the 2-storey building I was sleeping in, when it finally stopped. Madeleine and the kids were on their own in Telefomin. Our house lost a header tank (water tank on the roof to provide water pressure), and they were without water for a day. Other than that, we were spared any damage or loss of life.
In Komo and the surrounding area it is a different story, however. Over the past few years a lot of effort has gone into that region as a plant for Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been build. With it came sealed roads, improved infrastructure, and an airport. Most of that is to some degree damaged now, and while it mostly effects the people operating the gas plant and the people living in the town of Tari (population approx 8000), it will have a long-term impact on the growing economy.
As the rural Papua New Guinean has no car, no electricity, no running water, and a house build with material found in the bush the earthquake had little impact on their general existence. However, land slides triggered by the shaking ground covered gardens and streams, thus limiting food and water supply in some areas. It is also not clear yet, if and how many houses and people were covered by the sliding masses of earth.

"MAF is currently involved in a coordinated effort with other groups to provide earthquake relief and medical evacuations. Please see the attached story for more information and read about the first people who have been medevaced to Mt Hagen hospital."

Here the full story as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Ridge broken away close to houses [©MAF PNG]

Badly broken road
[©Hides Gas Facebook]

Landslides to the North and South of epicentre
[©Bernard J McQueen Facebook]