A Six-Seat Cessna 206

This story is from the Carin LeRoy, who I flew a few times during our time in Rumginae. The most vivid memory is the loss of one main wheel while landing at their airstrip in Yehebi, when we stayed overnight in their house until we were "rescued" the next morning. 

Read the story of LeRoys service to the Western Province here:

A Six-Seat Cessna 206

Kompiam Health Patrols

Since a few years, MAF supports Kompiam Hospital with flights for their regular health patrols. Whereas before, these had to be done on foot, with up to 2 days of walking, the same areas can now be reached with 20-min flights. In addition, the area of operation could be increase, serving villages that could not be reached before. See below a short (or longer) video of one of these Clinic Patrols.

Short Version Video

Full Version Video

Kathy's Walk to a Changed Life – Part 1

It all started with a visit from a YWAM team in Agali, one of the most spectacular places in PNG. Located in the Strickland valley, Agali rests on a plateau with the steep Strickland gorge in front and a high rising mountain range at the back. It is days from any other village and probably weeks from the next town – walking that is. With the plane it is 20 Minutes to Tari and about the same to Tabubil.

Agali looking towards the Strickland Valley

Micha Lucht is a young, enthusiastic German with a passion for Jesus. In 2019, he spent quite a bit of time in Papua New Guinea. First, he came for ten weeks as part of an outreach programme of the Discipleship Training School he attended at Queenstown, New Zealand. Later, he returned for a longer mission: to teach the Discipleship Bible School himself to young Papua New Guineans enrolled at Camp Kalina, situated on the outskirts of Mt Hagen. During a two-week outreach in Agali Micha met Kathy, a local woman, and decided to teach the Gospel in a practical way.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Strickland Gorge near Agali

The Blessings of Remote Bible Schools

February and March of 2020 were filled with training a follow pilot of Telefomin on the Cessna Caravan. Though already familiar with the area and the airstrips, a new aircraft type poses its own challenges as procedures need to be adapted to accommodate differences in things like approach speed and general handling. But even though the flights we did mostly targeted training purposes they still had an impact on God's kingdom.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Mission Aviation Fellowship, 75-Year Anniversary

This year MAF International celebrates its 75-year anniversary. For this occasion a video clip was produced. Most scenes were filmed in Lapalama, a village close to Mt Hagen, headquarter in MAF Papua New Guinea.

If you would like to read more about how MAF came to be, here is a short history:

The Red Bird Takes its First Flight

Thursday, 22 August marked the day when our new Cessna Caravan simulator spread its wings for the first training session. Hansjörg Schlatter MAF International Fleet Training Captain for the Caravan taught the first two MAF PNG instructor pilots how to use the Redbird CRV for pilot training. Read the full story in the MAF press release below.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Totally Linked

This last week I have been to Rumginae for three days of flying. It is so encouraging to come back to where we have served for six years and to realise, that people not only recognise me, but are actually excited to see me. So, I thought I'll post a MAF article that shows how different parties in Rumginae link together to help the isolated communities of the Western Province.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Last Days as First Officer

Last week I had my first full operational day on the Cessna Caravan. This, after almost 4 months of interrupted training, marks they end of my flying days as a First Officer on the Twin Otter. Though that last flight took place 18 January already I would like to give a quick reflection on the last two month of flying this truly remarkable airplane.
First, we flew a lot of building material into a community called Wobagen. It is only about a 30-minute flight (50nm) from the next bigger town, but the terrain makes it impossible to reach any other way. The building material was bought to build a new church, as the old one is falling apart it being build (as is usually done with houses in the bush) out of material found in the surrounding countryside.

Old church built from bush materials ...

... and new structure with milled timber and tin roof.

Plywood for flooring and inside walls

Second, we flew charters for an organisation called Rotarians Against Malaria, who distributes mosquito nets to remote communities and educates them on how malaria can be prevented. Load after load of bundled up nets were brought to places where malaria is prevalent, together with workers who were to supervise the distribution and run the workshops.

Bundles of mosquito nets for Edwaki

And thirdly, we had some medical evacuations that showed the hand of God guiding where we were unable to control. Find below an article published by MAF PNG and written by Richie Axon, my fellow pilot in Telefomin.

Click here to read the story as PDF

Mike Alpha India

In July we told you about the big move to a single aircraft type for MAF PNG. This has now started with the arrival of MAI (Mike Alpha India) the first new Cessna Caravan out of six. And yes, we are excited. Read following article published by MAF PNG of the plane's ferry flight, it's dedication, and it's first operational day.

Click here to read the story as PDF

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

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]

A Vital and Long Lasting Relationship

"When we look back over the decades, and the many missionaries who gave their young lives to serve in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, we wonder what many of them are doing now. Some return for a last, quick look-see, but others just can’t let go of the place, the people, the need. One such couple came back, and then came back again, each time responding to the call of God when they saw the need was still so great."

I had the privilege to fly Dale and Carin LeRoy, as well as many of the pastors attending their courses, to and from Yehebi and other bush strips. As we pilots only provide a small part to the ministry puzzle it is encouraging to sometimes see the picture fully assembled.

Here the full story as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Dale and Carin LeRoy with village kids

Commitment

"When Canadian CEO Brad Bell recently visited our MAF PNG Program, he was very impressed how committed our pilots are to help those in need and even fly the extra mile..."

Here the full story as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Remi vanWermeskerken with one of the patients

God's Fingers in Suki

"Do you think a robotic scientist and a computer expert can make a difference in a remote community in the swamps of Papua New Guinea? A community only accessible via aircraft?"

Sometimes we fly people to a certain location and, though we might know about the ministry they are involved in, we do not get the full picture, because another pilot is picking them up again. This is also true for the following story, which MAF PNG recently released.
While doing training with a new pilot in the South Fly area of the Western Province, we picked up long term missionary Graham Martin and his two companions in Daru to go to Suki. As the weather had been very challenging we had to overnight in Kawito and had a good time listening to the stories of Graham, who has been serving in PNG for decades. Next day we were able to drop the men in Suki, but did not meet them again as another pilot picked them up and brought them back to Daru.

Click here to read the full story as released by MAF PNG

Having a chat over a bar of chocolat

Weired shaped chocolat bars

Steven and Markus doing area check outs

"Hey, it's my turn!" "No, no, I got it!"

Waiting for the plane to get ready

Teaching in Suki

Food Relief after Flood

"Drought and flood both can cause shortage of food as crops don't grow as they should. Both can go hand in hand in PNG. Just having less rain already affects the growth of a lot of plants depending on an abundance of water, and a continues shower quickly accumulates a lot of water in the tropics. It is common to receive 10% of Switzerlands annual rainfall in just one night.
Last year's drought made UN's World Food Program to step in and help out with rice. In this story it was a flood that caused the government of PNG to help with food relief."

Here the full story as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

A plane load of goods ready to be loaded into the Caravan

Bags Of Blessings

"Medevac Care Bags are threefold blessing: first when the Mt Hagen MAF ladies get together to pack them, second when a MAF wife or pilot hands them over to a patient in need, and third when they get unpacked by the grateful recipient."

Here the full story as written by Madeleine and released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Telebe with her newborn twins

The Village The World Forgot

"Imagine finding a key to a time machine. Where do you think you would end up?
Ryan Cole, a Canadian pilot, who I trained with at Prairie and who recently joined the MAF PNG program, suddenly found himself in a village the world forgot…"

Here the full story as released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Ryan watching as the plane is about to leave him in the past

A Special Family Adventure

"Being the wife or children of a MAF pilot means that you usually only get to hear the stories of his day-to-day flying and occasionally see some pictures. It’s really something special if the whole family can board a flight to see first hand how their husband’s or dad’s flying job impacts and enables the work of missionaries for years and finally leads to a big celebration weekend for a whole tribe.
Enjoy our little family adventure!"

Here the full story as written by Madeleine and released by MAF PNG:

Click here to read the story as PDF

Madeleine receiving a flower garland

Following a short video of the occasion: