Latest News Archive - Page 8 of 18 - MAF Australia MAF Australia

A Day in the Life of a Training Pilot – A Story from Kenya

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.”

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Is my life worth it? – A Story from Papua New Guinea

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.

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Medevac Emergency in Mongolia

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.

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MAF is Where I Am From

“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.

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Commissioning Service for the New Training Aircraft

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.

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Collecting a new Training Aircraft

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.

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Helping to stop the spread of hepatitis in South Sudan

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.

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All in a Day’s Flying!

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.

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What’s it like flying in Papua New Guinea?

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.

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Meeting Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Needs (Part 2)

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.

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Meeting Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Needs (Part 1)

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.

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Refugee Response

MAF is working with Samaritan’s Purse to help refugees in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Francis Houghton, Regional Director with Samaritan’s Purse says, “Every time I come here from North America, which is at least four times a year, I fly with MAF wherever I am. Samaritan’s Purse goes to places where others don’t like to go. We try to access the areas that are difficult to reach. Quite often they’re only reachable by air and MAF is there to take us. It’s because of that transport and service that beneficiaries are getting what they need.”

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Restoration of the Forgotten

KeA and Birgitta Arnlund are devoted to missionary work, and have been actively involved with MAF for many years. For the past nine years they have been investing their talents in helping the Turkana people of Lokichoggio in northern Kenya in an ever-expanding ministry of schools, evangelism, community development and food distribution.

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A Year of God’s Grace – Axon Family in Papua New Guinea

Testimony of God’s Grace in the lives of the Axon Family in Papua New Guinea after a terrible accident last year

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Bringing Healthy Smiles – Arnhem Land

It was not your usual dentist visit! Treatments from the Dental Therapist took place under the shade of a tree and children brushed their teeth under a nearby garden tap. MAF and Laynha Health are partnering together to bring health and education to the isolated communities of Arnhem Land.

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In the Bag

More than one in twenty five babies born in Papua New Guinea don’t survive their first year. That statistic has deeply moved several of the MAF wives (many of whom are also mothers themselves) on the team based in the country. In response, they are making maternity packs to give to new mums. These presents are not always given in isolation to MAF’s main activity in the country; many are handed out to women whose pregnancy complications lead to a medical evacuation on an MAF flight.

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Bridging a Gap in Disaster Preparedness

The German Red Cross and Red Crescent conducts a simulation on Hatiya Island using a new process called Forecast-based Financing that bridges a much-needed gap in disaster-preparedness.

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Manuela’s Malaria Medevac

MAF is actively partnering with organisations worldwide to help stop the spread of Malaria by flying medicines and vaccines to vulnerable areas as well as transporting patients who are already inflicted with the disease. “One of our nurses needs a medevac! She has cerebral malaria.” MAF Deputy OPS Manager in South Sudan, Leon Primsloo, received the call Saturday at 2 pm. Read about what happened next.

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Comfortable and Efficient: Malaria Treatment Distribution

Two health officers from the Sandaun Provincial Health service are transported by MAF to four of their health centres to distribute Malaria tablets. MAF are pleased to assist the PNG Health Department overcoming a distance of almost 700km in less than 4 hours flight time. How comfortable and efficient is that! That’s where MAF’s heartbeat is making an extra jump: to help others to accomplish their work and to see people in remote areas physically and spiritually uplifted – by medicine and kind words of encouragement.

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Medair’s Fight to Stop Malaria

In 2016 Medair fought a massive upsurge in malaria cases at the Yusuf Batil Refugee Camp in South Sudan, putting into place measures that massively reduced the number of malaria cases in 2017. MAF continues to fly supplies to Medair in Maban, a three-hour flight from Juba. “We would like to thank MAF and our other partners for their support in bringing in the medical supplies needed for the significant outbreak last year,” Gerard of Medair says. “Our hope is that we won’t have this problem again.”

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