“Up to this point in my pilot experience, flying floats is the most challenging flying I have EVER done! It’s also the FUNNEST flying I have ever done.” So says Sean Cannon, a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship, who is based in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Mission Aviation Fellowship’s newest aircraft, a Quest KODIAK, will soon be on its way to Papua, Indonesia, where it will make life better for people living in remote corners of the jungle.
By CHRIS BURGESS
The Cessna 206 soared past the ridge and immediately plunged into a narrow canyon. Rocks melded into a reddish blur as the pilot-in-training aimed for a thin grass strip tucked amid the canyon walls. He relayed a mock mayday message into the radio before zooming past the airstrip and out of the ravine.
This simulated engine failure is one of many exercises a prospective pilot performs in the Idaho backcountry before serving overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). But there are other steps a pilot must complete before even arriving at the non-profit organization’s headquarters in Nampa, Idaho.
By DAVE FORNEY
On Nov. 22, Dave Forney, a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot/mechanic serving in Kalimantan, Indonesia, took these photos and filed this report from the Philippines, where he is assisting in the relief efforts:
“Yesterday I went out on the helicopter, first flight of the day, to the small islands in the little Quiniluban Archipelago. I spent the day going from island to island, overseeing the safe off-loading of food and relief supplies from the helicopter into the hands of hungry villagers.
CUYO, Philippines — Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and New Tribes Mission (NTM) are working hand-in-hand to deliver food, clean water, and other critical aid to remote island communities of the Philippines in desperate need following Typhoon Haiyan.
The missionary organizations are among many that are providing aid to the typhoon-ravaged area.
OSHKOSH — Some four years after Mission Aviation Fellowship’s (MAF’s) first KODIAK airplane landed in Indonesia, the aviation organization is dedicating its seventh KODIAK for service in this island nation today at AirVenture.
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) recently dedicated a Cessna Caravan aircraft for service in Haiti.
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) recently took delivery of its first Kodiak 100, the first of the next-generation bush planes to be produced under an arrangement between the ministry and the manufacturer, Quest Aircraft Co. of Sandpoint, Idaho.
MAF is a faith-based, nonprofit ministry that serves missions and isolated people around the world with aviation, communications and learning technologies.
The new Kodiak 100, which will be dedicated in a public ceremony at MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, May 2, will go on a multi-city tour this summer, prior to being ferried to Papua, Indonesia, the aircraft’s destination of service.
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