Archive | May, 2009

Turbo Charged GA8 for Papua New Guinea

By on May 23, 2009 in MAF

Delivery of a new GA8 turbo-charged Airvan to MAF in Papua New Guinea adds much-needed power for highlands flying.  MAF’s first turbo-charged GA8 Airvan was flown to Papua New Guinea in April to work with remote communities across the highlands.

Turbo Charged GA8 for Papua New Guinea

GA8 Turbo with pilot Nick Swalm in PNG

The brand new 8-seat aircraft left Mareeba bound for PNG on April 21 following a ferry flight up from Victoria. MAF took delivery of the plane in February but the actual handover was delayed by certification approvals and modifications.

By all outward appearances, the turbo-charged (TC) Airvan is identical to its normally aspirated cousins, 11 of which are currently operating with MAF in the PNG lowlands, Arnhem Land, Cambodia and East Timor.

The big – or little – difference only becomes apparent when the engine cowling is removed to reveal the addition of a TC converter about the size of a 2-litre soft drink bottle tucked away neatly and almost out of sight. But big things can often be achieved by small objects. That small device will allow PNG pilots to soar with ease over mountain ranges and greatly reduce flight times between highlands airstrips. It will give them additional power for rapid climbing through breaks in the cloud.

Aviation Resources Manager, Stephen Charlesworth, explains that it is all about the ability of the TC Airvan to convert or compress – via the turbo-charger – the thinner air taken into the engine at altitude.  ”To date, (non-TC) Airvans have been particularly useful in the lowlands of PNG, Indonesia, Cambodia and East Timor where MAF has a number of Airvans operating,” he said.

turboairvan Turbo Charged GA8 for Papua New Guinea

GA8 Turbo Airvan in flight, PNG Highlands

“But they have been less successful in the PNG highlands. As you go higher, air pressure reduces and the air is less dense. Therefore, the higher the altitude, the less power becomes available to a normally aspirated aircraft. There is less energy for the engine to burn. ”The turbo-charger or compressor overcomes that problem by compressing the air prior to it entering the engine enabling more power for greater rates of climb. As a result, the aircraft is better able to move from valley to valley in the PNG highlands.”

Mr Charlesworth said the new Airvan would readily climb to heights of 10,000 feet and above, had a greater load-carrying capacity than the Cessna 206 and required less maintenance. The Airvan GA8-TC 320 is powered by a Lycoming turbo-charged fuel injection engine turning a Hartzell three-blade propeller.

Worldwide, 135 of the Victorian-manufactured Airvans are flying in 32 countries. MAF has the second largest fleet of Airvans after the USAF Civil Air Patrol.

MAF Australia – www.maf.org.au

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MAF Beats a Drum in East Timor

By on May 23, 2009 in MAF

MAF has joined forces in East Timor with an agency set up to provide rodent-proof grain storage facilities for farm families.

Most East Timorese farmers grow subsistence food crops and rely almost entirely on them to meet daily food needs. The main staple of corn is grown on small, single-hectare farm plots and eaten twice a day. Weeding is carried out using manual labour.

With low yields from such small plots, farmers struggle to provide enough food for their families from one harvest to the next.
MAF Beats a Drum in East TimorAnd making matters far worse is the likelihood of a 30 percent reduction in the harvest due to loss and damage caused by rats and weevils. With one crop and one harvest per year, the challenge is there for farmers to protect harvested grain for up to 12 months.

Hanging bunches of corn cobs in trees may protect them from rats but not weevils and so the losses continue and the hunger persists.

Research has shown that the solution – storage in sealed containers – though simple, has been largely unavailable to farmers in East Timor because they could not afford to buy adequate containers.

So, MAF to the rescue! On hearing of the need, MAF has embarked on a program with Drums on Farm Timor (DOFT) to provide 100 used fuel drums per year. After a thorough cleaning by DOFT, each drum is sold and delivered at an affordable price to farmers. It costs about $40 to collect, clean and deliver each drum. A family that can obtain five drums will have more than enough to meet their needs and provide a surplus.

Good quality drums with bungs are rodent-proof and airtight. Rats cannot access grain in sealed containers and weevils cannot live or reproduce without oxygen.”To operate our aircraft in East Timor, MAF needs to import fuel from Australia in good quality 200-litre steel drums,” notes Program Manager Brad Sinclair.

“By donating our empty fuel drums to Drums on Farm Timor to support the improvement of food security for farmers and their families, MAF has found another way of using resources entrusted to us to help the people of East Timor.

“The farmers work hard for their grain, and I’ve enjoyed visiting them and seeing the drums given such a simple but beneficial second life.”

MAF Australia – www.maf.org.au

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MAF Dedicates its First KODIAK Missionary Plane

By on May 22, 2009 in MAF

 

NAMPA, Idaho – MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) inaugurated a new era in missionary aviation when it dedicated its first KODIAK aircraft on May 2 at its headquarters in Nampa.

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 is the first of the next-generation bush planes to be produced under a visionary arrangement between MAF and the manufacturer, Quest Aircraft Co. of Sandpoint, Idaho.

This first KODIAK will be deployed in Papua, Indonesia. MAF Dedicates its First KODIAK Missionary Plane

A crowd of MAF staff, Christian leaders and Nampa residents participated in the dedication ceremony, as well as an afternoon of activities.

“Today’s events celebrate a technological achievement that will allow MAF to be more effective stewards of the resources God has given us,” said John Boyd, president of MAF. “But this new KODIAK is more than an example of leading-edge technology. It is an example of what God’s people can do when they pursue God’s will in God’s way. The unprecedented cooperation between missionary organizations that made this day possible is a model for 21st century missionary efforts. It is both exciting and humbling to be in the midst of a project that God has blessed so abundantly.”

Paul Schaller, chief executive officer of Quest Aircraft Co., told the crowd, “Serving the needs of the missionary community and those they help is the purpose for which Quest was built. It is gratifying to see it come to fruition with this first delivery to MAF.”

Among local leaders participating in the dedication ceremony were Tom Dale, the mayor of Nampa, and Montie Ralston, lead pastor of Boise Valley Christian Communion and a member of the MAF board of directors.

kodiakdesert MAF Dedicates its First KODIAK Missionary Plane

MAF Kodiak

The dedication ceremony marks a milestone in missionary aviation in part because the KODIAK will be significantly less expensive to operate than the planes it will replace in the MAF fleet. Most MAF planes, including the popular Cessna 206, run on aviation gasoline, or “avgas,” which is scarce and expensive in many of the remote areas where MAF operates. However, the KODIAK is powered by jet fuel, which is more plentiful and much less expensive than avgas.

Over the next few years, MAF will replace 20 of its Cessna 206s with planes that operate on jet fuel, either KODIAKs or Cessna Caravans. Because the KODIAK can carry nearly twice the cargo of the C206, MAF will transport medicine, food and disaster relief supplies much more efficiently, reducing operating costs.

 

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