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News from MAF Haiti

cdsmythe — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:02:42 +0000

MAF has been serving in Haiti now for over 25 years. Here is a look into some of the work that MAF staff have been involved in recently in Haiti since the earthquake January 12th 2010. It gives a glimpse into what it is like for these folks down there. To follow the flights of one of the two Kodiaks flying down there go to: http://grace.ly/px8r16

John Woodberry, MAF Disaster Response/Security Manager:

Feb. 8: USAID has seen us moving out cargo from the ramp in under 24 hours to missions, hospitals and Christian relief agencies. This government group has approached us about moving even more. USAID food and other essentials will fly out on the KODIAKs and also be distributed by the truckload to Operation Blessing and other partner agencies.
Feb. 8: Flight trends into Haiti have moved past the evacuation flights and rapid influx of passengers. No longer are swarms of people trying to get in and out. There are still more passengers than we can fly, but transit between Port-au-Prince and the United States is becoming a scheduled operation where passengers book flights for specific days. The Saab airplane of NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing will fly with us again on Thursday and Friday. Commercial flights into Haiti are tentatively planned to resume Feb.18.
Feb. 8: The seaport still has only one dock open, creating a real bottleneck in the flow of relief supplies.
Feb. 7: While the MAF team was taking a much-needed break to watch the Super Bowl, recovery crews arrived at the airport. They were bringing the body of a US citizen who died in a collapsed hotel. The protocol and respect for the body was moving to watch.
Feb. 6: I was awakened at 4 a.m. by the sound of the MAF/MFI forklift running around the yard. It was James, our amazing forklift guy. The US military has given us five pallets of rice and other goods that we will transport to outlying areas on KODIAK flights.
Feb. 6: In less than three weeks of the MAF Haiti earthquake relief effort, we have flown around 2,500 passengers and 500,000 lbs of cargo.
Feb. 6: A Southern Baptist team from the Dominican Republic is in one of the large tents in our logistics yard. The team is building family-sized 15-gallon water filters. They have brought in and distributed 4,500 so far. There is great need for clean water.
Feb. 6: Both KODIAKs are loaded and ready to fly out early tomorrow morning. The morning will start at 6 a.m. with a C-130 that will arrive with 46,000 lbs of food, tents, medical supplies and other essential items.
Feb. 6: I received an e-mail from a Boeing 707 captain who sent us pizza: “You have no idea what a blessing it was to see the MAF staff at the Port-au-Prince airport this week. I hope the pizza found your folks well! It’s the least I could do, you all deserve so much. Keep up the good work. My spirit leaped when I talked to Will White yesterday. I know the LORD is working through you all in Haiti. Please continue spreading the Word through all that you do, and know that you have prayer partners in my wife Shannon and I.”

Jason Krul, Pilot, MAF Haiti:

Feb. 6: This afternoon I coordinated several KODIAK relief flights bringing much-needed food and water purification systems to outlying villages. One flight was bound for a region called Anse Rouge, which was suffering severe drought prior to the earthquake. We loaded the plane full of 100 water purification systems and around 1100 lbs of rice and beans for Anse Rouge.
While organizing the flight, I tried unsuccessfully to contact missionaries Judy and Manis Lemuel whose mission compound is near the airstrip. Lemuel Ministries is involved in many vital programs including community development, environmental improvement, youth outreach, feeding programs, and church and spiritual growth projects. Once we landed in Anse Rouge, we were immediately met by the Lemuel family! They were stunned to discover what we had brought them. Judy and Ginger cried for joy and couldn’t stop thanking MAF for remembering them. They told us water was obtained by sending boys by donkey 1.5 hours each way to draw from a river. They were overjoyed as we showed them how the water purification systems work. What a rich blessing to serve this mission community!

David Carwell, Pilot/Mechanic, MAF Haiti:

Feb. 6: Years ago, I took a helicopter ride to survey a site in Fond de Blanc for missionary Jean Thomas, who leased land to build an airstrip. But we had many problems getting approval for landing there as the process involved much politics. The project had been at a standstill for years but praise God that flights have begun on this airstrip.
We have heard from Pastor Labady that this area needs food. Many refugees and wounded from Port-au-Prince have relocated there. I pray that the opening of this airstrip will assist Jean Thomas and those who are doing the work of the Lord, bringing physical and spiritual life in that area.

Frantz Angus, Administrator, Double Harvest, Haiti:

Feb. 6: Please THANK all the staff from MFI and MAF for ALL the great service you have provided Haiti and missions like Double Harvest. So many medical supplies and needs were sent down on your planes at a time when we needed it the most. Thank you very much. May God keep blessing your organization.

Fred Wall, Missionary, Word for the World Baptist Ministries:

Feb. 6: The manna you sent us is definitely an answer to prayer. We have been trying to find ways to get nourishing foods to people in need, to buy rice, beans and oil needed and pay to transport it. Our income is limited. Then you called. We are just overjoyed at God’s goodness. Thanks for thinking about us.

Kodiak Gifted to MAF Kalimantan

cdsmythe — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:42:24 +0000

WHEN the Ramsey company AFD Software Ltd reached its 25th birthday, managing director David Dorricott and his wife Alison pondered how to celebrate the occasion.

Black tie dinner perhaps? Champagne reception? No, they decided to buy an aircraft – yet they won’t even fly in it.

The Kodiak 100 – with a breathtaking price tag of £1m – will be given to Mission Aviation Fellowship to deliver life-saving aid and workers to remote parts of the world.

The shiny new aircraft, fresh off the production line at Idaho, has now hopped over the Atlantic and over the weekend it was set to be put on display to the public at Andreas on Saturday and to be dedicated at a service due to be held at Hangar 5, Ronaldsway, on Sunday.

‘It won’t be shiny for long,’ said Hilary Brown, the representative from MAF, adding that the plane is destined for Kalimantan (formerly Borneo) in Indonesia.

She explained: ‘MAF programmes vary with need because of the geographical challenges. This is suited to short stops, which is what they have at Kalimantan. The aircraft there needs to be replaced and this ticked a lot of the boxes.’

The plane’s seats can be removed, making it flexible and suited for many requirements, such as transporting goods, medicines and food and building supplies, as well as carrying local government officers doing air surveys.

This is vital because of the dense rainforest and mountainous terrain, Hilary said, adding of the country: ‘A 10-mile journey in a plane is three or four days’ walk. It is really vast and very varied.’

Being given a plane – meaning MAF now has a fleet of 121 aircraft operating in 30 developing countries – is ‘an answer to a prayer’, she said, adding: ‘We really appreciated David and Alison’s support and they share in the vision to go out to the people who seriously are living in inhospitable conditions. Flying is a lifeline for these people, it surely will be put to good use.’

David has supported MAF for 20 years and it is a very appropriate donation to celebrate a milestone for a company whose very foundation is not on making money (any profits go to worth causes), but in promoting Christian ideals. He said the donation of the plane is ‘quite an exciting chance to be involved in taking the Christian gospel with relief to the parts of the world you can not get to’.

The Kodiak, a new aircraft with higher payloads and range that also runs on cheaper and more readily-available Jet A1 fuel, was perfect for MAF’s needs, said David. He said its visit to the Island was a ‘very rare opportunity’ to see such a plane, as usually they roll off the production line and head south – straight to the world’s poorest countries.

MAF’s representative in the Island is Chris Astley, technical operations manager at European Aviation Maintenance, whose hangar will house the Kodiak during its Island stay. He has been involved with MAF since 1992 and he and his family give up their holiday time to travel to areas such as Tanzania and Nairobi where MAF operates.

Chris services the aircraft and his family helps with charitable concerns such as local orphanages.

Chris said he would value the opportunity to study the Kodiak at close hand, particularly its new avionics. He said his personal ambition is to become an engineer for MAF full time.

Hilary said MAF was ‘in awe’ of the generosity shown by David and Alison, and she also paid tribute to Chris, who has given such much of his time to the organisation.She said: ‘MAF is such a team effort – from the pilot, to people praying, to fundraising.’

Providing flights into remote and disaster-stricken parts of the world also allows other charities to function there: ‘MAF enables so many different charities to do what they need to do,’ she said. ‘Without us they would be unable to get where they want to go. Charities simply could not get there where there is the greatest need.’

WHEN the Ramsey company AFD Software Ltd reached its 25th birthday, managing director David Dorricott and his wife Alison pondered how to celebrate the occasion.

Black tie dinner perhaps? Champagne reception? No, they decided to buy an aircraft – yet they won’t even fly in it.

GENEROUS GESTURE: David and Alison Dorricott with the aircraft they have paid for to mark AFD Software Ltd’s 25th birthday

The Kodiak 100 – with a breathtaking price tag of £1m – will be given to Mission Aviation Fellowship to deliver life-saving aid and workers to remote parts of the world.

‘It won’t be shiny for long,’ said Hilary Brown, the representative from MAF, adding that the plane is destined for Kalimantan (formerly Borneo) in Indonesia.

BORN IN THE USA: The Kodiak 100, fresh off the production line in America

Chris services the aircraft and his family helps with charitable concerns such as local orphanages.

Chris said he would value the opportunity to study the Kodiak at close hand, particularly its new avionics. He said his personal ambition is to become an engineer for MAF full time.

Oshkosh Air Show features MAF Kodiak

cdsmythe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:28:08 +0000

MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) will be telling its story to the world at 2009 Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh, the largest show for general aviation enthusiasts in the world, which will take place here July 27-Aug. 2.

The Oshkosh air show, which was founded in 1953, has long been a “must attend” event in the world of aviation. It is where general aviation companies introduce new products, and where exciting and experimental innovations – such as exotic flying cars, jet packs and the newest satellite navigation screens – are often unveiled to the public. The event, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, includes acres of displays and a steady stream of flyovers by both the latest home-built aircraft and lovingly restored vintage planes. Each day includes aerobatic air shows featuring top aerobatic acts.

This year AirVenture will be spotlighting missionary aviation as part of the “public-benefit” aviation activities. A weeklong “Fly4Life” program (www.fly4life.org) features MAF and other members of the International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) (www.iamanet.org), as well as non-faith-based groups that are part of the Air Care Alliance (www.aircareall.org).

Front and center, right on AeroShell square, the focal point of the air show, will be the new MAF KODIAK aircraft. The Piper PA-14, a replica of the plane flown by martyred MAF aviation pioneer Nate Saint and used in the filming of the movie “End of the Spear,” will be nestled under the wing of the KODIAK – one representing MAF’s past and the other an exciting future for the ministry.

The MAF tent display, located at spaces 151 and 152, will include a Cessna 185 that was used by MAF in Indonesia and is now being used as a training aircraft by Moody Aviation. The plane will be set in a village scene with murals and a “movie screen” consisting of a white sheet on which MAF will show “All Over the World,” a 30-minute film featuring the ministry’s work in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

In addition, the MAF staff manning the tent will conduct daily drawings, distribute literature and engage in other activities that will help tell the story of MAF and of mission aviation to this large and responsive audience.

“People attend AirVenture because they are passionate about aviation,” said John Boyd, president and chief executive officer of MAF. “But some of them are also passionate about Christ and the Gospel. When we tell the story of mission aviation to them, we often find that’s all it takes to turn them into passionate friends and supporters of MAF. So being at Oshkosh is a wonderful opportunity for us.”

Boyd said that while in Oshkosh, MAF staff will be conducting seminars, speaking in local churches and meeting with friends and supporters in the area.

via www.maf.org

MAF Dedicates its First KODIAK Missionary Plane

cdsmythe — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:34:00 +0000

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.

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.

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.