On Saturday, 27th Mar 2010, the weather forecast predicted Cyclone Paul would hit Elcho Island around 10pm. MAF pilots on Elcho evacuated and flew their aircraft 90 miles to the new MAF hanger at Gove. At 11pm Saturday night, Cyclone Paul hit Gove, not Elcho Island.

Two days ahead of forecast and missing Elcho completely, the category one Cyclone passed overhead sending debris everywhere. Windows rattled, trees came down, and anything loose became an airborne projectile, but no real damage thankfully. The next day, Sunday 28th Mar, Cyclone Paul continued to develop into a category 2, hugging the southerly coastline, and eventually settling for two days over Yilpara, a homeland of 150 Yolngu people, 80 miles south of Gove.

The previous Wednesday, 24th Mar, was a big day for Yilpara. Yilpara launched the Garrangali band (http://garrangali.bandcamp.com/) a Yolngu band, playing to raise money for the homeland. It was to be a big day; Yolngu came from everywhere. We were to fly in everyone important, and “not so” important, for this big event. The Cyclone however built up near Darwin and despite being over 300 miles away at sea, the Yindi Waltjan big winds – and rain was building up. At 10am and half way to Yilpara, I turned the plane around and headed back to Gove. The rest of the fleet did likewise, there was too much rain.

The leader from the Yilpara homeland, oblivious to the bad weather conditions in Gove, called the office and said, “Send all the planes down now. We are waiting for you. I’m in my long trousers and it is getting hot”. At 11am, two planes set off again: Brett Nel and me. We were off to Yilpara with full passenger loads. At the halfway point, where just an hour ago we turned around, there was enough visibility to pass through and onto Yilpara. That was to be the last opportunity for the day; the rain came in over Gove closing the airport all day. Brett and I were to enjoy the Garrangali band, so we thought.

The atmosphere at Yilpara was electric. The band was tuning up their Didgeridoos; people huddled together with excitement, speakers getting ready, leaders dressed in traditional clothes rushed around. Then the rains came, followed by the winds. A desperate attempt to save the band’s gear stopped all festivities. Temporary shelters built as a sunshade bulged with rainwater to near collapse. Our passengers were ready to go home. Two hours later a speck of blue sunlight gave brief hope of getting back to Gove.

I was first off the chocks in the Airvan followed by Brett in the Cessna 206. However, ruin was in store for Brett. Water had crept into the tubes which measure airspeed, forcing him back to Yilpara to make repairs. I made steady progress until reaching Garthalala homeland, where rain and cloud forced us to land.

We enjoyed mixing with the local Yolngu, sharing stories and predicting if we would make Gove that day. God opened up clear skies once more, giving us one opportunity to get into Gove. Sadly, for Brett, the storms south of Garthalala forced him back to Yilpara where he was to spend the next few days. We squeezed into Gove at low level, giving all passengers great material for a good yarn.

The weather the next day, 25th Mar, did not improve. I had two tries at getting off to Yilpara before success, but yet again, the remainder of the fleet could not get out of Gove due weather. I met up with Brett, who seemed to have survived an overnight with the weather; he flew to Groote Island for more fuel and to drop off passengers. I flew people to places nearer Gove. The cloud was very high and very low at the same time, creating a clear middle corridor. We were flying at 6,500 feet to drop passengers just 20 miles away. Usually we stay at about 2,500 maximum for these short journeys. Again, I could not immediately get back to Gove and once again stayed at Garthalala before a late dash home. Yet again, Brett could not get out of Yilpara after his flight to Groote Island, so he remained a second night at Yilpara.

The next day, Friday 26th Mar, the weather worsened, but Brett did get back from Yilpara, the only flight he made that day. As the Cyclone approached on Saturday, flying became impossible as was for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday 31st Mar, Yilpara was devastated by two days of whipping by the category-two Cyclone, which had remained overhead. Over forty trees came down over the access track; the local billabong overflowed creating a lake. The once vegetable garden became a vast water feature. Sewerage had mixed in with drinking water, and the diesel generator’s electrics had blown on the Sunday leaving them without power for four days.

Wednesday morning, 31st Mar, while flying an Airvan, I headed off towards Yilpara. I had no idea what to expect or what the weather would be like. Everything on the aircraft was at maximum; I had full fuel, four emergency engineers: a diesel engineer, a water engineer, an electrician and another “all sorts of jobs” man. With every spare cavity stacked with emergency food for the Yolngu, the plane was heavy.

On the way down, we flew low-level passes over other homeland airstrips to assess their condition. We inspected vehicle tracks for water and fallen trees. We had to close several airstrips and impose restrictions on others. We found many roads blocked. At Yilpara, the airstrip looked half-underwater, but on closer inspection, much of the water was in the turning area, leaving three quarters of the runway available. At the other end was a washout, where water had eroded the runway. This was also full with water, reducing the runway length to half- just enough.

People lined the centre of the airstrip as we came in on final approach. The Cyclone had moved on just a few miles, and the rain had stopped for the moment. However, the wind was still creating problems. As we flew over the “new water park”, turbulence and windshear made a landing difficult. The increase in speed for these conditions meant a longer airstrip was required, and with the aircraft at maximum weight and the airstrip much shortened and uncertainty about the actual surface condition for landing, I chose to go-around and have another go.

With full power at low level, the noise would have been deafening on the ground. We could see the anxious Yolngu panicking at the thought of the aircraft not able to land, meaning no water, no food, and no electricity. I felt for them. I could imagine the disappointment and was pleased to give it another go.

This time the wheels touched down, the crowd surrounding the plane wanting food and news was extraordinary. Our immediate task was to unload the food and provide some protection for the consignment until local leadership could organise an orderly distribution. My first reaction when looking at the homeland was, “that’s new”, pointing to an enormous lake which once had been a field with a flagged lined path though it for the Garrangali band visitors. I remember a drop-dunny toilet around here too – I did find it later. It had been blown away to the other side of the homeland.

A house/shack had blown down. People were milling everywhere, fixing things, moving trees, tending children and searching for the next thing to do. It seemed to me that at times like this the Yolngu people really do work well together for a common good, in what is usually a dry hot shanty style township, with not a lot going on.

The engineer worked on the generator without much success. An electrical circuit had blown and a new one from Darwin would be required. We would fly this new part in the next day. Nevertheless, they managed to fix the water supply. We could see Yolngu scurrying away from the distribution point with food and water, and the people felt more confident after the plane had arrived.

More planes now came in, more food on its way. Medical supplies arrived, as did doctors and nurses. We now started evacuating the sick and the elderly back to Gove.

The devastation caused by Cyclone Paul continues three months later. More rain has come with tracks getting worse rather than better. Transport vehicles attempting access to the homelands have ripped up the otherwise good roads into boggy swamps. Once the rains stop, there will be much needed repair work done before the tracks are back to normal. Damaged airstrips keep several homelands closed. MAF continue to provide essential service flights, reaching out to the remote people of East Arnhem Land.

Please pray for these amazingly resilient isolated people.

Paul Woodington, MAF Pilot, Arnhem Land, North Australia

www.maf.org.au

Will this update from the air????

30 minute flight instead of 5 hours hard driving.

Sending blog post from WordPress iPhone app, over Digicel mobile network.

We are researching the options for installing Bibles onto mobile phones and also ways in which learning opportunities for isolated Christian leaders can be facilitated.

In New Zealand, Australia and other developed countries life can be very convenient.  From our smartphones we can access the internet, we have applications which connect and provide us with virtually whatever information we want to subscribe to.  I subscribe to podcasted sermons – these sermons arrive on my phone without me doing a thing, so that all I need to do is listen.

They connect us in community also – communities like Facebook and Twitter send updates to our phones and connect us to our friends and family wherever we are.  The world can certainly be small for us.  My teaching pastor lives in California.

But in un-developed countries like Papua New Guinea there are Christian leaders isolated geographically, socially and economically.  If we can help remove the barriers they have through the application of sustainable technology then we strive to.

Please pray that we will be discerning in assessing the needs of isolated Christian leaders and be wise in partnering with them and training organisations so that technology can enhance their opportunities for spiritual growth and the growth of the people they shepherd.

And MAF will be one of only two organisations to benefit from funds raised by the epic journey.

Ken Evers 33 and Tim Pryse 51, will depart from Bendigo Aerodrome on a day to be determined in May bound for Norfolk Island.

They will continue their journey across the Pacific to California via Hawaii then on to Arizona and New Orleans. From there they will touch down to refuel in Jamaica and Barbados before heading south to Brazil, then due east across the Atlantic to Africa, on to India, Vietnam, the Philippines, PNG and back to Australia.

The history-making flight commemorates Australia’s Centenary of Flight when the famous contortionist Harry Houdini conducted Australia’s first controlled, powered flight in March 1910, changing the landscape of flying in this country forever.

Ken and Tim will fly a GA8-TC Airvan over 26,740 nautical miles in 230 flight hours. The eight-seat Airvan is manufactured by Gippsland Aeronautics in Morwell (Vic).

The flight aims to draw attention to malaria, the world’s most common infectious, mosquito-borne disease, claiming over a million lives annually. Most victims are those least able to afford preventative drugs or treatments.

The pilots hope to raise one million dollars

to combat the global impact of malaria by inviting donations via the millionsagainstmalaria.com website to two nominated charities - Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP).

People in many of the tropical and sub-tropical areas the pair will fly across suffer from malaria including Papua New Guinea where Ken Evers grew up as a teenager and was deeply impacted by the Work of MAF.

“MAF pilots are my heroes”

“For me, MAF was the epitome of aviation. MAF pilots are my heroes,” he said.

“Living in PNG and watching the work of MAF taught me the lesson that you can use the gifts you have been given to do the right thing. And of course in the case of MAF it is using the gift of flight to help people.

“I watched what MAF did in PNG. I saw my friend’s life saved (by a MAF flight) and now I want to offer my support. I think MAF is such an unsung group. People fail to see that MAF is saving countless lives every year. ”

For further details about Ken and Tim’s epic journey and an opportunity to donate online to MAF, go to  www.millionsagainstmalaria.com

I haven’t seen anything like it before. Only 1 donkey managed a professional foul on the gym floor. It gave the commentator my favourite line “We have poop. Poop on the floor”. Don’t hear that at basketball much.

sent from Apple iPhone

Carter Family and the DOT motorcycle - 2009

Mr Carter rode into Dunedin on the South Island on Wednesday and was expected to ride into Gore yesterday, before reaching the town of Bluff today – clocking up 2,220km in 14 days. He plans to end the ride at an annual motorbike rally called the Burt Munro Challenge at Oreti Beach near Invercargill this weekend.

So far, he has been able to raise more than NZ$20,000 (K40,000) on his road trip – far short of the NZ$1 million (K2 million) needed to by a new Australian-built GA8 Airvan and donate it to the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) for its work in PNG. Mr Carter was reported by the Otago Daily Times as saying that he was praying hard for more funds.

The DOT tackles a rough stretch of road in PNG

Mr Carter bought the motorbike in 1959 and shipped it to Mt Hagen where he and his family were doing missionary work. He said the DOT (devoid of trouble) was ideal for the remote and rugged conditions he encountered in the Western Highlands province, and it was his only mode of transport for the seven-and a-half years he lived and served God there. When it was time to return to New Zealand, the motorcycle was “a wreck”, so he sold it to the mission and left it in PNG.

Thirty-eight years later, Mr Carter had retired and was keen to relive a small part of his youth by buying another 1955 DOT Scrambler. After a long search, he found one and, to his astonishment, it turned out to be his very own old 1955 model – refurbished. “I was convinced that God was part of this reunion and I made the decision to ride the DOT from Cape Reinga to Bluff, as a fundraising venture towards the purchase of a new Mission Aviation Fellowship plane for Papua New Guinea,” Mr Carter said.

PNG men admire the DOT

Source: PNG National newspaper

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.

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.’

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

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.’

The new MAF Hangar - Gove Airport, Arnhem Land, NT Australia

The fly-past of a helicopter for some overhead photography heralded the start of proceedings which took place before a gathering of about 200 people under the new hangar roof.

And what a roof!  Around 37 metres long, 26 metres wide and three times higher than the old hangar still standing a few minutes walk away at the edge of the runway.

The new dimensions are more than mere statistics for the engineers and pilots who will begin to occupy the new hangar this week. In essence it’s about space: the room to store aircraft and equipment and the ability to maneuver planes in and out speedily and comfortably for maintenance and repairs.

In the old hangar that simply wasn’t possible. In addition, engineering staff had to cope with excessive heat under a low roof, flooding during the wet season, antiquated facilities and cramped offices.

Funding for the new hangar was provided by numerous donors, the largest of those from the Collier Charitable Fund, MAF United Kingdom and MAF Netherlands.

MAF International Asia Pacific Director and Vice President, Bill Harding, expressed deep gratitude to the large donors but also acknowledged many who had given smaller amounts of money, professional skills, materials and time. These included businesses, churches, local people and volunteer workers from Mobile Mission Maintenance and churches from all parts of Australia and New Zealand who had “personally paid a big price.”

“It’s been quite a journey,” he said. “We had long delays during fundraising, massive cost increases due to the price of steel and fuel and all sorts of other setbacks from transport to termites.

“But finally it is finished, it is fantastic and we really can rejoice and give thanks. God provided all the funding one way or another and a number of people put in monumental efforts.

“Many sacrifices have been made. It has been an incredible and personally costly effort but something great has been achieved.”

Both Mr Harding and MAF Arnhem Land Program Manager Ian McBride paid special tribute to young MAF airman Hadleigh Smith who died on October 16 2008 when the GA8 Airvan he was piloting went down in nearby Buckingham Bay enroute to the mainland. To this day, the aircraft has not been located.

A framed series of photographs of Hadleigh, a brass plaque and Bible passage will hang in the staff room of the new hangar as a memorial to the young pilot.

Mr McBride said Hadleigh’s story would forever remain a part of MAF’s story in Arnhem Land.

Regarding the new hangar, he said that, to really appreciate it, visitors needed to go down and take a look at the old hangar which was prone to flooding, had a leaky roof and was a victim of termite damage.

“But the biggest problem,” he emphasised, “was the shortage of space.”

“With this new hangar we can look forward to the future and begin to achieve the level of professionalism that we want.”

Mr Banambi Wunungmurra representing the local indigenous (Yolngu) community, acknowledged the long journey that MAF had been on in Arnhem Land, standing alongside aboriginal people, learning the Yolngu Matha language and being sensitive towards cultural issues.

Mr Wunungmurra, Chairman of the Uniting Church Yirrkala Parish and President of the East Arnhem Shire Council, said he wished to thank his “MAF brothers” many of whom were his good friends, for maintaining good relationships with the Yolngu people and providing services to Yolngu (Laynhapuy) Homeland communities.

“They have become adopted (into Yolngu families),” he said. “A unity has developed between us. MAF has helped our people to move back out to their homelands, they work with us in a spirit of unity and I thank God for that. I really do.”

The new MAF hangar in Gove, a wonderful testimony to the provision of God, the hard work and dedication of a vast army of people and the generosity of donors large and small, is nearing operational status. It will enhance and increase the ability of MAF to serve the indigenous people of East Arnhem Land.

The old hangar will be retained as a storage facility and workshop.

via www.maf.org.au