When a natural disaster strikes a country where MAF has a base, the hours and days immediately following are critical for the survival of the people suffering from the fallout. Currently, MAF is working to assess the situation following the earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia.
The following is an account MAF helicopter pilot John Miller recorded after […]
When MAF pilots make medical evacuation flights they don’t always get to see the happy endings. But when they do, it’s a satisfying flight.
MAF pilot Justin Honaker was closing the rear cargo door before embarking on his first flight of the day to the village of Methaleneng in Lesotho, Africa, when a vaguely familiar face […]
From my low altitude I can see nearly every detail of the surface below. Ordinarily, I would be comfortably cruising thousands of feet above Lesotho’s extremely mountainous landscape. But today I’m forced to fly beneath an ominous gray cloud layer, in the middle of thick haze, twisting and turning with the contours of the jagged […]
Professional flight training creates confident pessimists. We fly confident that our skill brings us safely to our destination. But we practice for calamity as well. Instructors demand we repeat, with neither hesitation nor doubt, the steps for situations like aborted takeoff, fire in-flight, electrical failure, or landing with a flat tire. We inscribe the six […]