We hadn’t flown in almost a week. The entire country of Lesotho was hit with a powerful snow storm that left most of our airstrips covered in deep snow, making landing (with wheels anyway!) impossible. Except for Manamaneng. Pamela, one of the nurses there, wanted to get out of the mountains and home to […]
Everything went dead.
Great, I thought. This power outage would probably last at least eight hours. The list of tasks that needed electricity ran through my mind. No laundry would get done. No email could be sent. No bread would get made—unless of course I wanted to do it by hand. Which I didn’t—not while holding […]
Editor’s Note: Dan Lenz is a former MAF pilot. This is taken from a letter written in 1992 to his supporters while he was serving in Indonesia that underscores the difficulty — and adventure — MAF pilots face on a daily basis.
I could see them coming and instinctively fumbled with a rebellious shirttail that was […]
A common question I get asked as an MAF pilot serving in Kalimantan, Indonesia is “What do you transport in your airplane?” A really short answer would sound something like “I transport people and stuff.” However the “stuff” part of that response can be as varied as the countries we serve in. Often times it […]
Editor’s Note: Pilots love their planes, sometimes so much so that they become like another member of the family. Twenty years ago, former MAF pilot Dan Lenz recalled one of MAF’s then-ageing airplanes, PK-MPQ based in Indonesia, and his relationship with this once-proud legend in the sky.
By Dan Lenz
“Well, you’ve been dynamite today!” I complimented […]
MAF pilot Justin Honaker retells the events of one particular afternoon and a flight where timing was everything.
2:45 p.m. I’m the only MAF pilot flying in Lesotho today, Friday, June 1. My passenger is not here yet, even though he insisted we make a special trip for him. I’m annoyed, but with the schedule otherwise […]