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 […]
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 […]
Where are you from?
A simple, innocuous little question, easy enough for most people to answer. Not so much if you were born in Singapore, hold an American passport, but have spent much of your life in Indonesia.
I’ll never forget being in Singapore a few years ago at the Night Safari, sitting with several hundred other […]
About 45 minutes into a 70 minute flight, cruising along at 10,000 feet, I looked over to see my engine monitor gauge flashing “25.0 VOLTS” at me (it’s a 28 volt system). I cross checked with the ammeter above it, which was showing a discharge. Then, a few seconds later, my low voltage light began […]
At 4:20pm, as I was packing up my toolbox after a day of maintenance in the shop. Isto, one of our Indonesian employees, came to me, “There’s a lady in Malinau having complications with labor, and she needs to get to the hospital in Tarakan.” My first thought was, “No way there’s going to be […]