Many of you have heard of the the Quest Kodiak, a brand new airplane designed for bush-type flying, and geared specifically towards mission aviation. Our MAF Kalimantan program took delivery of the first Kodiak to enter Indonesia, way back on Christmas Eve last year. After three months of dealing with a ton of government hoops to jump through, our Kodiak finally got cleared to fly last week. I was asked to go along the first two days to document the historic occasion in photos. Here's a few of the many shots I snapped on Wednesday and Thursday.
Eventually, our program will get several more Kodiaks, which will replace some or most of our smaller Cessna 206's. The Kodiak can carry nearly twice the payload from the same strips as the Cessna, and burns jet fuel which is much cheaper and easier to get in most third world countries. As you can see, the folks interior were very excited to see this new shiny airplane!
15 comments:
Thank you for using your amazing photography talents to capture this historic event! Which village did it go to first and what one is it pictured with the C-206 at?
The first day it went to Lebuson. The second day it went to Binuang and then PaUpan, which is where it's pictured along with the 206.
Yay! I am celebrating here in Upstate New York! Answer to prayer! Thanks to God!
enjoyed the pictures and the seeing the people in the pictures
It's weird seeing Long Lebusan in Dirt. Great picts.
Great pics Dave...I'm sure HQ is dying to get their hands on something like these.
Glad to see that it is flying! Such a cool plane, my family got to see it when it came through Pierson Airport in WA.
This is an answer to 30 years of prayer. Both for myself and the people of East Kalimantan.
Awesome! Lord willing we will be there tomorrow to see it!
Wonderful to see more planes in the Mission Field!
Dave--I really enjoyed this post, and have read through some of your older ones as well. A friend posted a link to this on Facebook, because of her interest in the Kodiak, as well as in MAF. My wife and I are missionaries serving at Nazarene Hospital in Kudjip, Papua New Guinea. Some of the MAF-Australia folks in our area are among our dearest friends. We are also from the Pacific Northwest, but one state further north.
Unbelievable!! Great job on the photos. I'm grateful that you have such a nice plane in Tarakan.
Dave,
Wow. Amazing photos. What a thrilling step for MAF Tarakan. You and your ministry blow my mind. Way to go Lord!
Alan
Hey Dave! So many answered prayers for the Kodiak being placed in service there. Glad it is now working to further God's Kingdom. We missed the chance to have one of the Kodiaks come through Longview, Texas due to the fact it was needed in Haiti after the earthquake. As much as we wanted to see it and touch it we were pleased to see it placed in service immediately in Haiti.
So how long will it be until you are checked out in the Caravan or Kodiak? If you're like me...as long as it has wings and will fly I don't mind if its a hang glider with a windup rubber band prop.
Safe flying, praying for ya and the family - Lew
Two of these pictures are in the MAF 2011 calendar. The 3rd from the bottom is on the cover and bottom picture in Lebusan is on the inside page.
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