Our aircraft fleet

Power and manoeuvrability combine in the Kodiak 100, the next-generation mission aircraft. Developed by Quest, the aircraft is designed to meet the challenges of mission aviation flying.

The Kodiak is a single-engined turbine aircraft, capable of up to 750hp during take-off. This remarkable plane can use the same short, challenging airstrips as the Cessna 206 while transporting twice the cargo.

‘I’m convinced the Kodiak really is our answer for a turbine-powered aircraft in the most difficult and remote areas of the world.’
Max Gove, Former MAF Manager of Research and Development

Utilising Jet fuel, rather than expensive and increasingly scarce Avgas, makes the Kodiak more cost-effective than our Avgas-powered aircraft. The plane also boasts a cruising speed of 212mph.

Our Kodiak 100 aircraft are based in Indonesia. Because of Indonesia’s mountainous terrain and short airstrips, the Kodiak is an ideal tool to bring physical care and spiritual hope to remote communities.

No longer in service, the twin-engined Miles Gemini has now been relegated to the MAF history books.

Selected due to its compact size, clean lines and relatively simple construction, the Miles Gemini, given the name ‘The Mildmay Pathfinder’, was a brand new aircraft, straight off the production line in 1947.

‘We had a qualified engineer flying with the Gemini. We had high professional standards both in flying and maintenance – they were integral to all our plans’.
Stuart King in Hope Has Wings

The Gemini had many pleasing features including a perspex canopy, not unlike many of the wartime aircraft flown by MAF’s early pilots. It had a retractable undercarriage, which facilitated streamlined flight, and large wingflaps that, when lowered, enabled the plane to land slowly and safely on quite short airstrips. The two small engines gave a cruising speed of 120mph.

It wasn’t until it reached Africa that the pioneers realised its limitations. The Gemini’s normally aspirated engines struggled in some of the locations, such as Eritrea where MAF planned to operate. In the tropics, the lower density of the air robs a light plane of both power and lift.

After only six months of operational service the Gemini met a sticky end, amazingly with no loss of life, when it crashed in the mountains of Burundi. MAF had gained valuable knowledge about the challenge of operating light aircraft in Africa. It wasn’t long before a new aircraft type had been identified and MAF was airborne again.

‘We landed at Asmara, Eritrea, to refuel, nearly 8,000ft above sea level, and only 15 degrees north of the equator: that meant it was both high and hot. Our little Gemini didn’t like it. We took off again accelerating rapidly to get airborne. But the plane was reluctant to climb.’

Stuart King in Hope Has Wings

Versatile and spacious, the GA8 Airvan is ideal for rugged terrain and the gruelling conditions in which MAF operates.

If you have to land on a rough runway, this is the aircraft you want to be sitting in.

With a spacious cabin and greater cargo pod capacity, and all the STOL (short take-off and landing) capabilities needed for short bush airstrips, the Airvan is ideal for the rugged terrain where we operate. It can take off to clear a height of over 15m in only 500m, with a landing distance of 370m.

‘The GA8 Airvan has been a blessing for MAF PNG. It has been a useful aircraft with the large rear door and flat floor making loading easier. The Airvan enables us to provide a service and share God’s love to many remote and isolated communities in Christ’s name.’

Richie Axon, MAF pilot

Our pilots often have to stop at several airstrips throughout the day. With more space available for cargo, the load can be separated for different airstrips, allowing fast and efficient turnaround on the ground. The roomier cabin in the Airvan also makes the journey more comfortable for passengers.

For pilots, the Airvan is ideal for flying in all terrains. MAF Pilot Paul Woodington says, ‘Passengers enjoy the seating layout with a centre aisle which makes it easy to get in and out of the aircraft. The pod is roomy and allows easy loading and unloading of cargo, as does the cargo space at the back of the cabin. The controls are nice and light and it makes flying easy and a pleasure. Although not highly powered it manages a good load out of many remote airstrips.’

Our Cessna 182 aircraft are modified with an innovative SMA (SR305-230) turbo-charged engine which burns Jet A1 fuel.

This is crucial as the scarcity and skyrocketing cost of Avgas has endangered the continued use of our Cessna 206 aircraft.

The Cessna 182 SMA carries up to three passengers with a cruising speed of around 120 knots. Although it is smaller than the 206, it has a greater range of up to 8 hours.

‘The Cessna 182 SMA is a great tool, fun to fly and economical for the passengers, allowing many communities to be reached where it would be financially unviable to use a larger aircraft.’
Becki Dillingham, MAF pilot, Madagascar

Turbo-charged, though acting like a normally aspirated engine, it also has excellent short take-off performance. To cope with rough airstrips, over-sized tyres have been fitted and the undercarriage strengthened.

Other modifications include folding rear seats to improve load-carrying flexibility, and a new HF radio, GPS and Stormscope systems to improve communications, navigation and safety.

Being lightweight and economic, the aircraft is opening up fresh opportunities to help small teams reach remote communities in a far more cost-effective way than our larger Cessna 208 Caravan. It can also be used in medical emergency flights.

The Cessna 206 is a nimble and durable aircraft that can take off and land from short, rugged airstrips, allowing MAF to support communities which are very hard to reach.

Its piston-powered single engine (Continental IO-520-F or IO-550-Bon) produces 300hp and drives a three-bladed propeller.

‘The little mosquito as it is sometimes called by Africans, really does get everywhere. The Cessna 206 has proven itself over many years to be an ideal aircraft for reaching isolated, small bush strips with a healthy payload of passengers and/or freight.’

Steve Machell, Former MAF Country Director, Kenya

All our 206s have been modified to suit the environments in which they fly.

Each has been retrofitted with a brace in the windshield area to reinforce the airframe, STOL (short take-off and landing) capability, shoulder harnesses for all seat positions, heavy duty nose gear to withstand the rough airstrips, emergency locator transmission, High Frequency radio, and GPS receiver, improving safety standards and performance.

Flint tanks at the end of the wings add an extra 55 litres to each of the 2 fuel tanks, giving 2 hours of extra range, and making a total endurance for normal operations of 8 hours.

These alterations lengthen the wings, enabling the aircraft to fly more slowly, causing increased lift, and giving the ability to land with a slower speed. Take-off and landing roll is decreased, which is vital on short runways, especially those high in the mountains with obstacles at the end. A large cargo pod installed underneath the plane allows more freight to be carried.

Bulky and heavy cargo can be loaded easily through the large double door at the rear. For medevac flights, this large door allows patients on a stretcher to be loaded and transported to hospital.

Its durability and ability to land on rugged airstrips makes it ideally suited for operations in Africa. MAF pilots have referred to the 206 as ‘a real workhorse’.

The Cessna 208 Caravan has become the backbone of MAF’s fleet and provides a great combination of range, capacity and flexibility.

The simple design and construction, along with a reliable Pratt and Whitney turbine engine which runs on Jet fuel, combine to keep maintenance time and costs to a minimum.

To suit rough airstrips, the Caravans are fitted with sturdy landing gear, larger tyres, mud flaps, rubber scraper for the nose tyre, and slighter longer nose gear to help prevent mud and rocks being thrown into the propeller when landing.

Fully equipped for instrument flying, with GPS, weather radar and Stormscope, the Caravan is reliable and can still operate safely in more challenging conditions such as storms or during the rainy season.

The large cabin can fit 13 passengers or be adapted to carry bulky items such as timber, prefabricated doors, corrugated iron sheets, fuel drums, and even motorbikes. Cargo pods fitted underneath the plane ease loading of freight, and mean dangerous goods such as fuel can be carried without endangering the passengers in the cabin.

MAF also operates the larger Cessna 208B Grand Caravan which has a more powerful engine, a longer airframe, a bigger cargo pod, higher maximum take-off weight and a longer range, albeit with a slightly slower cruise speed.

‘The Cessna Caravan is a highly reliable and efficient aircraft. It is one of the very few single-engine aircraft certified almost worldwide for passenger-carrying commercial air services under Instrument Flying Rules. A very versatile aircraft… flight missions can carry about one tonne of freight or combination of both freight and passengers with enough fuel for up to two hours flying plus reserve. It can handle short and rough airstrips well enough for most flight operations.’

Michael Dupuis, MAF pilot, Papua New Guinea