Issue 2 2021

Issue 2 2021 43 Several MAF personnel have been honoured by the aviation sector – including former Head of Safety David Staveley, who received the Sword of Honour from the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators in 2004 for his exceptional new safety procedures, and MAF’s safety specialist Larry Heintz, who was honoured by the UN’s World Food programme in 2015. Together, David and Larry implemented a Safety Management System to meet new international aviation standards and an unparalleled safety record for MAF worldwide. In 2019, one of MAF’s founders Stuart King, who died in August 2020, was presented the Award of Honour by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots for his outstanding contribution to aviation, joining names such as Jim Lovell, Neil Armstrong and the Red Arrows. Today, MAF remains at the forefront of providing safe and effective solutions for remote communities living in great and urgent need. Despite the restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus, which saw the number of MAF flights temporarily reduced, MAF has adapted and responded to the pandemic by flying medical teams, vital hygiene equipment and thousands of testing kids to areas unreachable by road. Ready to provide safe cold-chain maintained to deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines across 22 of the 67 lower-income countries on the UN COVAX programme, MAF is committed to directly combat the threat of COVID-19 and see long-term recovery from the devastating effects of the pandemic across the developing world. Looking forward, MAF is actively assessing the potential for electric aircraft to improve costs, efficiency, and provide leadership in environmental compliance. It also considers the possibility of using unmanned aerial vehicles to drastically improve remote healthcare by ensuring regular, smaller cargo deliveries. In accordance with its founding vision and that of the International Development Community, MAF seeks to remain a trusted and integral player in the elimination of global poverty, ensuring that no one is left behind – particularly those living in the most isolated, vulnerable places on earth. Best Aviation-Based Humanitarian Aid NPO - UK With more than 75 years’ experience delivering humanitarian aviation and technology solutions, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is a leading provider of ‘last-mile’ air-transport, landing in more remote destinations than any other airline. Founded in the aftermath of WWII by a handful of Christian airmen and women in the UK, US and Australia, MAF was born out of a desire to see aviation techniques developed during wartime bring help and development to isolated people in unreached areas. Today, MAF provides essential flight services to more than 2,000 NGO partners, enabling them to deliver aid, medicine, and relief personnel to some of the most vulnerable and isolated communities on earth. Since the first pioneering survey across Central Africa in 1948, which saw two RAF veterans take off from Croydon in a wooden Miles Gemini aircraft with little more than a map and compass, MAF’s flight operations have evolved and adapted beyond recognition. Spread across more than 25 countries, the current 138-strong fleet is largely comprised of small, Cessna aircraft, including 19 C208 Caravans, 23 C208B Grand Caravans, 29 C206s, and 10 C182s (re-engined to burn Jet A1). MAF also flies 13 Quest Kodiak 100s, 19 GA8 Airvans, 1 Pilatus PC12 – and even operates 4 amphibious Cessna Caravans in countries where waterways are the only access to remote communities. In 2021, MAF’s customers include a variety of relief organisations including the United Nations, Red Cross and Oxfam. MAF allows these NGOs to function more effectively by flying staff to administer vaccination programmes, building materials for infrastructure projects such as schools and clinics, and delivering food to support vast refugee settlements. As well as large organisations, MAF also supports grass-roots initiatives within tiny pockets of the developing world. For example, many of MAF’s regular ‘safari’ routes carry local doctors to set up bush clinics or provide development initiatives for their own people. In Tanzania, the ‘Haydom Medical Safari’ allows around 1,600 people to be treated every month, including baby clinics for expectant mothers living too remotely to be reached by road, and open-air surgeries that treat up to 400 people a day. As well as providing long-term development assistance, MAF is also a trusted first-responder following natural disasters, providing technical and logistics support to aid agencies in the face of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, famine, and war. Since responding to an Indonesian earthquake in 1976, MAF has played a key role in more than 76 natural disasters, including the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, and 2010 Haiti earthquake. Recent innovations include linking photographic surveys of disaster zones to Google Earth, speeding up response planning for governments and relief agencies. MAF’s fleet management team is constantly assessing new technology, ensuring review and improvement in avionics, engine trend monitoring and fuel burn to meet the approval of its regulators. State-of-the-art Garmin ‘glass cockpit’ avionics are now commonplace throughout the fleet, helping reduce pilot workload and enhance situational awareness – crucial, given the extraordinary demands of landing on steep mountains, in thick jungle clearings and navigating volatile weather systems. Jan21351 Photo by Dave Forney Photo by Grant Strugnell