Sometimes a bush plane is the only way to do so quickly and effectively.
Thus, for this month's post about non-profits trying to do some good in the world, I direct our gentle readers to Mission Aviation Fellowship.
Check out this story about a pilot working for MAF in Afghanistan. Excerpt:
Wrecked fuselages and bomb craters dot the perimeter of Kabul's International Airport where pilot Jim Keech takes off in his Cessna 210 airplane almost every day. Today's flight cargo is medicine destined for a distant village, accompanied by the doctors who will administer it.Anywhere, anytime, anything for the Kingdom of God!
By land, the trip would take several days. Flight time today will be about an hour. But time is not the only consideration. Land travel can still be dangerous due to mines and bandits.
........
Recent rains have softened the ground. Keech has instructed the men at Yawan to drive a truck onto the airstrip to check how far the wheels sink in. The test reveals the strip is useable, although it sports a few muddy spots.
Yawan is cradled on the side of a mountain, at the end of a long valley. Keech descends and circles the strip to assess the muddy patches and determine if they are avoidable. He judges the airstrip is safe, makes his approach, and lands on the rising slope of the runway.
Keech safely delivers the doctors and medicines and continues on to pick up and deliver other passengers before returning later in the day to retrieve the doctors. If all goes well, Keech will be back in Kabul before sunset. After an evening's rest, he'll do it all again.
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