NAMPA, ID — Wednesday was a very special day at Mission Aviation Fellowship, as they dedicated the 41st plane to their fleet that serves as humanitarian services all around the world.
“This Cessna is going to be going to Kinshasa in the western side of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Dan Whitehead, the VP of Aviation at MAF. He also mentioned that the plane would be joining two other planes already stationed there.
Whitehead explained some of the roles and jobs this plane would be filling in for, “Supporting some medical missions with some hospitals there. Flying personnel and supplies in and out. Doing patient evacuations. Bringing patients out of the jungle and into the city.”
Whitehead continued, “We also serve several mission organizations there. Folks that do church planting, Sunday school training, Bible translation, all of those kinds of things.”
MAF Fleet Manager David Rask says they bought the plane from a Belgian man who sold it to them at a price that is much lower than the plane is worth.
However, this deal came with one request. Rask quotes the man saying, “As long as you will let me go to Congo when you have it over there and let me ride along with you when you do a flight with the airplane.”
This plane came at the right time as well. Whitehead explained that it will be holding up a lot of dead weight their operation in Congo will be seeing soon.
We’re actually going to be retiring an airplane that is there now. So this airplane will go to pick up the slack there,” said Whitehead.
Rask said that the plane would be serving in Congo by late October to early November.
