Ferry Flying – Delivering Aircraft around the world for MAF

I would like to welcome you – and thank you for joining along. Dylan and I are excited and grateful to have the opportunity to ferry this Caravan – N906AG – from where it was purchased by MAF in Santiago, Chile to Minnesota.

This flight will bring us along the western coast of South America.

To begin I would like to share with you a bit of the story of where this aircraft is going.

But before I do – I have to say how amazed I am how MAF is an organization which really brings the world together. This aircraft which is now in Chile will go to the United States for modifications and paint. It will then be ferried across the Atlantic Ocean and on to one of the African Great Lakes – Lake Victoria in Uganda.

From Chile with the driest desert on earth to Uganda with the largest tropical lake in the world.

I asked Gordon Otten – Project Manger Fleet Development for MAF International – for information on where N906AG is going and I would like to just share with you his well written response (I just added a few photos)

Gordon replies,

“I am glad you asked about where this aircraft is going and happy to share below; it is always that much more meaningful if you know its destination and purpose.

Providing access to the isolated communities living on the islands of Lake Victoria has long been a dream of the MAF Uganda Programme, ever since it opened in 1986. For several years MAF operated a Cessna 185 float plane for this purpose, but it was underpowered and provided a very limited payload (typically just two passengers). Only having floats, it also required a 1km channel from the Lake, through the swamp, to the MAF airstrip at Kajjansi. This was extremely labour intensive to maintain, and sadly the financial and logistical challenges of running this aircraft were too great, and the aircraft was sold in 2003.

Despite this, MAF Uganda has never ceased in its ambition to access the isolated communities on Lake Victoria because this project fits perfectly with MAF’s vision to see isolated people changed by the love of Christ. For some years now MAF has had requests from numerous NGOs and missions who want to access these islands on Lake Victoria.

With a renewed focus, a more powerful and capable amphibious aircraft, and a generous donation from the Netherlands, this 2019 well maintained aircraft has been purchased to serve that purpose.

ISOLATION ON THE ISLANDS OF LAKE VICTORIA

Although the distance from the mainland is relatively short, the people who live on the islands of Lake Victoria are extremely isolated, with high levels of deprivation and poverty.

Of the more than 200 islands on Lake Victoria, 150 (70.8%) are inhabited by an estimated 220,000 people, and most of this population lives on the 84 islands that are on the Uganda side of Lake Victoria. The closest island is nearly 40 miles from Kampala but the journey to reach it is both long and dangerous. Apart from an unreliable ferry service between the mainland and Bugala (the largest island in the Ssese group of Islands) the usual method of transport to the islands is by wooden canoe, powered by outboard motors. These take an average of 8 hours to reach their destination and are often overloaded. It is common for bad weather and strong currents to cause them to capsize and for people to drown as a result. Most international organisations and many Ugandans are unwilling to use these boats because they are regarded as too dangerous, and this means that the islanders are largely cut-off from external input and support from both national and international bodies.

LIFE ON THE ISLANDS

The main occupation on the islands is fishing, so most people live in wooden huts scattered along the lake shore. These villages are crowded, with haphazard housing structures raised with no specific plan, and poor sanitation. Village communities lack basic social infrastructure and services such as schools and health centres, and the treacherous means of reaching these islands has made it very difficult for government or development agencies to extend basic social services to the island communities.

The transient nature of the fishing lifestyle combined with the isolation of the islands has created huge social problems including high levels of gender-based violence, prostitution, drug and alcohol addiction, child labour and HIV & AIDS.

The nearest hospitals for many are on the mainland in Masaka and Entebbe or Jinja. Depending on the starting point, it can take up to 8 hours to reach these facilities by boat.

Safe and reliable access to the Islands on Lake Victoria is the single most inhibiting factor for any organisation that wants to provide services to the island communities. Providing such access is exactly what MAF does best, and this is a new opportunity for MAF Uganda to bring fresh hope, help, and healing to a largely unreached community, for many years to come.”

Thank you Gordon for your words

While awaiting our flight permits for Peru, Ecuador and beyond, Dylan and I explored a bit of Santiago and Valparaiso

We decided to start flying up the northern coast of Chile tomorrow en route as we wait for our flight permits for Peru and Ecuador.