Back in the early 70s, we heard a lot of reports about helicopter operations in the war being waged in the jungles of Vietnam. I couldn’t stop thinking about those agile aircraft. A helicopter would have taken perhaps only two hours to cover the laborious and dangerous eight-day trek along the Gorilla Path through Cameroon’s jungle. “It must be possible to use one of these for aid operations in third world countries, too,” I reflected. But the idea would still have to overcome two major hurdles.
Lukas Eggenberg
47 posts
As Covid-19 makes its way around the globe, our lives are changing. Here in Wamena, our flight schedule was reduced to medical evacuations and cargo flights only. As the virus was approaching Papua, a befriended family (after quarantining for three weeks) planned to return to their village in the remote mountains.
We were travelling in the west of the country for three days. We regularly visit these villages on the Bemaraha Plateau with Denis and his team.
In 1977 the president of the Swiss Aeroclub asked me whether some of their planes might accompany me on the flight across the desert to Cameroon. They wanted to seize the opportunity to have a helicopter with them as an emergency measure on their high-risk enterprise. And so I had an escort of twenty-two planes. No, not really an escort of course, because they all flew much faster than I did and they went ahead of me. This was my fourth crossing. We had arranged to meet up again in Olbia, Sardinia.
Is our skin dark, brown, red, yellow, white or mixed? Many white people want to be as brown as possible to look attractive. Dark skinned people would rather be white. This does not change the fact that we are all valuable. Every person is unique and precious!
In Maolagi, in the Paniai District, between Wamena and Nabire, there are employees of a relief organization who completely depend on our helicopter and an MAF fixed-wing airplane. Usually, we fly by helicopter from Wamena directly to the nearest landing strip in Bugalaga. An MAF airplane flies the goods there from the nearest city, because it can carry much heavier loads than the helicopter. The helicopter, on the other hand, is more suited for flying the goods to the villages in short rotations (7 minutes).
When I am not flying on a outreach, I enjoy being able to sit together with my family for lunch. This was the case on an afternoon in January. We had just finished lunch when our office called me about a Medevac (medical evacuation). I immediately made my way to the hangar to get more information.
On Thursday evening we were asked to rescue a young man who had been involved in a car accident and fly him to the hospital in the capital, Antananarivo. Unfortunately, the time was too far advanced, and it was impossible to make the flight before nightfall.
Many elderly people in Papua, Indonesia suffer from cataracts - an eye disease that can lead to blindness if left untreated. However, they not only suffer from the disease but also from being socially excluded.
The Hospital Mandritsara is one of the best contact points for medical emergencies in the north of the country. It is run and supported by British churches. We regularly fly missions with them to remote villages.
As a sign of their tribal affiliation, many children have the skin on their body, face and arms cut open with a sharp knife.
