We received a message in Wamena that a woman in the remote jungle of Papua, Indonesia, had given birth to a baby but the placenta was still in her womb. We immediately prepared to pick up the mother by helicopter and fly her to the city hospital in Wamena for better medical care. 

The seniors’ trip organized by the Pentecostal Church Herisau, recently took us to Trogen where we visited Helimission headquarters. After a warm welcome, we were able to visit the office where the crew coordinates and organizes this far-reaching and important work.

I had been asked to take four church workers from the south of Cameroon near to the border with Congo-Brazzaville. Since this was an area where there were occasional skirmishes caused by rebels from the Congo, it was under military control. 

At the end of the dry season this year, the Malagasy once again were quick to burn down their already rare rainforest, so that even in the capital of Antananarivo, we often sit in the midst of heavy smoke from the slash and burn farming.

Sunday morning at 6:30 I received a call to conduct a medical evacuation in the tropical rainforest.

people from all over the valley were on their way to the village, armed, threatening the workers, and planning to set fire to the hospital – their own future hospital! Apparently, the Indonesian workers had hired some villagers to help with the construction. One of them fell ill and died within a very short time.

After the communist regime was overthrown in Albania the country was opened up and we had the opportunity to fly countless operations with our Jet Ranger in the mountains. The level of poverty was beyond description and there was great hunger. Albania was considered one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Sahateza is a village of new settlers from the jungle of the Marolambo region, located just half an hour’s flight southeast of the capital, Antananarivo. An elderly couple have given these settlers access to their extensive land. In return, the villagers are honoring them by building them a house. 

As a family, we were really looking forward to Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We were going to celebrate this special day in church, and I was excited because I had been asked to sing. But things turned out differently.

In Madagascar, it is quite common to see smoke in the air, especially during the dry season. However, on one particular day several unusually thick smoke plumes rising from near the Ambilorano mission base caused the cheerful mood in the helicopter to immediately change to one of concern. Smoke like that could mean trouble of some kind. 

Six years ago, I, Matt, and my fellow pilot Micha were in Karawura for a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for a future building.

Major parts of the helicopter have a shelf life (life cycle). At the end of this time period, these parts are either replaced or overhauled.

Small planes are cheaper to operate than helicopters. Per passenger, a plane is three times cheaper. That is why we use helicopters for...

Half the village stood laughing and in amazement around the two white men who were trying to pump drinking water from a dirty bucket...

Ernie Tanner writes: Carrying supplies in the great heat to the people starving in the camps at the edge of the Ethiopian Danakil desert...

Around half of the airstrips in the bush have been opened with the help of Helimission. Several flights with the helicopter are necessary...

There is a large rainforest at the eastern end of the island of Madagascar. During our medical mission a while ago ...

An intercom system in a helicopter is an independent communication network.

Here in Papua, Indonesia, you can quickly go from one extreme to the other. 

I spent 5 days with Sedera and his team in the east and south-east of the rainforest.