When someone in the rainforest becomes seriously ill or is injured, a race against time begins. By simple boat, the journey to the nearest doctor often takes many days. That’s far too long when help is needed immediately! That’s why we at Helimission have a big plan: We’re building a new base in the city of Lábrea so we can provide aid using helicopters.

For most helicopter parts, the manufacturer specifies exactly how long the components can be used. A helicopter’s airframe normally undergoes a major inspection every 12 years.

We began discussing it together with our teacher Raphaela in class. We wondered what the situation was in the Malagasy schools. Do the students also share pencils?

During this outreach in southern Cameroon I was once again travelling in dense jungle with another team. I constantly kept my eye open for places with low palm trees that snake through the dark forest like pale veins. These light green clearings were potential places for an emergency landing in case of engine failure. You really never know!

The urgently needed medical resources were completely lacking. For this reason, we brought deworming pills, painkillers and ointments to treat these afflictions.

Mercy Ministries is based in Tamatave, on Madagascar’s east coast. Their strategy is to establish small bush clinics to provide basic medical care in every village they visit.

Impossible! I shook my head to let the people on the ground know that it wouldn't work, and carefully maneuvered the helicopter backwards away from the landing site. On the ridge where we wanted to land, the bushes and trees had grown so tall at the front and rear that there wasn't enough space for either the main rotor or the tail rotor of the helicopter.

During the joint operation between the Madagascan government and Helimission to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone FYTIA, aid was also provided to the village of Vohipenoely.

On October 31, at 06:45 in the morning, I was sitting comfortably at our dining table eating my breakfast, when I received a call that would change the entire day. The team from the Hospital in Mandritsara asked if we could to a Medevac flight to the far north-east of Madagascar, because a man had been severely injured by bandits and time was of the essence.

Imagine living in a house high up in the trees – as high as a fourteen-story building! That’s exactly what the Korowai people, an indigenous tribe from Papua, do. They build their homes on tree trunks, often 131 feet above the ground. But why do they do that?

"That's a 20° incline!" exclaims Herten who is accompanying me on this flight to inspect the airstrip. He looks with concern at the inclinometer which shows the runway’s angle. Addressing the villagers of Beledomon, he says in Indonesian "Yes – there’s still some work to be done here", and to me in English, he adds: "A Cessna will never be able to land here; at best, a Pilatus Porter."

The helicopter flight from Switzerland to Tanzania in 1989 had special significance for me. My youngest son had completed his training as a helicopter pilot in the USA and accompanied me now as a junior pilot. This gave me the opportunity to share with him many valuable experiences of flying helicopters.