Air travel in PNG - by Nancy

I’ve mentioned before that PNG is a very rural country. There just aren’t many roads. There are only about 19,600 km (12,200 miles) of roads in the whole country according to Wikipedia, and only 686 km (426 miles) of those are paved! Even the capital city, Port Morseby, is not connected to any other major town by a road!


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Basically, air travel is the single most important way to get around in PNG. There are 578 airstrips in the country – and only 21 of those are paved. So to say the least, aviation is very important, especially to the missionaries who need to travel to rural areas. Without the pilots, the aviation mechanics, and the people who build and maintain the airstrips-- the language surveyors, Bible translators, and literacy workers would have an immensely harder time doing their jobs.

The mission agency who provides most of the air service at Ukarumpa has 9 aircraft to meet the need. There are 4 Cessna 206’s, 1 King Air B200, 1 Islander BN-2T, 2 Bell Helicopters, and the newest addition to their fleet, the newly arrived Quest Kodiak. The Kodiak arrived a few days after I left PNG, so sadly I didn’t get to be there for the celebration of its’ arrival. But I did have a chance to fly in 3 of the other types of airplanes while I was there and have a tour of the Aiyura hanger.

This is me next to the King Air. I arrived at Ukarumpa on this plane.


These are the two Bell Helicopters.


Here are Sara and me getting into a Cessna 206 which we flew in to Madang.

(Thanks to Jacob for this photo.)

Remi was our pilot, and yes, I got to wear the headphones but I did not fly the plane!


This is what the airstrip looks like at the Aiyura Airport (near Ukarumpa).


One of the pilots (Christopher) fueling up one of the planes.


Looking back at the hangers at Aiyura.


Now some aerial views of PNG…first, two photos looking down on hillside gardens. The burned areas are where they have either cleared to make new gardens, or just burned for no particular reason.
A rugged valley with a river running thru it.


A view of the missions center at Ukarumpa.


Here is another shot of Ukarumpa, nestled in the beautiful Aiyura Valley.


And finally, the mountains of PNG! This was taken on the flight on my way home - between Ukarumpa and Port Morseby.


And now, I’m going to say good-bye! I’ve enjoyed sharing some of my experiences and photos with you from my trip to visit Sara. I hope you have enjoyed them, too.

Please keep praying for Sara, Bonnie, Juliann, and Jacob as they finish up this survey trip and head back to Ukarumpa. Continue to pray for their safety, health, being able to complete the work they went to do, and traveling mercies. Thank you so much!