Staff and friends of AFD Software joined a live-link with Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea to watch the arrival of a plane donated to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary.
Manufactured in the USA, the plane has been specially adapted for remote jungle grass strips.
Having flown across the Pacific for final preparations and pilot training in Australia, P2-AFD was loaded with cargo and equipment for the final five hours of its long delivery journey.
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On arrival, the Mount Hagen airport fire brigade arranged a special salute – and dozens of MAF’s national and International staff team were there to welcome it.
AFD Software, known as ‘The Postcode People’, specialises in reliable delivery - its software has helped people do that in the British Isles now for over 42 years by getting addresses on mail and parcels accurate and clear.
Delivery in Papua New Guinea is a whole different challenge. There are no roads to many communities and MAF’s planes carry everyday essentials, provide education or medical help and assist villages in trading their goods.
Following the arrival of the Cessna aircraft, AFD staff had the opportunity to ask MAF’s Papua New Guinea team questions about how it will be used – before the plane was dedicated to service in the Western Highlands in a short time of prayer, with the MAF team forming a circle around P2-AFD.
The plane was scheduled to make its first flight on Wednesday this week when it was due to carry education materials for a remote school in the rainforest.
It’s the second light aircraft AFD Software has donated to MAF and follows the gift of a Kodiak plane purchased after the company celebrated its 25 year anniversary in 2008.