Diesel Power!

One of the most impressive parts of my time visiting the MAF program in Angola was to personally experience the impact of two Cessna 182 aircraft that were newly equipped with diesel engines. Having been added to the fleet last April, these two planes are already changing the way the program is able to serve churches and missions in this country. 

Up until now, the main workhorse of the program was a Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft. This is a ten-passenger airplane that uses a jet-powered turbo-prop engine. Although it is still an ideal plane to transport large loads in the African bush and on rough airstrips for long, four-to-five hour legs, it tends to be a bit too pricey for the mission/church community to afford on a regular basis, especially if they only need to haul one or two people. Other smaller piston-engined planes do not work well either because the cost of the avigas has been $15 per gallon.

Unusual front cowling on the the C-182 

Enter the diesel-powered C-182! After years of testing, this new plane/engine combination could mark the beginning of new revolution in light aircraft design. Able to use the same jet-fuel as the Caravan (only $5.00 per gallon or less) These smaller planes offer both the perfect size and cost for the typical church or mission need in southern Angola.

Note the yellow lightning-strikes on our flight course!

The MAF pilots wanted to show us this point in action, so four of us headed out on a 55 minute flight from Lubango to the Caluquembe Hospital up north. The new plane not only had a super-simple computerized throttle control system, but were also equipped with the latest “glass-cockpit” avionics.  I was particularly impressed to track the lighting strikes from a huge storm along our path as we made our way home again!

Happy users of the new diesel-powered C-182

Because of the availability of these planes, MAF Angola is now considering offering new types of “round-robin” field trips where a pilot could head out for a three or four day trip with a three-man medical team or discipleship-training group participating in their ministry during the overnights. As we talked about this to local ministry leaders, it was fun to see how new interest in MAF service was sparked by this possibility.

All MAF pilots are still hoping a diesel solution will become available for the larger, six-seat Cessna 206, and apparently, such an engine is actually on the way. But in the meantime, these new diesel-powered C-182’s certainly can play a key role in offering affordable mission aviation service in certain key places of the world—like southern Angola.