Samaritan Aviation is modifying this donated Cessna U206G to serve in Papua New Guinea.
Samaritan Aviation, the Christian non-profit organization that provides aerial medical support in Papua New Guinea (PNG), is modifying a donated Cessna U206G Stationair to serve its expanding mission in the Pacific Islands country.
Built in 1980, the single-engine amphibian was docked in late July at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Seaplane Base, an inlet of Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago where the colorfully painted airplane earned a Bronze Lindy Award for craftsmanship after last year’s AirVenture. Samaritan Aviation plans to transport the aircraft to PNG in late 2025.
Interviewed at a picnic table overlooking the water, Samaritan co-founder and CEO Mark Palm described the conditions floatplane pilots face in PNG, where the organization has operated since 2010. Resource-rich but largely undeveloped and poor, PNG comprises the eastern half of New Guinea, sharing the land mass with the Indonesian province of West Papua. PNG achieved independence from Australia in 1975.
The Sepik River
Operating from a hangar at Wewak/Boram Airport in the northern, coastal town of Wewak, Samaritan’s Cessna 206s serve 120 villages and 40 clinics along the 712-mi. Sepik River. Wewak is the capital of East Sepik province, which made the news recently after marauders attacked three remote villages over an apparent land dispute, killing 26 people.
With a credo of “turning a three-day canoe trip into a one-hour flight,” Samaritan Aviation pilots deliver basic medical supplies such as antibiotics, antimalarial drugs and IV lines to medical outposts on river and respond seven days a week to emergencies such as snakebites and pregnancy complications. A medical director triages calls and decides whether to launch an aircraft and what will be needed on board.
All staffers learn to speak Melanesian Tok Pisin, the “trade” or bridge language for a land in which more than 800 languages are spoken.
Palm emphasized that Samaritan Aviation works in accordance with PNG’s National Department of Health. The government funds 30% of its operating costs; it raises the balance of its funding from donations.
“We were told it’s too dangerous; the river rises and falls 20 ft. in a week based on rainfall or the lack thereof,” he related. “It’s 1,000-ft. wide in a lot of places. Every time you land, there’s no docks. You’re just trying to figure out, where do I put the plane? One week there is a sandbar covering half the river, the next week you’re there and you can’t see a sandbar.”
Using a map to point out flight times along the Sepik, Palm continued: “You’re making hard decisions as pilots. Now [you’re] a boat on the river. You’ve got the current, you’ve got crocodiles, people in canoes, fishing nets. Usually, you have a whole village running at the plane. They want to help, so they’re grabbing the planes, the ailerons. There’s a lot going on.”
Tailored Modifications
Samaritan Aviation delivered its first Cessna 206G—a 1977 model—to PNG in a 40-ft. shipping container. It currently operates three Cessna 206s; a fourth recently was retired. The organization seeks aircraft that are equipped with float kits, then modifies them to operate in the unique environment of the Sepik River, New Guinea’s longest watercourse.
Among modifications made to the airplane docked at the EAA Seaplane Base, Samaritan Aviation changed out the original, 285-hp Continental IO-520 engine with a 300-hp Continental IO-550 and replaced the 80-in. prop with an 86-in. seaplane propeller for more torque.
The aircraft is fitted with a Robertson Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) kit, a system that droops the ailerons with the flaps extended, and custom STOL wingtip extensions to improve lift and shorten takeoff and landing distances in the hot-and-humid environment. The Robertson kit “gives you a really large flaperon, basically,” said Palm. “We found that when you’re running in rough water, it’s just a gamechanger. You can get off the water so much faster.”
Float manufacturer and modification specialist Wipaire added a co-pilot door for improved access and egress, which is also useful for docking on the right side of the aircraft. The Cessna is equipped with Aerocet 3400 amphibious floats and retractable water rudders that assist in steering the aircraft when it is navigating slow in the water.
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