PNG Eastern Highlands. Missionary Pilots Part 2
For Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Michael MacKuen

This morning we continue flying through a southern part of the Eastern Highlands. Again, we visit airstrips that are part of the circuits of several missionary aviation teams, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), Ethnos360 Aviation (of Ryan Ferran and Missionary Bush Pilot), Adventist Aviation, and SIL Aviation. This time we fly a circle roughly counter-clockwise east-to-west from Aiyura back to Goroka. Again, this flight features a mixture of Ken Hall’s Highland Bush Strips Pack 3 and Highland Bush Strips Pack 4 (payware at Orbx).


Out of Sindeni

Another early morning departure takes us to Tarabo [TB], one of the early-days Australian government stations and thus centers of western contact. No longer a remote site, it enjoys a paved road connection to the population centers of PNG. The community is now the location of Tarabo Lutheran High School. A small sweet story: it has benefited from a student project, initiated at the University of Goroka, which built a large water storage and pumping system that serves both the school and the community.

We move on to Owena [AYWW] and Aziana [AYLA]. Here is a visitor’s description of his accompanying an Ethnos360 Kodiak pilot’s flights to Aziana (with video of landing and takeoff) and Owena (both landing and takeoff). Both of these strips will be interesting if not fascinating. They are steep and short. Aziana is more difficult (in real life it requires some special training) and thus made optional for either a landing or a low-pass. We then turn to Gema [AYGM] with its increasingly uphill pitch (19%) to a smallish parking area at the top. This strip lies only 4nm east of our previous stop at Simogu. See INSANELY STEEP Mountain Runway Takeoff [Extended Cut]. (Long video. If you have the time, enjoy the villagers’ pride in their runway improvements and in their newly built tourist guest house.)

Next we head southeast through the Marawaka Gap and descend to the valley floor for a landing at Marawaka [AYMW]. This is another old Australian station which was for many years known for its tremendous natural beauty. With the subsequent movement away of government offices, the village has lost much of its economic momentum and fallen on hard times. Nevertheless, locals remain optimistic for the future. After landing, we turn back west along the valley to land at Sindeni [AYDY], a fairly busy airstrip with sometimes multiple flights a day. For a flight into the strip, see The Worst Place Ever to Crash a Plane. The village serves as a local center with several schools and a clinic. (For some local sights, see the first 5 minutes of this video.) In addition, the relatively easy 7% sloped runway makes Sindeni a favorite training field for several of the missionary flight organizations. We continue along the valley to land at Boikoa Airstrip [AYOI], an isolated village that relies on aviation (now mostly MAF flights) for access to supplies and medical care. (Here is a 13-year-old grainy film of an Aiyura-based SIL flight into Boikoa for a coffee pickup.)

Then a quick flight over the mountains to Simbari [AYQB]. (For a brief look at the airstrip, see the first few minutes of Most Pilots Will Never Fly a Trip Like This.) This was once a very remote valley that was slow to turn away from traditional customs. As late as the mid-20^th century the Simbari valley social structure was a strongly reinforced patriarchy. Young boys were separated from their mothers and intimately initiated into manhood and for years kept separate in a special boys accommodation. The implicit aim was to cultivate a strong male warrior class that could succeed in more-or-less continual low-scale warfare with neighboring tribes. At the turn into the 21^st century, this culture became more “modern.” Contact with the rest of New Guinea brought schooling, job opportunities, missionary values, commercial coffee agriculture … and the government’s suppression of routine tribal warfare. Nowadays boys and girls grow up together and their differential roles have evolved into something like normal world-standards. (See the original anthropological research summary [open the abstract] and a Wiki update about the valley’s relatively quick  modernization.)

We fly 34nm west to the Gulf Province’s tropical lowlands and Wabo [AYWB] on the Purari River. Wabo was another of the Australian Patrol stations that is now a PNG government district station with newly developed police and administrative facilities. (The police stations in nearby districts were burnt down by locals.) For several years the airstrip has served as a regional MAF flight center. Wabo is the destination of this Garoka-sourced flight SPECTACULAR Low Level JUNGLE FLIGHT in Papua New Guinea. We turn to the north to reach Haia [AYHA], a regular on the MAF circuit. This is a remote village in the Crater Mountain Wildlife Management area – accessible primarily by air. The village has long been a focal point for missionary work among local tribes. The small airfield is perched on a low ridgeline surrounded by higher terrain that makes for an potentially fascinating circling approach. For the challenge of working out a safe mountainous approach though low-lying scattered clouds, see How to Stay Alive PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

We turn north through the Maimafu Gap to land at Mengina Airstrip [AYEG]. And then up through the Tua Valley to Kora [AYOZ]. Next up through the higher hills is Nomane [AYNO]. The Lutheran mission has been there since the 1971. All three airstrips are on the MAF and/or Adventist circuits.

Finally, we fly back to the “big city” Goroka [AGYA], landing on Runway 35R to exit to the right onto the General Aviation center. The two northern hangars are operated by Ethnos360 (NTM) Aviation and Adventist Aviation. And at the south end of the GA tarmac is Pacific Helicopters.

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here. We prefer real weather.

Aircraft
This route runs 200nm and includes many difficult mountain airports. The event asks for “cargo aircraft” with some STOL capability. Some popular choices include: the Brittan-Norman Islander, Cessna C185, Cessna Caravan, Daher Kodiak, DHC-6 Twin Otter, PAC 750, and Pilatus PC-6. (The DHC-4 Caribou should work but it may be too large for this mission.) I shall probably take the Blackbird-Milviz PC-6. As ever, fly what you like.

Additional Scenery
Most of the airports are in the default simulator. However, we want to use Ken Hall’s Highland Bush Strips Pack 3 and Highland Bush Strips Pack 4 (payware at Orbx) to enhance the experience. (You want both packages for Part 2, this week. This will be a mix of both packages as in Part 1, two weeks ago.) In addition, I recommend the following freeware addon airport packages. Thanks to these fine authors for their talent and efforts.

Recommended:
Aiyura [AYAY]. SkyborneVisions (from a previous flight)
Owena [AYWW]. Photosbykev 
Aziana [AYLA]. Photosbykev 
Wabo [AYWB]. ardeef 
Goroka [AYGA]. FPASC52 (from a previous flight)

You can get the freeware package here, and an extra package here. The packages also include freeware airports that are difficult to find. (The “extra” package includes freeware for Gemi [AYGM] by Photosbykev and Sindeni [AYDY] by Milosanx – useful for those not purchasing the Ken Hall payware packages.)

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator at 7:00am local for February 18, 2026. We typically prefer real weather.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, February 18, 2026. 1900 UTC (2000CET, 1400EST, 1100PST)
Where: RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: South-East Asia server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

NOTAM. 2026-02-16 0340 UTC. If you downloaded the flightplans before 0300 UTC on Monday, 2026-02-16, please download again. The newer flightplans include a few minor tweaks to make the path through the mountains more clear. The basics remain the same. (If necessary or convenient, you can still use the original formulations.)