A river can be a runway if you bring the right wings. We sit with Case Visser from Samaritan Aviation to share how a Cessna 206 on floats turns the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea into a lifeline for mothers in distress, snakebite victims, and kids with traumatic injuries. What would take days by canoe becomes 45 minutes by air, and that time delta is the thin line between loss and life.
Case traces his path from West Michigan HVAC tech to mission pilot and mechanic, showing why systems knowledge matters when your landing strip is full of hidden logs, fishing nets, and fast water. We break down how single-pilot operations work with Level One triage, when an OB nurse rides along, and why helicopters—while capable—are too costly to make free care sustainable. Along the way we dig into the quiet backbone of the mission: medicine delivery to 40 outposts, vaccine campaigns that halted polio outbreaks, and national staff who visit patients daily to meet physical and spiritual needs in a hospital without call buttons.
You’ll hear unforgettable stories: a boy with a compound fracture spared an eight-hour ordeal, a spear injury that turns into a lesson about forgiveness, and a boar attack that forces hard decisions in the field. We talk recruitment—commercial instrument pilots, A&P mechanics, and a medical director—as Samaritan opens a second base to serve villages that haven’t seen a nurse in years. We also get personal about thriving on mission: language learning, scratch-cooked meals from market staples, decompression on the ocean, and building a legacy of service that your kids can see.
If you care about humanitarian aviation, global health, and faith in action, this conversation brings the texture, the procedures, and the heart. Fuel a flight, share the story, or consider joining the team. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what moment from this conversation will you remember tomorrow?
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