Anton’s First Medevac

Anton, a pilot with MAF in Arnhem Land, Australia, flew his first medical evacuation (medevac) a few days ago!

Story by Anton Zhang & Divyan Ahimaz

I was sitting in my office when Carly from the operations office came in and told me that she had booked me for a medevac flight. The patient was waiting for me in the homeland of Wandawuy. I quickly got the aircraft ready and flew out. Upon arriving at the homeland, I was greeted by a nurse who informed me that the patient had flu-like symptoms. Though not suspected to be COVID-19, she had made the patient wear a face mask anyway. I flew the patient back to Gove where he was able to take a taxi to the hospital. The trip from Wandawuy to Gove by road would have taken at least a couple of hours on a bumpy dirt track, but by flying, the patient was able to get to Gove in half an hour.

An Australian of Chinese origin, Anton’s dreams were about anything but serving isolated people in remote Arnhem Land. He remembers how his ambitions wavered at different stages of life – from becoming a rock star, to a doctor and even becoming a fighter pilot at one point. As he gradually grew in his faith, he developed a passion to serve God and people in isolated places through aviation. Anton held on to what God had placed in his heart and obtained his pilot qualifications from the University of New South Wales. He also undertook theological studies. He now serves as the youngest pilot in the MAF Arnhem Land team.