Touchdown Zone: Dusin
Region: Papua New Guinea
Language Groups served: Haruai, Kobon and Minimib
Surface: Grass and clay
Elevation: 5,960 feet
Length: 450 meters/1,476 feet
Width: 25 meters/82 feet
Slope: 8.2%
Interesting Fact: John and Maila Davies have used this one-way airstrip since it was first constructed about 40 years ago to reach three language groups in the remote interior of PNG for whom they translated the New Testament. For the past 20 years they have run Christian schools, teaching thousands of children from these language groups to read and write their own language so they can read Scripture for themselves and come to faith in Jesus Christ. Building supplies and school materials are flown into the Dusin airstrip, and thousands of tons of coffee have been flown from these communities for processing in Mt Hagen—20 minutes away by air or a three-day walk. This commerce provides the people with a small income to buy basic necessities. Medical evacuations have saved many lives, like that of a young child who fell from a tree and was impaled on a spike below. He would most certainly not be alive today had he not been flown out to the hospital where the spike was surgically removed.
Time Saved: Before the Dusin airstrip was opened, with no roads into the area, the Davies flew about 50 minutes from Ukarumpa to Simbai, the nearest airstrip. From Simbai, they hiked a grueling eight hours (22 miles through rugged mountainous terrain and across 120 rivers) to reach the village where they lived. All this while carrying their young child, in scorching tropical sunshine or torrential monsoon rain. In a Kodiak, Dusin is a 5-minute flight from Simbai or a 45-minute flight from Ukarumpa.
Watch a landing at Dusin here. Watch a take-off from Dusin here.
On the ground at Dusin
