When Sam Armstrong decided to hit ‘send’ on his application for a 12-month reservations role with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Arnhem Land, he couldn’t have imagined how it would shape his life.
Now 22, Sam grew up in Melbourne with a love of aviation running deep through his veins.
“I'd heard about MAF for as long as I can remember,” Sam said. “My uncle used to fly here in Arnhem Land and in Papua New Guinea.”
That legacy of caring and aviation lingered, so when Sam spotted the ‘gap year’ program advertised on social media, he hit the ‘send’ button.
Two and a half years later, Sam isn’t merely ‘still here’—he’s become the Senior Operations Officer, handling the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the region’s vital air link alive.
“That’s what I love about my job, even though it’s very office-based – creating bookings for customers, planning pilots’ days, loading planes – I can still see the impact, that I'm helping people,” Sam said.
That impact really hit home during the severe floods in April and May 2025. With homelands roads impassable, pilots on leave, and several aircraft grounded for maintenance, MAF’s resources in Arnhem Land were stretched to the limit.
“We had minimal pilots around, it was during the school term, and engineering was backed up,” Sam said. “I remember looking over to my colleague and he's like, ‘How are we going to do this?’
“I don't know how we did it, looking back at it now, but I think God was really with me during that time to be able to coordinate all of these bookings and to help everyone the best we could.”
If we weren't here, who would be able to help?
In those frantic days, MAF’s planes were lifelines, delivering food, diesel, generators and essentials to stranded communities across 25 Laynhapuy homelands, an area of some 14,000 square kilometres covering both land and water territory.
In the first two weeks of the crisis, MAF flew 300-400 kilograms of food daily as homeland stores ran out, with more than 600 kilograms being delivered some days.
“If we weren't here, who would be able to help?” Sam said. “No one could drive, and no other charter company would be able to land in some of the homelands.”
Sam is content to wait and see what the future holds, and he has advice for others keen to find how God wants to lead them.
“Just send it. Whether it’s for 12 months or longer, just send in that application,” he said.
“You may feel like this is what God's calling you to, and then from that point, you'll be able to gain more experience, and you’ll see where God is leading you and what passions you have and what might be next.”
Sometimes, that one brave leap can change everything—not only for you, but for those who need it most.
