Washing the Balus

Eugene & Steven washing their Balus

Our ground staff at the 4 MAF bases where aircraft “live”, take the job of cleaning & looking after their “balus” (aeroplane) very seriously.

The Balus gets disinfected inside at the end of every day to reduce the likelihood of us taking COVID into Bush communities, and they wash the exterior at least once a week.

Many of the Bush communities we fly to have grass airstrips and after rain they can become muddy. Some airstrips can become so boggy that we don’t fly to them if they’ve had rain the night before. This is why it is so important for the base to call each airstrip over the HF radio in the morning and get an accurate strip and weather report.

Even if an airstrip is safe to fly to, if it’s had rain recently it can often end up muddy and landing can throw mud up the sides of the plane, behind the wheels. That’s when the base staff give their Balus an extra wash, to keep them looking smart and to stop corrosion.

There are 2 aircraft based at Telefomin, and with the majority of the Bush airstrips that we serve being grass, the planes often get muddy, which keeps the guys busy washing them.