David and Jenny Pett

Background

Both David and Jenny went on short-term mission trips in 1992.; David went to Romania to distribute aid and Jen joined a Tearfund taskforce project in remote Uganda where, significantly, she travelled back by MAF plane after experiencing the demands of travelling by road. They both returned with a desire to bring Christian hope to others through practical service, although our engineering and administrative careers did not initially lead us towards an obvious mission activity.

Later that year, David felt a growing call ‘to fly’ and commenced private pilots licence training in the UK in early 1993, shortly before they married. Blessed with Graham (1994), Jonathan (1995) and Jen’s encouragement, David persevered to expand his flying experience and finally gained his commercial pilot licence in 2003 with an instructor rating shortly afterwards. Throughout this time, the dream of joining MAF remained central to their future plans.

Our MAF journey

The following year, service with MAF became a real possibility so they moved as a family to Melbourne to undertake a year of theological study together at the Bible College of Victoria. Joining MAF in mid-2006, they were based on Elcho Island, an outstation of the Arnhem Land programme, where they were all involved in various ministries with the Yolŋu people and the Bible Translation Centre. Jen also facilitated the boys’ distance education through to the completion of their Year 12 studies in 2014.

In addition to line flying, David performed the roles of Base Manager and Operations Manager, becoming part of the pilot check and training team from 2010. Moving to Cairns in September 2014, David has taken on the role of MAF International Fleet Training Captain for the piston-engine aircraft in both the African and Asia Pacific regions.Still based in Cairns, Dave is now the Senior Standards Captain – Single-Engine Piston.

Join the Petts’ support team

David and Jenny rely on a team of partners who agree to pray for them and to provide the financial support which enables them to serve with MAF.

Would you prayerfully consider joining their support team?