Man on a mission...

“Africa is in my blood. My grandparents were some of the first Norwegian missionaries in Ethiopia. My father was a doctor, and my mother a nurse,” Lindtjørn said.

After eight years in Ethiopia, he returned to Norway as a 16-year-old. Adjusting from Africa to cold Norway was difficult – and he wanted to fly.

He worked odd jobs to learn to fly. With a fresh private pilot’s licence, he contacted the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and asked what he needed to become a MAF pilot. He was told to become an aircraft mechanic, a commercial pilot with at least 500 hours – and attend bible school! 

Lindtjørn was undaunted. By 2006, he was 28 years old and had met all the requirements, as well as seven years´ experience as an aircraft mechanic with SAS. He packed up all he owned and travelled to Tanzania to start the job he had been working towards for 12 years.

“I was finally a mission pilot. I had some wonderful years out in the bush! MAF based me in Kigoma in Tanzania where I flew a Cessna 206 carrying the sick, health workers and missionaries. I was living out my calling – and my dream,” he said.

In Tanzania he met Nadia who worked as a volunteer for a children’s home. They married in 2010 and then, when they had children, moved to be near her parents in the USA. Then, about a year ago, Lindtjørn received an enquiry from MAF who needed an experienced pilot in Tanzania.

“I answered that email within 30 seconds. There´s no other place in the world where I feel so at home as I do in Tanzania. I look forward to every day and every flight,” said Lindtjørn. You can almost see the African sky in his eyes!

Its not uncommon for him to be in the field for six weeks, so his time at home is valuable. While his family always comes first, they respect his work. “Having children at home, I experience a different sort of love for those that I serve out in the field. I see my own children in those who are suffering, and that gives my service even more meaning.”

“Once, a nurse came running up to my plane with a little girl. Her mother couldn’t feed the child, which was emaciated. A 10-minute flight saved that tiny, sick child. That is what my job is about. There are countless such stories, and it´s a privilege to serve in this way,” said Lindtjørn.

“We don´t just meet one need, but the whole person, and the plane makes that possible. If MAF didn´t fly in Tanzania, measles would have recurred, and women would have died in childbirth. We fulfil MAF’s and my own mission statement,” he said with conviction.