Each year Army Aviation sends aircraft to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to qualify pilots and aircrew operators on flying in mountainous terrain and at high-density altitude.

This year it was 5th Aviation Regiment's turn, which flew four CH-47F Chinook helicopters from Townsville to Port Moresby for the challenging serials on the annual Exercise Helicon Luk.

About 100 personnel supported the exercise, drawn from various units including medics, engineers and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Every day for two weeks the Chinooks of Task Unit Brahman headed into the country’s rugged interior.

They practised flying over towering peaks and through narrow passes, conducted landing techniques including aft ‘two-wheel’ pinnacle touch-downs and simulated engine failures that necessitated putting down in riverbeds or clearings.

This kind of thumping rotor-blade activity typically draws a crowd in the sparsely populated valleys of the Central Province.

To give something back to those isolated communities, the Chaplain of the 5th Aviation Regiment, Captain Mitchell Porter, organised a community outreach activity dubbed ‘Mixmasta’.

Chaplain Porter said it was an opportunity to thank the locals for their hospitality.

“It’s a gesture of goodwill from us as a regiment and also the wider ADF, to say we appreciate using their sky and their runways and their areas, but also that we appreciate it does cause a little disruption to their normal routine,” Chaplain Porter said.

“There’s no road access, no regular plane services; this is isolation at its absolute peak. A footy, a Cowboys hat and some corned beef and rice, that just makes things a little bit better for a while.”

'Handshakes getting off the aircraft, chatting to each other and then later being able to say, look we’ve got some stuff for you. Couldn’t have gone better.'

Items airlifted to the villages included books, pencils and backpacks to supplement local school supplies. Netballs, basketballs and rugby league footballs were also provided, courtesy of the in-country Defence Cooperation Program and the National Rugby League.

Personnel from the regiment also donated money to buy food supplies including noodles, flour and cooking oil.

“We took up about 1500 pounds [680kg] worth of donated and purchased goods,” Chaplain Porter said.

In the village of Woitape, local service provider and elder Thomas John said the visit by the Australian Army aviators was something the village welcomed.

“Every year this is big news for us,” he said. 

“Especially for the kids; they get very excited.”

Adding to the success of the event was Chaplain Porter’s fluency in Tok Pisin, which he learned at the Army School of Languages.

“We went up during the week and liaised with the community leaders, the chiefs, the local government officials. Handshakes getting off the aircraft, chatting to each other and then later being able to say, look we’ve got some stuff for you. Couldn’t have gone better,” Chaplain Porter said.

He said the activity was named in honour of the original Tok Pisin word for helicopter, which was Mixmasta bilong Jesus.

“We decided that Mixmasta was a perfect operational name and that’s what we went with,” Chaplain Porter said.