Ready at a Moment's Notice
Our aircraft make us mission-ready at a moment’s notice to bring relief and the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ in times of crisis.
Some may recognize our iconic DC-3 from its missions across Africa, delivering personnel and relief supplies deep into the bush. It is also frequently used in our surgery programs to bring adults and children from remote areas to larger cities for medical care. Then there's our flagship 767, which has brought aid to suffering women and children in the Middle East as well as our field hospitals to multiple hurricane locations in the Caribbean and Pacific.
These planes may be our most recognizable workhorses, but they are just two of the more than 20 aircraft in our Mission Aviation Services fleet—each of which plays a key role in our mission of bringing relief to those affected by natural disasters, war, and other catastrophes. Some give us access to faraway places in those life-and-death first hours and days after disaster. Others support our ongoing relief and ministry work in countries that have critical needs. Others still serve our work in Alaska, including church construction and our Operation Heal Our Patriots program for military couples.
“When a disaster strikes and people are crying out for help, every second counts. We specialize in responding immediately to emergencies around the globe, and we thank God for our aviation resources that make these missions possible.”
Aviators and Aircraft to Serve the Hurting in Jesus' Name
To operate these aircraft, God has blessed us with skilled aviators who seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations—all while caring for "the least of these" anywhere we find them.
He has also provided us with the right equipment for the work. Our fleet includes cargo planes, lightweight aircraft, and helicopters positioned strategically with their crews worldwide.
The DC-3 prop plane often lands on dirt airstrips deep in the bush of Africa to deliver relief personnel and supplies. It is also used in our cleft lip and cataract surgery programs to bring patients from cut-off areas to larger cities for medical care.
Our helicopters are sling-loaded with emergency relief items such as shelter tents and water filtration systems, and they can travel almost anywhere. They have taken critical aid to Liberian villages desperate for clean water and Caribbean islands wrecked by powerful hurricanes.
In 2025, our Boeing 767 flew its inaugural Samaritan’s Purse flight to war-torn Gaza, loaded with 290,000 supplemental food packets to relieve hungry women and children caught in the crossfire of war.
Now the largest aircraft in our fleet, the 767 allows us to carry our most extensive Emergency Field Hospital anywhere in the world in a single 119,000-pound-capacity load.
This refurbished plane, which originally belonged to Qantas Airlines, replaces our historical DC-8 combi jet that performed 218 missions to deliver disaster specialists and more than 9 million pounds of relief cargo to disasters globally. In 2025, Samaritan’s Purse gifted the DC-8, which for nearly a decade was the last remaining flying model of its kind, to Liberty University’s aviation program to inspire a new generation of aviators.
Caravans and CASAs navigate the wild interior of Alaska. They transport military couples to Samaritan Lodge Alaska for Operation Heal Our Patriots and regularly touch down in remote villages to deliver volunteer crews and supplies for church construction projects.
Aviation has long been and will continue to be a vital tool for the ministry of Samaritan's Purse as we respond quickly after disasters, even in hard-to-reach areas around the world. Everywhere we go we help in Jesus’ Name, relieving suffering and pointing people to the incredible hope of the Gospel.
