The GippsAero GA8 Airvan 8 is a single-engined utility aircraft manufactured by GippsAero (formerly named Gippsland Aeronautics) of Victoria, Australia. It can seat up to eight people, including the pilot.

The GippsAero GA8 Airvan is an Australian-designed and built workhorse made for the dirt airstrips, bumpy weather, and tough conditions of Arnhem Land. MAF Arnhem Land’s six GA8s fly daily missions ranging from “school bus” flights to medevacs to special charters that include domestic violence rescues and body flights.

With a spacious cabin and greater cargo pod capacity, and all the STOL (short take-off and landing) capabilities needed for short bush airstrips, the Airvan is ideal for the rugged terrain …

Built by Gippsland Aeronautics at the Latrobe Valley airfield in Victoria, the GA-8 Airvan was designed to FAR Part 23 Standards, and was an eight-seat utility transport designed from the outset to be safe, simple, practical, robust and versatile with the ability to operate from rough and remote airstrips.

The programme has a fleet of two GA8 Airvan to meet the needs of our customers. Since the UN left Timor-Leste in 2012, MAF have been the only provider of an essential air ambulance service transporting sick or injured people from the remote districts into Dili.

Gippsland GA8 Airvan, also known as Airvan 8, is a single-engine light utility aircraft designed and manufactured by Australian company GippsAero. Mahindra Aerospace, an Indian company, acquired a majority shareholding in GippsAero in 2010.

MAF International operates both the normally-aspirated GA-8 and the turbo-charged GA-8 TC320 in three of our Asia-Pacific programmes. The main drawback for MAF is that the GA-8 burns expensive and scarce Avgas fuel.

MAF in Arnhem Land currently operates seven GA8 Airvans. These aircraft can carry up to seven adults (or approximately 450 kilograms of cargo) on each flight. The amount an aircraft can carry changes according to the weather, where extra fuel may be needed and the airstrips being used.

Versatile and spacious, the GA8 Airvan is ideal for rugged terrain and the gruelling conditions in which MAF operates. If you have to land on a rough runway, this is the aircraft you want to be sitting in.

One 239 kw (320 hp) Lycoming TIO-540-AH1A six-cylinder turbocharged horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine.