In February 2023 his plane was stormed by independence fighters in West Papua who said he may never be released and threatened to kill him. Somehow, Mehrtens survived and is now a free man
On 7 February 2023, Phillip Mehrtens’ life took an unexpected and harrowing turn.
The experienced New Zealand pilot landed his tiny commercial plane at Paro airfield, a runway in the isolated highlands of Indonesia’s West Papua region. It was to be a short in and out: drop off his five passengers, pick up a group of 15 construction workers and fly back south.
