It’s hard to go about business as usual given the death and destruction of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the U.S. and the Caribbean. So this week, the Aviation News Talk podcast is dispensing with its normal weekly format, sharing pilot safety tips and general aviation news from around the world, to focus on how general aviation is responding to these disasters. The bottom line: there are plenty of opportunities for pilots, healthcare professionals, and others to volunteer their time to help, or to donate money to groups providing hurricane relief in the aftermath of Harvey and Irma.
On Monday, we released an interview with Operation Airdrop founder Doug Jackson. That group, which was formed just 14 days ago as I write this, used a Facebook page to help organize more than 160 pilots and aircraft from around the U.S. to fly relief supplies into the hardest hit areas of Texas. Using everything from a J-3 Cub to a Pilatus PC-12, pilots flew over 500 missions carrying over 250,000 pounds of supplies to 32 airports. You can listen to that episode here.
On Tuesday, I interviewed Stan Brock, who in 1985, founded Remote Area Medical, a non-profit that provides free healthcare services in underserved, rural areas of the United States and overseas. From their base near Knoxville, TN, that group sent some of their seven airplanes and numerous trucks full of supplies to Texas. Now they’re gearing up to set up a forward base in Puerto Rico from where they will use their Cessna Caravans to distribute supplies to hard-hit islands like Tortola and St. Maarten. By the way, they’re currently looking for volunteer Caravan pilots, who’ve been through an approved Caravan training program during the past 12 months, to work a 2-week shift in Puerto Rico flying supplies to the islands. You can listen to that episode here.
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