Haiti Relief Update

I've finished my 4th day at Agape Flights in Venice. Yesterday, I dispatched 2 planes, a Twin Otter and and an Embraer, carrying at total of 7500 lbs of relief supplies, to Port au Prince, Haiti. The Embraer landed on Friday night, had just enough time to fuel and reload, and for the pilots to take a short overnight nap, and then they took off Saturday morning at oh-dark-early. I am becoming adept at the paperwork required by US customs. Competency doesn't make the regulations anymore reasonable though.

The Twin Otter is an airplane from Skydive Chicago, one which I am quite familiar with. The first day I arrived at Agape, they asked if I knew anyone that would be interested in donating planes. I used to fly skydivers, so I got ahold of my old boss, Rook Nelson, (using the complexities of Facebook) thinking that he might have an idea of someone that had a skydiving plane around. He wrote right back, saying, I'm available, and I have my Otters in Sebastian, which is just on the other side of Florida from Venice. Rook donated two round trips, with a 4000-pound load capability for each one. I haven't seen Rook since I left his company to go to Alaska, almost four years ago. When he taxied up the ramp at Agape Friday night, he jumped down from the Otter, gave me a big hug and said, "I always knew I would see you again, I just never guessed it would be here." Me neither.

This morning, Rook and I were supposed to turn and fly the Otter back to Haiti with a doctor, a nurse, and a huge load of medical supplies, food, and water. However, by the time the plane returned from Haiti last night, after getting delayed on the ground in Port au Prince, and then by US Customs in Key West, a ground fog had rolled in at Venice. Rook and his co-pilot, Jeff, Agape's chief pilot, couldn't land. They diverted to Punta Gorda. By the time I drove down to pick them up, it was 1am. We would have to drive back to get the plane at 4am to fly it to Venice, load, refuel, turn around, and make our Air Force appointed slot time of 1:45pm in Port au Prince. Because we knew we would both be exhausted with only an hour or two of sleep, and the round trip is an 11 hour flight, we cancelled today's trip. "Everyone's a safety officer."

Rook flew his plane back to Sebastian today, to pick up a load of tents being donated by a company from New York. He got there to find that his co-pilot hadn't shown up. He called me. I'll cross Florida again in the wee hours of the morning, to climb into the Otter for my first trip to Haiti. We'll depart the Sebastian airport, weather allowing, at 8am. You can follow our progress at FlightAware Just enter "N10EA" in the box on the left that says: "Flight/Tail #:".

I am afraid I have become much too useful at Agape, but they will survive dispatching one day without me. I am continually impressed with the generosity there. Every time we make a dent in the pile of pallets in the hanger, more donations pour in. We have loaded a DC-6 donated to depart out of Miami tomorrow morning, and our hangar is miraculously still full. We need more airplanes! I am still enjoying the wonderful hospitality of Bruce & Alice Shaw, of Homer & Sarasota, who are making me comfortable and facilitating my travel around the state.

I'll send a report when I get back to the country, and my computer. Pray for tailwinds and friendly border guards.