Tag: Irma

Hurricane Irma Evacuation Flight: Embry-Riddle CFI Veenen Udayan Interview


On Christmas Day, 2006, a tornado destroyed more than 40 airplanes belonging to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. But this year, as Hurricane Irma began tracking toward Florida, the University was prepared with an evacuation plan for its aircraft. Veenen Udayan, an instructor pilot at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, FL, was a team leader for moving Embry’s 63 aircraft out of the path of hurricane Irma, and relocating them at the Auburn University Airport, and at Atlantic Aviation at the Birmingham Airport, both in Alabama. In this interview, he talks about Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the flight planning and the advance coordination required with ATC to fit so many IFR aircraft into the system at one time.

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Hurricane Irma Relief – Remote Area Medical – Stan Brock Interview


Remote Area Medical (RAM) is working to deploy it’s fleet of aircraft to Puerto Rico, which will be the forward base from which their Cessna Caravan will fly supplies to the islands hardest hit by Hurricane Irma. RAM was founded over 30 years ago, and has helped provide medical services to over 100,000 people. They are looking for volunteer pilots and healthcare professionals to provide services in underserved areas in the U.S. and the Caribbean. They currently need pilots who can fly their Caravans and their King Air 200. You can find the Remote Area Medical webpage here and their Facebook page here. In this episode, we interview RAM founder Stan Brock about the organization, and learned how doctors, dentists, optometrists, and pilots can help the organization by volunteering their time, or donating money.

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Operation Airdrop’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts – Doug Jackson Interview


Twelve days ago, Operation Airdrop didn’t exist. What did exist was dozens of towns in Texas that were cut off from the outside world by Hurricane Harvey’s flood waters, downed trees, and power lines. After driving a trailer load of supplies to Rockport, TX, Doug Jackson wondered if general aviation airplanes could be used to fly in relief supplies to isolated communities. Twelve days later, over 200 Aircraft from Mexico and all over U.S. have flown over 500 flights and delivered over 250,000 pounds of supplies. All with small, general aviation aircraft. Now the focus of the operation shifts to Florida, where Hurricane Irma is still raging as this show is being released.

In our interview with Doug Jackson, he describes the catalyst for the organization–a moving encounter with a down-on-his-luck man with a sick dog–how the operation was set up in such a short period of time, and how pilots can donate money or use their airplane to deliver badly needed hurricane relief supplies. You can find the Operation Airdrop webpage here and their Facebook page here.

Click here for the listener survey. Tell us what flight planning tools you use when planning a longer flight.

Please visit my new Patreon page and make a contribution to help me with my goal of improving the AviationNewsTalk.com website.

You can Dictate a listener question from your phone and I’ll try to answer it on a future show, or send an email.