Public Benefit Flying for NC and Tennessee

[Hank]

Everyone i spoke with last week in NC was friendly and very appreciative! They all went out of their way to say thank you and offer any help that I may want, when incase there to help them.

The further into the flooded mountains you go, the more overwhelmed the people are. Homes and businesses are gone, few in the mountains have flood insurance, and everywhere is covered with inches of wet, sticky mud along with tree branches, broken lumber, cars, appliances and garbage from upstream. Can't even see the water in Lake Lure, just solid bank-to-bank debris. Recovery will take years, and some will likely walk away with nothing and restart somewhere else, somehow. 

Be gentle, they are shellshocked. Losing your home, all possessions, your neighbors, your neighborhood, your community and your job will change how people react. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and reach out gently. 

If i knew where to go, I could collect more supplies here in Sweet Home and take more up, but with Operation Airdrop closed out, I don't know where to go or who to contact.

[RoundTwo]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

Everyone i spoke with last week in NC was friendly and very appreciative! They all went out of their way to say thank you and offer any help that I may want, when incase there to help them.

The further into the flooded mountains you go, the more overwhelmed the people are. Homes and businesses are gone, few in the mountains have flood insurance, and everywhere is covered with inches of wet, sticky mud along with tree branches, broken lumber, cars, appliances and garbage from upstream. Can't even see the water in Lake Lure, just solid bank-to-bank debris. Recovery will take years, and some will likely walk away with nothing and restart somewhere else, somehow. 

Be gentle, they are shellshocked. Losing your home, all possessions, your neighbors, your neighborhood, your community and your job will change how people react. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and reach out gently. 

If i knew where to go, I could collect more supplies here in Sweet Home and take more up, but with Operation Airdrop closed out, I don't know where to go or who to contact.

Are you comfortable getting into Elk River NC06? I took a load into them yesterday and they’re hurting bad. The image below was as of Saturday, October 5th.

[EricJ]

52 minutes ago, Hank said:

If i knew where to go, I could collect more supplies here in Sweet Home and take more up, but with Operation Airdrop closed out, I don't know where to go or who to contact.

There's almost certainly a FEMA command center with a PR/public Liaison rep that may know such things.    Another route may be through any of the local CAP squadrons, who may know contacts or activities related to civilian aircraft volunteer efforts.   If those don't work, AOPA or EAA area contacts may have additional info.

There are so many different related charitable organizations that it's often tough to know who is or isn't doing something or needs help or would be the best avenue to contribute through.

 

[N201MKTurbo]

I listened to Aviation News Talk podcast. They did a special edition on the relief effort. It is current as of yesterday. It had all the contact info and where to donate supplies.

[N201MKTurbo]

They said the airlift is about over. They are getting the roads open and trucks are more efficient than planes.

[Mufflerbearing]

I was just a tad late to the party.  I contacted operation airdrop and was told to stand down for now.  Certainly a missed opportunity. 

[Yetti]

In Summary y'all are awesome.   

"

We have officially wrapped up our final day for Operation Helene in Charlotte, North Carolina. To say we blew our goal out of the water is an understatement. This community was in desperate need for our support and the entire COUNTRY showed up!

Final Missions Report out of Concord:

 673 flights

 402,000 lbs flown by air

 700,000 lbs trucked

15 Drop Sites out of JUST concord

total moved: 1,102,000 lbs!!!!!

*These number do not include helicopter operations as they are still ongoing with search and rescue and supply deliveries up in the mountains. More announcements will be forthcoming as their mission continues*

We cannot thank everyone enough for their unconditional support. We have made such a huge difference, heard heartbreaking stories of tragedy, but all came together to move mountains.

While our mission has been fulfilled there are still communities across the East who need support. We will post more updates tonight after our team meeting about how you can further.

 

[Yetti]

4 hours ago, Mufflerbearing said:

I was just a tad late to the party.  I contacted operation airdrop and was told to stand down for now.  Certainly a missed opportunity. 

Operation Airdrop is a first 72 hours effort.   There are still some groups flying planes but mostly Helicopters are needed now.  https://www.facebook.com/eric.robinson.1466/videos/1250305866161884

[Shadrach]

On Monday @33UM20C and I departed KHGR for the 302NM flight southwest to K7A8, a small (3001'x 60') mountain airport (2745msl) near Spruce Pine, NC. There were many volunteers on hand.   Prior to loading, I removed all seats but the one that I needed, which left me with about 1090lbs of UL to play with.  I cubed out before hitting max weight. Nevertheless, my plane had just under 600lbs of cargo on board for the trip.  We arrived at 7A3 mid afternoon.  7A8 is in a valley. It was windy and bumpy on the somewhat sketchy approach; some of the nearby peaks are >4600'. Volunteers were able to help me unload in minutes what had taken considerably more time to carefully load prior to leaving. Fixed and rotor wing operations were running concurrently, but ideally segregated. Landing fixed wing aircraft were martialed to an offloading area where cargo was unloaded, sorted, and then hot loaded (engines running) as needed onto helicopters running round trip missions into the mountains to those who were isolated. The operation was amazingly well organized and efficient by any standard, but especially impressive given that both ground and aviation personnel were all volunteers. The helo pilots are truly heroes. These guys were flying all day, with only short breaks, on their own dime, and in their own aircraft.  The Jet A supply at the fuel farm was completely consumed, so the turbine helos were fueling at an alternate site, but it hardly slowed operations. They were running at least four R44s on short, round trip, resupply missions into the surrounding mountains.

The general tone on the ground did not make me feel comfortable taking a lot of pictures. Folks were kind, gracious and appreciative but it was not a happy place. Roads are opening and ground operations are becoming more robust every day in the more traveled areas. The airport manager told me that there are folks in the mountains that go into town so little that it’s likely that many don’t know the damage to the local infrastructure. Little mountain towns like Spruce Pine seem to be further down the priority list of the official relief effort. I am still in communication with my contacts in the region. I may make a second run at a later date, depending on the what’s needed.

 

[Shadrach]

On 10/5/2024 at 7:18 PM, RoundTwo said:

Are you comfortable getting into Elk River NC06? I took a load into them yesterday and they’re hurting bad. The image below was as of Saturday, October 5th.

Thanks for this Chuck.  Depending on what Milton does, I will likely try to organize a trip to Elk River.

[bonal]

So proud of the GA community for all that is being done.  I have seen some mention of this on the news but not nearly enough.  My former employer has sent over 400 line workers from nor cal plus support trucks for aiding in the restoration of electrical services. Stay safe everyone 

[hubcap]

Good on everyone who contributed!!

 

[Yetti]

6 hours ago, Shadrach said:

On Monday @33UM20C and I departed KHGR for the 302NM flight southwest to K7A8, a small (3001'x 60') mountain airport (2745msl) near Spruce Pine, NC. There were many volunteers on hand.   Prior to loading, I removed all seats but the one that I needed, which left me with about 1090lbs of UL to play with.  I cubed out before hitting max weight. Nevertheless, my plane had just under 600lbs of cargo on board for the trip.  We arrived at 7A3 mid afternoon.  7A8 is in a valley. It was windy and bumpy on the somewhat sketchy approach; some of the nearby peaks are >4600'. Volunteers were able to help me unload in minutes what had taken considerably more time to carefully load prior to leaving. Fixed and rotor wing operations were running concurrently, but ideally segregated. Landing fixed wing aircraft were martialed to an offloading area where cargo was unloaded, sorted, and then hot loaded (engines running) as needed onto helicopters running round trip missions into the mountains to those who were isolated. The operation was amazingly well organized and efficient by any standard, but especially impressive given that both ground and aviation personnel were all volunteers. The helo pilots are truly heroes. These guys were flying all day, with only short breaks, on their own dime, and in their own aircraft.  The Jet A supply at the fuel farm was completely consumed, so the turbine helos were fueling at an alternate site, but it hardly slowed operations. They were running at least four R44s on short, round trip, resupply missions into the surrounding mountains.

The general tone on the ground did not make me feel comfortable taking a lot of pictures. Folks were kind, gracious and appreciative but it was not a happy place. Roads are opening and ground operations are becoming more robust every day in the more traveled areas. The airport manager told me that there are folks in the mountains that go into town so little that it’s likely that many don’t know the damage to the local infrastructure. Little mountain towns like Spruce Pine seem to be further down the priority list of the official relief effort. I am still in communication with my contacts in the region. I may make a second run at a later date, depending on the what’s needed.

 

Thanks for doing this.  I was talking with the head of Operation Airdrop yesterday.    The thing to focus on is the Hope you brought to people and the Hope that they received.

 

I see in one of the pictures the wheelbarrow to unload the plane.   That is freaking genius

[Yetti]

If you have not seen these.  Everyone deserves a pat on the back.   I said this over and over during Harvey "Everyone doing their small part to make things a little better"

 

https://www.facebook.com/mauriadillard/videos/1600186837566411

 

https://www.facebook.com/doug.jackson.1840/videos/1449494782392320

 

https://www.facebook.com/matt.mcswain.9/videos/738494685096350

 

https://www.facebook.com/doug.jackson.1840/videos/3894055107582978

 

https://www.facebook.com/opairdrop/videos/1069341644918820

 

Edited October 9 by Yetti

[Shadrach]

1 hour ago, Yetti said:

Thanks for doing this.  I was talking with the head of Operation Airdrop yesterday.    The thing to focus on is the Hope you brought to people and the Hope that they received.

 

I see in one of the pictures the wheelbarrow to unload the plane.   That is freaking genius

The hope is important, but so is food, water and gas money for the helo pilots.

They had multiple wheelbarrows for offloading. 

[Danb]

8 hours ago, Shadrach said:

On Monday @33UM20C and I departed KHGR for the 302NM flight southwest to K7A8, a small (3001'x 60') mountain airport (2745msl) near Spruce Pine, NC. There were many volunteers on hand.   Prior to loading, I removed all seats but the one that I needed, which left me with about 1090lbs of UL to play with.  I cubed out before hitting max weight. Nevertheless, my plane had just under 600lbs of cargo on board for the trip.  We arrived at 7A3 mid afternoon.  7A8 is in a valley. It was windy and bumpy on the somewhat sketchy approach; some of the nearby peaks are >4600'. Volunteers were able to help me unload in minutes what had taken considerably more time to carefully load prior to leaving. Fixed and rotor wing operations were running concurrently, but ideally segregated. Landing fixed wing aircraft were martialed to an offloading area where cargo was unloaded, sorted, and then hot loaded (engines running) as needed onto helicopters running round trip missions into the mountains to those who were isolated. The operation was amazingly well organized and efficient by any standard, but especially impressive given that both ground and aviation personnel were all volunteers. The helo pilots are truly heroes. These guys were flying all day, with only short breaks, on their own dime, and in their own aircraft.  The Jet A supply at the fuel farm was completely consumed, so the turbine helos were fueling at an alternate site, but it hardly slowed operations. They were running at least four R44s on short, round trip, resupply missions into the surrounding mountains.

The general tone on the ground did not make me feel comfortable taking a lot of pictures. Folks were kind, gracious and appreciative but it was not a happy place. Roads are opening and ground operations are becoming more robust every day in the more traveled areas. The airport manager told me that there are folks in the mountains that go into town so little that it’s likely that many don’t know the damage to the local infrastructure. Little mountain towns like Spruce Pine seem to be further down the priority list of the official relief effort. I am still in communication with my contacts in the region. I may make a second run at a later date, depending on the what’s needed.

 

Awesome