Got asked by friend and fellow Pilot/PFC member Jochen to help with a relief mission to Haiti. A charity Doctors United for Haiti has organized a mission called Team Ange (Creole for angel), and set up a clinic/field-hospital in Jacmel, Haiti. They've committed to giving three months of free post-earthquake medical care there. They've collected a significant amount of medical supplies that need to get down there from Philadelphia.
The mission is being organized as an Angel Flight. I've been meaning to sign up with Angel Flight East, but didn't meet their 300 hour flight time requirement. Turns out, it's only 100 hours if all I do is fly supplies. (And by the time I get back from Haiti, I should have well in excess of 300 hours.) So this sounded like a really good opportunity to do some good, and get a lot of interesting flying experience.
In addition, with no commercial flights into Port-au-Prince, all civilian doctors/nurses/aid-workers are flying to the Dominican Republic. From there, they need transport into Haiti. But given the geography of Hispaniola (8,000-10,000 ft mountain ranges separate the two countries), and given the state of ground transport in both Haiti and the DR, small aircraft is the best way to ferry people and supplies in.
So I'm in. Decide to take the PFC's C182RG for the mission. Only problem—that aircraft does not have a working auto-pilot, and I'm not looking forward at all to flying for 8-10 hours without one. Thankfully, Jordan (a PFC alumnus and CFI) volunteers to come along and share flying duties with me.
Will prepare for the flight over the next few days, with the intended departure set for Wednesday, February 17.
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