With the help of Beechcraft King Air operators, Textron Aviation hopes to form the largest peacetime airlift with at least 200 aircraft flying to Orlando Executive Airport on June 4, 2022.
That would mean a Textron Aviation aircraft taking off or landing every two minutes, taking Special Olympics athletes and coaches from their home bases to Orlando, Florida, where they will compete in the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.
It’s a reachable goal with the help of Beechcraft owners. In 1999 and again in 2006, Cessna Aircraft Company topped 200 aircraft when organizing what was then called the Citation Special Olympics Airlift. The June 2022 airlift will be the first since Cessna and Beechcraft became Textron Aviation and organizers are recruiting Beechcraft King Air, Premier and Beechjet models as well as Hawker aircraft alongside Cessna Citation business jets.
“We’re excited to welcome those folks in the family to participate for the first time,” Steve Sperley, vice president of sales for Textron Aviation, said. “We’re going big this year with a goal of more than 200 Doves, and if we get anywhere close to our goal we think we can reclaim the title of the largest peacetime airlift in the world.”
Dove is the call sign assigned to each registered aircraft so that the FAA can identify and prioritize all aircraft flying in the airlift.
The Need
“Traveling to Orlando for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games may be the first time some of our athletes ever leave their hometown, let alone fly on an airplane,” Tony Wyllie, regional president of Special Olympics North America, said in a news release announcing the airlift. “The travel experience provided by Textron Aviation and its customers will be the ultimate bookends for one unforgettable week.”
Special Olympics uses year-round sports training and athletic competition to help children and adults with intellectual disabilities discover new strengths and abilities, skills and success while championing for a more inclusive world.
All expenses – from facilities during training to meals and lodging during competition – are paid for by Special Olympics in hopes that no one is left on the sideline due to an inability to pay. Travel is one of the largest expenses for state programs sending athletes to the USA Games, which take place every four years in different locations throughout the country.
The tradition of the airlift started in 1985, when Wichita, Kansas-headquartered Cessna informally transported the Special Olympics Kansas delegation in two Cessna Citation business jets to the International Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since then, the company has conducted seven airlifts, engaging customers and industry partners to provide transportation for nearly 10,000 athletes and coaches from across the country to the Special Olympics World Games and USA Games.
At the end of November, the Special Olympics Airlift website showed 129 aircraft had registered. Organizers work closely with the FAA so that the 200+ aircraft flying in the airlift to and from Orlando Executive Airport will be prioritized on arrival day, June 4, and again on departure day, June 12. The deadline to register is several months prior to the airlift because organizers need to know how many aircraft they have. They’ll then work with Special Olympics state delegations to offer transportation where they have aircraft available, letting the other states know they’ll need to book commercial flights.
Not only is the airlift a visual way to show the world the power of general aviation, it gives operators a way to help locally while participating in a much larger movement.
“This signature event is a unique opportunity that enables everyone, from our employees to our customers, to ignite our shared passion for lifting others up and supporting our communities by giving the athletes the joy of a once-in-a-lifetime aviation experience,”
Ron Draper, president and CEO of Textron Aviation, said in the news release announcing the return of the airlift.
The 2022 Airlift
King Air operators are still needed throughout the U.S. to donate the use of their aircraft, pilots and fuel. King Air aircraft based in the western U.S. will be asked to pick up passengers at designated airports east of the Rockies.
Organizers prefer that operators commit to flying both days – June 4 and June 12 – but Sperley said they will work on an individual basis to accommodate schedules. Registration is completed online at txtav.com/airlift, where you can see others who have made their participation public. You can also view video highlights from past airlifts, a video message from honorary chair Peyton Manning, what other pilots have to say about flying in past airlifts and information about what to expect if you sign up, including tax deduction benefits.
While many Citation operators are familiar with the legacy of the airlift, not as many King Air operators are aware of the opportunity.
Kevin Carson, president of King Air Academy, had planned to issue a challenge at the King Air Gathering last October, but once it was canceled he lost his chance to plea in person.
“My goal was to help recruit more King Airs than jets,” he said. “There are lots of King Airs out there that are already flying in and out of Florida, and there are so many places that the King Air can help with transportation where either the jets can’t or don’t want to fly.”
He was working on coming up with a fun tagline to issue with the challenge. Something which would play off the fact that Manning, the airlift’s honorary chair, is an NFL Hall of Famer that included King Airs “beating the jets” this year.
Sperley saw a jump in the number of Citations registered for the airlift after the Citation Jet Pilots held its annual convention in October. It’ll be too late to sign up by the time the rescheduled King Air Gathering happens in May, but Carson is optimistic King Air operators will come through as word gets out. “King Air owners and operators are some of the nicest people I’ve met and I have no doubt they will step up to the challenge,” he concluded.
Among the King Air operators who have already registered are Ross Johnson, who was featured in last month’s magazine and flies his 2006 Beechcraft King Air C90GT out of Anderson, South Carolina, and Stockton M. Schultz, an Elkhart, Indiana-based owner-pilot new to the Beechcraft King Air family.
Schultz is still working on his rating but he purchased N53GA, a 1985 Beechcraft King Air B200, from Marv Selge who has offered to come back and fly the King Air in the airlift.
Selge owned N53GA for 19 years before selling the airplane to his friend in early 2021. He used the aircraft primarily to operate his construction business and from the beginning flew philanthropic flights, mostly cancer patients who found him through word-of-mouth and also missions with the Veterans Airlift Command, which provides free air transportation to post 9/11 combat wounded and their families for medical and other compassionate purposes.
He said he’s looking forward to getting back in the cockpit of his beloved King Air, which he sold because he no longer needed the airplane’s capabilities, and wouldn’t want to miss the chance to fly in such an important airlift.
“I can’t tell you how many cancer patients I’ve flown in N53GA and every one of them that I’ve flown has been a major blessing to me,” he said. “I’ve met the most wonderful people. You never forget the people you fly. Anybody who misses out in flying in the Special Olympics Airlift is really missing an opportunity to bless other people and to be blessed.”
2022 Special Olympics Airlift at-a-glance
Who: Owners and pilots of Beechcraft King Air, Premier and Beechjet models; Hawker aircraft; Cessna Citation business jets are being asked to donate the use of their aircraft, pilots and fuel.
What: Help transport a portion of the over 5,000 athletes and coaches around the U.S. invited to the USA Games in Orlando on June 4, 2022, and then return them from Orlando Executive Airport to their home bases on June 12, 2022.
How: Register at txtav.com/airlift as early as possible and no later than Feb. 28.
All airlift participants will receive a Certificate of Donation to use as your charitable gift documentation when working with your tax adviser.