Robert Johnson saw a Facebook post in August 2017 from friend Doug Jackson asking fellow general aviation pilots in the Dallas area to help in an effort he was leading to fly critically-needed relief supplies to small airports in coastal Texas. While ground transportation was unsafe due to catastrophic flooding, aircraft could land with basic necessities to be dispersed to people displaced from their homes by Hurricane Harvey, a devastating Category 4 hurricane that ravaged the Texas coast from Corpus Christi to Beaumont, including the greater Houston area.
“I responded immediately, and I ended up flying the very first mission for what became Operation Airdrop,” Johnson said. “At the time I owned a Cessna 421C, and I spent the better part of a week carrying both supplies and people all over South Texas. As best as we can figure, general aviation was responsible for delivering around 250,000 pounds of relief supplies in the days following Harvey. We believe it was the largest use of general aviation airplanes ever for disaster relief and being part of it was simply the most impactful flying I’ve ever done.”
Johnson, who traded his Cessna for a 1980 Beechcraft King Air E90 in early 2019, is now a board member for Operation Airdrop (OAD), the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that formed from Jackson’s effort during one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. He has flown with OAD in support of four hurricanes, including Hurricane Ian in September 2022, the deadliest hurricane to strike Florida since 1935.
OAD remains an all-volunteer organization that specializes in deploying GA assets for disaster relief. Through fall 2022, OAD has flown well over 1,000 missions to deliver an estimated 650,000 pounds of cargo – from hot meals to cleaning supplies to diapers.
Johnson says there are more than 2,000 volunteers in the OAD database and more are needed. A wide range of aircraft have flown missions, from an Aeronca Champion single-engine light aircraft to a Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet.
“We always need more planes, pilots and volunteers,” he said. “Every time we deploy the needs are different, but the ability to carry a large amount of cargo is always needed and this is an area where all King Airs shine! There are no specific pilot requirements, but airplanes with cargo capacity – both in pounds and cubic space – are highly desired. The best place to get information on donating and volunteering is through links found at operation-airdrop.com.”
How Operation Airdrop Works
Operation Airdrop is a grassroots, scalable, airborne disaster relief that mobilizes quickly in order to solve “week one” problems after a major disaster. Critical supplies need to arrive in hours, not days, and OAD coordinates the flights from a team of volunteers either working virtually or deployed into the affected region.
“Whenever we think there is a potential for deployment – usually a hurricane brewing in the Gulf or Atlantic – we start tracking it and looking at potential affected locations,” Johnson explained. “As the storm tracks and predictions get narrowed down, we alert our volunteer pilots and then will make the call to deploy once we get initial assessments from the ground and from our partner organizations.”
OAD has strategic relationships with several groups including The Salvation Army, one of the largest disaster-relief organizations in the world; Operation BBQ Relief, a caravan of cooks, mobile pits, kitchens and volunteers feeding first responders and communities affected by natural disasters; and the Cajun Navy, volunteers using their own personal equipment to provide immediate rescue and relief during natural disasters.
“In many ways we operate as the logistics arm for these organizations and can provide rapid transportation when the road infrastructure is compromised,” Johnson said. “We can also do spot missions where the speed and range of general aviation airplanes can be utilized to provide help.”
Once the call to deploy is made, OAD sends a mass email to its database of pilots and starts coordinating airplanes/pilots, ground staff and supply donations. Volunteers at the OAD operations center are continuously assessing needs, scheduling freight, updating FAA for clearance codes, managing aircraft weight loading specs and fuel burn, identifying fuel replenishment locations and providing OAD’s air force of volunteer pilots with weather updates.
Among OAD’s missions since Hurricane Harvey:
Hurricane Irma, 2017: One week after Hurricane Harvey airborne relief efforts had ended, OAD was called to fly supplies to damaged areas throughout Florida, basing aircraft from Tallahassee and Lakeland.
Hurricane Maria, 2017: OAD joined forces with the Major League Baseball Players Association and former players Jose Cruz Jr., Luis Alicea, Nandy Serrano and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to charter cargo flights of emergency supplies to Puerto Rico.
Hurricane Florence, 2018: OAD coordinated hundreds of GA compassion flights from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; more than 280,000 pounds of supplies were flown over 520 flights in six days.
Hurricane Michael, 2018: In collaboration with World Hope International, LabCorp and Cobra Energy, OAD flew supplies from Gainesville, Florida, into affected areas in Florida and Georgia.
Big One Exercise, 2019: OAD consulted with Washington state’s Kenmore Air and the Washington Seaplane Pilots Association for a statewide exercise to simulate aviation response to a large magnitude earthquake on the West Coast.
Hurricane Ida, 2021: Over three days, OAD transported 21,500 hot meals to residents, first responders and military personnel in southern Louisiana.
Tornado outbreak, 2021: OAD activated in December to deliver supplies to Kentucky, one of the states hit hardest by the deadly tornado outbreak that hit the middle of the country.
Hurricane Ian, 2022: OAD deployed more than 200 pilots and 75 ground volunteers to provide 10,000 hot meals, $15,000 in supplies through donations, 25,000 pounds in flight supply donations and a significant number of Amazon orders in three days.
A King Air Pilot’s Perspective
Johnson is a 4,500-hour pilot and owned a Cessna T210, then a Cessna 421C before moving up to the King Air E90 in early 2019.
“I logged over 1,200 hours flying the 421 and loved the airplane, but I also craved the reliability of a turbine,” he said. “The looks of the King Air line always appealed to me, and after a several month search that had me come close to purchasing three other airframes, I ended up owning one of the final E90s made. The extended fuel capacity of the E90 and the upgraded -135 engines make it a great fit for our long-range missions.”
Johnson has been flying since college, when a friend’s father who was a Marine aviator became his aviation mentor, taking him for a flight in a Piper Archer and encouraging him to learn to fly. He’s been using airplanes as business tools since running his first company, and the serial entrepreneur credits being able to reach clients in communities of all sizes quickly via business aircraft for the growth and eventual sale of the three businesses he’s started – two in technology and one in oil and gas. He said it also helped him achieve a positive work/life balance.
Johnson, who moved to the Dallas area with his parents when he was 13 and lives there now, stepped away from the day-to-day operations of his last company in 2020 and has been spending time since 2021 as a contract pilot, flying various King Airs, Cessna Citations and other aircraft types.
He uses his King Air E90, which is based at Addison Airport (KADS), for beach and mountain vacations, and he flies often to upstate New York, where his kids are attending Colgate University. Johnson and his wife Kelly met while attending Colgate where they were both athletes on the track and field team in the 1990s.
“I’m also on the Board of Trustees at Colgate and use my King Air to travel both to Hamilton, New York, and other locations for board meetings,” he said. “Getting to upstate New York from Texas is not the easiest thing in the world, so having our King Air makes those trips much easier and faster. In fact, I hold the FAI world record for the Dallas to Syracuse flight in the King Air’s weight class.” (FAI, the World Air Sports Federation, is the world governing body for air sports and for certifying world aviation and space records.)
He said he flies the King Air about 175 hours a year and adds another 50 hours in the 2006 American Champion Citabria he owns. Additionally, he is a partner and airshow demonstration pilot in the Trojan Phlyers (thetrojanphlyers.com), a Dallas-based group of aviation professionals preserving the history of the North American Aviation Company’s T-28 Trojan by performing formation and solo aerobatics with two 1953 T-28B Trojans at air shows and events across the country. The Phlyers were invited to perform at Oshkosh in July 2022 and Johnson calls it “a highlight of my airshow career!”
The most rewarding flying of his career, though, remains the philanthropic flights he makes on behalf of Operation Airdrop and Veterans Airlift Command (VAC).
VAC provides free air transportation to post 9/11 combat wounded and their families for medical and other compassionate purposes through a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots. King Air magazine featured the organization and several King Air owners who volunteer in April 2015. Johnson got involved with VAC after getting to know the organization’s founder Walt Fricke through the warbird community.
“I feel that I truly make a difference volunteering my airplane and time for OAD and VAC, and they are both exceptionally run organizations,” Johnson said.
He hopes King Air owners reading this will consider getting involved with either cause. While financial donations are always welcome, he stresses that there is nothing like the feeling you get when you provide a comfortable mode of transportation for a wounded veteran or deliver water, peanut butter and toilet paper to folks who have just lost their homes.
Johnson said the most memorable Operation Airdrop flight is one that he didn’t fly but he helped to coordinate this past September when Hurricane Ian hit southwestern Florida. Early on a Monday morning, after a long day of flying his King Air to get from Texas to Florida and then flying an OAD mission, Johnson was reading a Wall Street Journal article about the 9,000 residents of Pine Island being cut off from help when the barrier island’s bridge was destroyed by the hurricane. He emailed the journalist who wrote the article to get a contact name and number on Pine Island.
“Not realizing it was 6:30 in the morning, I called the number and David groggily answered. He quickly woke up when I said I had a fleet of airplanes with supplies to deliver to Pine Island,” Johnson said. “A couple of hours later we landed three planes on a 2,600-foot grass strip, and David and a couple of his friends met us with pickup trucks. When David said ‘You gave us hope’ it brought tears to my eyes.”
“Over the next few days we delivered approximately 15,000 pounds of supplies directly to people in need on Pine Island with general aviation aircraft all piloted by volunteers.”
To Donate or Volunteer
Operation Airdrop (OAD) is an all-volunteer organization that goes to the front lines of a disaster zone to provide airborne aid and relief to those in need. Learn how to get involved as a pilot, volunteer or donor at operation-airdrop.com.
Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) provides air transportation for medical and other compassionate purposes to wounded warriors, veterans and their families through a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots. Visit veteransairlift.org to find out how to be a volunteer pilot, to donate money or to request transportation for a wounded warrior.