Page 12 - Volume 10 Number 12

Jeff Luizza’s 1981 King Air C90 cabin filled with crates transporting animals. He says besides the King Air cabin’s large capacity, it also makes the animals as comfortable as possible during a stressful move.
Environmental Conservation
“What does flying have to do with conservation?” is a question Terri Watson loves to answer. She is the CEO of a non-profit whose mission is to accelerate conservation success through the perspective of flight and she’s a long-time pilot with more than 11,000 hours in helicopters and airplanes, including King Air 350, 200 and 90 variants.
Conservation groups can use aircraft as tools in saving the lives of endangered species, collecting data through surveys or photography and showing decision-makers an issue or landscape first-hand. Most groups can’t afford to use aircraft though, so LightHawk leverages a nationwide network of volunteer pilots to donate time, aircraft and fuel costs to make the aerial perspective available.
In 2015, LightHawk’s volunteer corps of 240 pilots flew 444 missions with 817 passengers for 129 different conservation organizations on 99 different conservation
projects across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Flying for LightHawk, Watson said, gives their flying a purpose and turns many pilots who weren’t initially conservationists into advocates.
A King Air 100 pilot based in Sedona, Arizona, is just starting to volunteer with LightHawk and will be used for important work in the southwest. Access to the King Air 100 will allow one of LightHawk’s partners, the Sonoran Institute, to take larger groups of stakeholders on longer “hearts and minds” flights – the term LightHawk uses for taking stakeholders in the air to see the big picture on an issue. In this case, the flights will include individuals who are part of legislation negotiation between the U.S and Mexico over water rights on the Colorado River, America’s most endangered river.
“Seeing the terrain and issue in real-time in the immersive experience of an airplane is very effective at bringing about an ‘aha’ moment of understanding and motivation to do something about it,” Watson said. “That’s a great mission in the King Air: you’ve got good visibility and usually a comfortable ride with pressurization and air conditioning.”
Another example of how the King Air could be used is rehab and release flights for Mexican wolves. “We focus on providing transport where it helps with species survival of something endangered and the transport couldn’t happen if we weren’t there,” Watson said. “If you’re moving a Mexican wolf, they are very temperature sensitive. If you try to move them by vehicle or by commercial transport in an airplane, you can’t control the temperature and they could die. When we move them, we can control the temperature in the aircraft and the entire move is orchestrated so we arrive based on the temperature at specific times of day. We have that level of schedule control with a LightHawk flight.”
Patient Transport
Transporting patients who need medical care they can’t get in their local area is one of the largest categories of volunteer opportunities. Angel Flight has a large
system of organizations across the country, while smaller operations focus on a specific geographic area or type of patient, for example children, cancer patients, veterans.
Veterans Airlift Command is a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots providing free air transportation for medical and other compassionate purposes to post-9/11 combat-wounded soldiers and their families. King Airs are some of the most popular aircraft for VAC missions because they offer passengers comfortable
Looking for a King Air 90 or 200 to place on our part 135 certificate
We’re located in Michigan and Marco Island, Florida. And we’re approved in
the lower 48, Canada,
and the entire Caribbean (Cuba soon).
Turn your aircraft into a turn key flight department –
call Chuck: 989-464-6991 or visit www.AviationNorth.com
10 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2016