Page 8 - Volume 15 Number 12

“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.”
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.
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.
“This signature event is a unique op- portunity that enables everyone, from our employees to our customers, to ignite our shared passion for lifting oth- ers up and supporting our communities by giving the ath- letes 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. ›
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6 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2021