Page 8 - February 2015 Volume 9, Number 2

he regularly flies for VAC. His daughter, Jen Salvati, runs with their families,” said
the day-to-day operations as VAC’s executive director.
According to Salvati, the organization has coordinated flights for 9,000 passengers covering more than five million miles with the generosity of more than 2,400 pilots and owners who have donated their time, aircraft and operating expenses. Those figures include 85 King Air pilots who have signed up for the VAC network and volunteered for missions.
King Airs are some of the most popular aircraft for VAC missions because they offer passengers comfortable flights – non-stop routes, flying above weather and plenty of cabin room for family members, service dogs or medical equipment. Here are the experiences of two King Air pilots who have flown wounded warriors as part of the VAC network.
Harris, the facility manager and security coordinator for CHI Aviation headquartered in Howell, Michigan.
Harris points out that he is merely the pilot; it is CHI Aviation President Chris Turner who donates the company’s 1981 King Air 200C and pays all the expenses to fly these missions. CHI Aviation, which started business in 1980 as Construction Helicopters, Inc., operates 20 aircraft from CH-47D Chinook rotorcraft to the King Air 200C. The company provides search and rescue and passenger transport services to oil and gas customers in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as aerial crane services throughout North America and the Caribbean. CHI is also
a U.S. Department of Defense contractor.
Judy Harris, left, and Jim Harris, right, flew Travis Mills and his family to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center shortly after he received his artificial legs. Travis lost portions of both legs and arms in 2012 as a U.S. Army Staff Sgt. on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He is one of only five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive his injuries.
CHI Aviation’s King Air 200C
Jim Harris, who helped get Allison Hughes to her Green Beret husband’s side, has flown 34 missions for Veterans Airlift Command, including four in December 2014.
“Four in one month is somewhat unusual for us, but we attempted to help the VAC in getting wounded veterans from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in the Washington, D.C. area, home to spend the holidays
6 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
The company’s King Air features the Blackhawk PT6A-52 engine upgrade and the Raisbeck EPIC PLATINUM performance package minus the swept turbofan propellers. It flies about 150 hours a year performing executive transport, crew swaps and other logistics support for the company’s facilities in Galliano, Louisiana; Boise, Idaho; and Sacramento, California. The airplane’s factory-installed large cargo door is ideal for hauling a helicopter engine on a rack.
The cargo door and spaciousness of CHI Aviation’s King Air 200C means Harris often gets special requests, for example, when a wounded warrior is confined to a 700-pound motorized rolling bed.
“To get someone home to see their mom for the first time in months or even years, and with all they are going
“About 75 percent of
CHI Aviation’s employees
are veterans, many with
combat experience,” said Harris, who served in the Army during the 1960s. “Each mission we have flown for the VAC has given more back to us than what we have ever given to these veterans. All of our employees are happy that our company is able to provide these wounded veterans a comfortable mode of transportation aboard our airplane in recognition of their services and sacrifices to our nation.”
Nicholas Vogt with his parents before boarding a VAC flight with King Air
pilot Jim Harris. In 2011, a year after graduating from West Point, Vogt was two months into service in Afghanistan when he stepped on a buried makeshift bomb that tore off his legs. His severe injuries required 400 units of blood before he left the war zone and
another 100 units later.
FEBRUARY 2015