Page 19 - TNT Dec 2017

Answers the Call
Warren Brown, a Houston native, and his wife Bethany
on a relief mission following Hurricane Harvey. Brown flew as many as nine missions to deliver relief supplies to hard-hit areas around Houston.
Both formed in 2010, PALS and Sky Hope Network were founded upon similar missions: using business aviation for emergency aid. Whereas Sky Hope Network provides predominantly disaster relief, PALS typically focuses on medical and veteran transport.
“Our goal in merging with PALS was to connect with a charity flight organization that had full-time staff. This would enable us to create better infrastructure to respond to disasters in the future,” said Robin Eissler, program director for PALS Sky Hope Disaster Relief Program and COO at jetAVIVA. “We barely had had time to begin strategic planning before Aug. 26 when Harvey hit. I called PALS executive director Eileen Minogue and said, “looks like we are going to be doing our planning live!”
In just over two days, Hurricane Harvey grew from a tropical storm over the Gulf of Mexico into a Category 4 hurricane as it made landfall near the Texas Gulf Coast late on Aug. 25. On initial impact, Harvey had a diameter of 280 miles and winds of 130 mph. But it was the slow movement that led to the catastrophic flooding in southeast Texas. Harvey broke the U.S. record for rainfall from a single storm, dumping over 50 inches of rain in some parts of Texas.
Residents were seen wading out of their homes, flagging rescuers from their rooftops or boating down streets. Help was needed and needed fast. Fortunately, in addition to the incredible first responders and guardsmen, hundreds of owner- pilots stepped up to the plate.
“In a two-week period, PALS registered more pilots than it normally does in a year,” said Eissler. “We flew approximately 175 missions for Harvey. Many were life-saving.”
Warren Brown, electrical contractor and PC-12 owner, was one of the pilots to answer the call.
Houston was inundated with floodwaters as the result of Hurricane Harvey, essentially making the region an island and cut off from critically needed
medicines, drinking water and other relief supplies.
Hurricane Harvey
The day after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, Warren Brown, a Houston native, saw his Facebook newsfeed filling with panicked friends being pounded by the rain and floodwaters south of his Austin home. It was not long until he decided he had to do something.
Having flown charitable missions before, Warren recognized his PC-12 could be particularly useful in a situation like this with its range/payload capability and cargo door. He jumped onto the Pilatus Owners Association (POPA) webpage and was soon connected with PALS and Robin Eissler. He was informed general aviation disaster-relief operations were going to be conducted out of Georgetown, Texas, just a short hop from his home base of Lakeway Airpark.
“My wife Bethany and I showed up that first morning not knowing exactly what we were getting in to,” said Brown. “But after about a 20-minute pilot briefing, all of us just hit the ground running. There was a hangar full of pallets loaded with food and supplies, weighing at 500 pounds each. Half-dozen or so volunteers helped load up my airplane and off we went.”
Over the next five days, this same process would occur as many as nine times as Warren either flew supplies to Beaumont or Orange, Texas. PALS had worked with several local area
The Georgetown, Texas airport was the staging ground for PALS Sky Hope relief flights. Here, supplies are organized on pallets ready to be loaded on volunteer aircraft. Once on the ground, those supplies were unloaded by volunteers on the ground at Beaumont’s Jack Brooks Regional Airport.
December 2017
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