Page 12 - Volume 18 Number 1

Cessna calls
for volunteers to support Special Olympics Airlift
Cessna Aircraft Company is organizing its seventh Citation Special Olympics Airlift (CSOA), a unique effort whose mission involves enlisting Citation jet owners to transport Special Olympics athletes and coaches from across the nation to the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games. Cessna launched the current CSOA at the National Business Aviation Association and Convention (NBAA) in 2012, renewing the call for participation at NBAA 2013. Next year’s games will be held from June 14-21 in New Jersey in the Greater Princeton/Mercer County area.
10 • TWIN & TURBINE
The first Citation Special Olympics Airlift in 1987 involved more than 130 Cessna Citation jets, carrying nearly 1,000 athletes to and from South Bend, Indiana, while the most recent airlift in 2010 involved 161 Citation owners transporting 832 athletes and coaches to Lincoln, Nebraska. It has been called the largest peacetime airlift in the world, as a Citation business jet will land or takeoff every two minutes for ten hours at Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN). Rhonda Fullerton, Cessna director of the CSOA, said: “Over the past six airlifts, Citation owners have contributed millions of dollars to the Special Olympics USA
JANUARY 2014