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Special Olympics Airlift
The event returns, expanding to more aircraft types.
by MeLinda Schnyder
Each time Steve Sperley reaches out to an owner or pilot who has participated in a past Citation Special
Olympics Airlift, he hears a sim- ilar story.
“They tell me this endeavor is the most important they have ever done with their aircraft,” said Sperley, vice president of sales for Textron Aviation. “It’s pretty neat to hear and makes us that much more excited to again be coordinating an airlift for the Special Olympics and asking for the support of our Cita- tion, King Air, Beechcraft and Hawker customers.”
Textron Aviation is coordinating its philanthropic airlift to happen in 2022, matching aircraft operators with Special Olympics athletes from
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around the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Caribbean who need a lift to the 2022 USA Games next June in Orlando.
The tradition of the airlift started in 1995, when Wichita, Kansas-head- quartered Cessna informally trans- ported the Special Olympics Kansas delegation in two Cessna Citation busi- ness jets to the International Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since then, the company has conducted six airlifts, engaging customers and industry partners to provide transpor- tation for nearly 10,000 athletes and coaches from across the country to Special Olympics World Games and USA Games.
The June 2022 airlift will be the first one in eight years, and it’s the first since Cessna and Beech- craft became Textron Aviation.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TEXTRON AVIATION
That means instead of being the Citation Special Olympics Airlift, it’s the Special Olympics Airlift, and orga- nizers are recruiting Beechcraft King Air, Premier and Beechjet models, Hawker aircraft and Cessna Citation business jets.
“We’re excited to welcome those folks in the family to participate for the first time,” Sperley said. “We’re going big this year with a goal of 228 Doves, and if we get anywhere close to our goal we think we can reclaim the title of the largest peacetime air- lift in the world.”
As we went to print, the Special Olympics website showed 108 aircraft had registered and 120 still needed. The 228 number came about because the FAA says that’s about the maxi- mum number of aircraft it safely