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Textron Aviation President and CEO Ron Draper (third from left) with Special Olympics Kansas athletes.
company has donated the use of its business jet, fuel and pilots to the Special Olympics Airlift.
Sperley said the airlift hopes to at- tract more King Air operators who might not be as familiar with the airlift effort.
That was the case for Patrick Murphy, who uses his 1981 Beechcraft King Air C90 based in White Plains, New York, for business and personal missions, and regularly flies for a number of charities. In addition to improving his skills as a pilot, Mur- phy said philanthropic missions al- low him to improve the lives of those around him.
“My attitude toward Special Olympics and charity flying in gen- eral is that it gives you a chance to use an asset that you already have, and you’re using the skills that you’ve honed in a way that makes someone else’s life easier.”
History of the Airlift
The 2022 Special Olympics Airlift will be the eighth coordinated by Cessna Aircraft Company and now Textron Aviation. Customers and industry partners have combined to provide transportation for nearly 10,000 athletes and coaches from across the United States to Special Olympics World Games and USA Games. Here’s a look at the event’s history:
• 1985: Cessna transported the Special Olympics Kansas delegation in two Cessna Citation business jets to the International Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah
• 1987: First official Citation Special Olympics Airlift: 132 aircraft, International Summer Games, South Bend, Indiana
• 1991: Second Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 180 aircraft, International Summer Games, St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota
• 1995: Third Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 197 aircraft, International Summer Games, Hartford, Connecticut
• 1999: Fourth Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 260 aircraft, International Summer Games, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
• 2006: Fifth Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 235 aircraft, U.S. National Games, Des Moines, Iowa
• 2010: Sixth Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 160 aircraft, U.S. National Games, Lincoln, Nebraska
• 2014: Seventh Citation Special Olympics Airlift, 97 aircraft, U.S. National Games, Trenton, New Jersey
Source: Textron Aviation
22 • TWIN & TURBINE / November 2021
MeLinda Schnyder is a writer and editor based in Wichita, Kansas. She writes most often about aviation, business and travel. She worked 12 years in the corporate communica-tions departments for Beechcraft and Cessna Aircraft Company. MeLinda can be reached at mvschnyder@ gmail.com.