Each time Steve Sperley reaches out to an owner or pilot who has participated in a past Citation Special Olympics Airlift, he hears a similar 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 Citation, 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 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-headquartered Cessna informally transported the Special Olympics Kansas delegation in two Cessna Citation business 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 transportation 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 Beechcraft became Textron Aviation. That means instead of being the Citation Special Olympics Airlift, it’s the Special Olympics Airlift, and organizers 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 airlift 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 maximum number of aircraft it safely handles at Orlando Executive Airport on arrival day, June 4, and again on departure day, June 12. And February 28 is the date when organizers need to know how many aircraft they have to work with when working with state Special Olympics delegations to offer transportation.
Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
All expenses – from facilities during training to meals and lodging during competition – are paid for by Special Olympics in hopes that no one is left on the sideline due to inability to pay. Travel is one of the largest expenses for state programs sending athletes to the USA Games, which take place every four years.
“Traveling to Orlando for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games may be the first time some of our athletes ever leave their hometown, let alone fly on an airplane. The travel experience provided by Textron Aviation and its customers will be the ultimate bookends for one unforgettable week,” Tony Wyllie, regional president of Special Olympics North America, said in a March 2021 news release announcing the airlift.
Sperley said the pilots he’s talked to get as much out of participating in the event as they give.
“Everyone goes in thinking this is a nice way to help their community, and they leave feeling it meant more to them than the people they are flying,” he said. “Nobody anticipates that it’s going to be such an emotional experience for them.”
Long-time Citation pilot Michael Herman agrees.
“Fly the Special Olympics Airlift once and you’ll understand,” said the owner of a 2006 Citation CJ3. “I fly many diverse philanthropic missions, and this one is at the top of my list because of the athletes we transport.”
Herman has participated in each airlift since 1999, the same year he began flying Citations. He said he went in not knowing what to expect and walked away impressed by how organized the airlift runs and how much he connected to his passengers. He’s had each airlift athlete sign a hat that he keeps in his office and he plans to do the same during his fifth airlift in 2022.
Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering was one of the first to register for the 2022 airlift and was Dove No. 1 in the last airlift, recognizing that they were the first to register for the airlift.
“Flying in the airlift is the most rewarding flying I’ve ever done,” said Whelen chief pilot Dennis Piscitello, an 18,000-hour pilot. “It’s an absolutely amazing experience as a pilot, and I’m thankful to have a company and owners who support our involvement year after year.”
Whelen designs and manufactures visual warning equipment for the automotive, aviation and mass notification industries, making it a customer and supplier for Textron Aviation. This will be the sixth time the company has donated the use of its business jet, fuel and pilots to the Special Olympics Airlift.
Sperley said the airlift hopes to attract 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, Murphy said philanthropic missions allow him to improve the lives of those around him.
“My attitude toward Special Olympics and charity flying in general 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.”
