What a day this was. I arrived in Santiago Dominican Republic at about 4 a.m. local time and we headed to the airport for the first mission at 7:00. It was clear on the first flight into Les Cayes, Haiti that the work that Randy and Zach have been doing for the last few days is incredibly important and completely appreciated by the people they're helping. We flew two flights into Les Cayes, which is a town on the southwestern tip of the country and the site of a large hospital for evacuees from the port au prince area. The "hospital" is much more like a refugee camp. We were able to deliver large amounts of food and water, and also removed empty oxygen tanks and brought them back to Santiago for refilling. According to the surgeons we spoke with, the lack of oxygen for patients is an extremely important need, and it was great to be able to get the tanks back to Santiago to get them filled. We'll deliver them back to Les Cayes first thing in the morning. When we were packing up for our third trip to Les Cayes, we were told that we needed to deliver food and money to a guy who is running an orphanage for two thousand children in Port au Prince. It was amazing to see Port au Prince first hand, and great to be able to help a guy who is responsible for feeding thousands of children. When we got back to Santiago, we weighed out our cargo for the morning, and offloaded truckloads of beans and produce into the warehouse for tomorrow. It has been great to be here, and I can't be more humbled by the incredible amount of work that so many people are doing here from so many different countries. It's really been an incredible experience.

The efforts continues

Productive day today. Randy and I flew critical medical supplies from Ft. Lauderdale at 7:30 this morning. We were greeted by smooth air and Bahamian sunshine on the way to Cap Haitien, Haiti. We dropped off the supplies in an orderly airport there and continued over to Santiago, Dominican Republic, where we hooked up with a large warehouse full of supplies. The outpouring of support from all over the world has been encouraging. After a false start transporting a group of doctors who couldn't make it through customs, Randy and I loaded the plane with 1,200 lbs of food supplies and transported it directly to the Haitian people in the countryside. We have met so many people dedicated to delivering goods. One pilot has done four runs a day for five days straight with 2,500 lbs of food supplies per run. The doctors we have transported have performed forty surgeries a day, with tons of amputations due to late treatment of broken bones. Plus, plenty of Haitiens are trying to get out and we have flown several out of the country. Tomorrow, Adams Miller is joining us to load and unload the plane and view the situation himself. Wish him luck!

first missions

Today we flew our first mission. We met our passengers, Three surgeons headed for Cap Hatien at the fort Lauderdale airport at 6:30am. These doctors work for a organization called clean the world. I don't really know what that means and Zack was afraid to ask. Our flight was about 2 hours taking us over most of the Bahamas island chain. Once we arrived and dropped off the docs,we where greeted by some friendly airport officials who informed me that our 4 passengers were waiting to return to Florida. This was news to me,but after thinking it over we decided that it was a worthy mission and began the departure procedures. The scene at the airport was quite normal, but we did not leave the complex so we did not really experience Haiti. On our return we stopped in Turks and Caicos to grab some fuel. The scene there was very energetic, with volunteers running around trying to organize supplies and flights.Once safely back in the US we meet with our coordinator, who assigned us another early morning mission with 4 more docs right back to Cap hatien. Tomorrow night we hope to stay over in the DR, and start moving supplies ,but we will do what ever provides the most help. have a great night Randy

Let's see if we can do some good in Haiti

Zack and i will leave for Haiti on Sunday the 24Th for one week of relief flying. We will operate from The DR, bringing in supplies to a small airport 35 miles south east of Port Au Prince. We will be operation under the banner of National Business Aviation Association. We Will bring in food and medical supplies from a wear house in the DR to Jacmel. The flight will take about 30mins so we hope to complete 4 round trips per day. With the seats removed we can carry 1400lb of goods for a total 2.8 tons per day. Wish us luck and write something on the blog if you have a moment.Randy