Volunteer Pilots Swoop Into Puerto Rico With Supplies and Leave With Survivors

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast




They came from as far away as Connecticut at a moment’s notice, landing at an airport without radar, and taking off with women and children.

KELLY WEILL
EMILIE PLESSET
09.29.17 5:00 AM ET

Paul Weismann got the call for help Monday night at his home in Connecticut. By Tuesday afternoon, he was flying to Puerto Rico on his personal plane, with food, water, and power generators as his passengers.

“You fly over Puerto Rico on the way to the airport, and you see the place is wrecked,” Weismann told The Daily Beast. At night, “a few streets and highways are lit up, because of people and businesses with generators. But the rest of the island was just pitch black.”

After landing on the island destroyed by Hurricane Maria last week, Weismann reloaded his plane—this time with young children, mothers, and senior citizens—and took off for the U.S.

Weismann isn’t a professional rescue pilot though. He’s a Connecticut-based investor working with Patient Airlift Services (PALS), a network of volunteer pilots. PALS mobilized pilots from across the U.S. to help Texas, Florida, and now Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands this hurricane season.



Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/volunteer-pilots-swoop-into-puerto-rico-with-supplies-and-leave-with-survivors

[msongs]

1. trump's huge jet probably sitting idle on some runway hidden from view nt

[Trueblue Texan]

11. Naw all those jets are busy...

...hauling Tom Price around. You know important bi'ness and all... that we tax payers pick up the tab for.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. It probably can't fly because Trump owes money on it

and can't afford to keep it airworthy; or else he's hiding it from the repo man. I'm convinced Trump is dead broke.

[Not Ruth]

2. That is amazing, if everyone with a small plane did that, Puerto Rico would be evacuated in no time

[brooklynite]

4. Evacuate 3.5 million people?

The Dunkirk boat lift was 1/10 that size.

[Not Ruth]

6. Land near the people, not in an airfield, it simplifies logistics for dropoff and pickup

You can pick up people all over the country, you can go to them if they clear a few hundred feet of road, they do not need to come to you. If there were 10,000 planes a day taking 10 people each, you could evacuate Puerto Rico in a month.

[brooklynite]

7. That's a great example...now cover the road with debris from a Hurricane.

[jberryhill]

9. And put 10,000 planes in the airspace above it.

[xor]

24. Heh. That's what I was thinking.

It's great that this guy was able to help out a few folks and really change their situation from really bad to just bad, but the idea of people randomly flying from all over without much coordination (or any) seems like it wouldn't end too well.

[Not Ruth]

10. Clear 200 yards of road in front of your house with friends or wait for 10 miles to be cleared

Hmmm, tough choice.

[brooklynite]

18. Piece of cake, I'm sure...

[LanternWaste]

19. Seems irrational to believe that's the state of every potential landing area.

Seems irrational to believe that's the state of every potential landing area. Or just biased.

Easy guess.

[xor]

25. I think the bigger issue would be managing the airspace

In order for there to be of much impact it would require an extremely large number of small planes.

It seems like it took far too long of a time for the US Army to mobilize to handle this. It's ridiculous that the need to even consider having civilians handle this even comes up. I mean, considering the massive logistical capabilities of the US military. Organizing massive operations is kinda what they are paid to do.

Hopefully these folks will now get the relief they need.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

34. There are still leaves on those trees

When and where was the photo taken?

[procon]

32. Did you think this through?

It was a Cat 5 storm, that means the winds were powerful enough lift off sections of the roadways -- did you miss those photos? -- and flooding washed out more roads, then there were mudslides and boulders that blocked more roads.

Do people on your street have heavy equipment and skills to operate those machines? Does everyone have axes and chainsaws? There's no trucks to haul off the debris, and no gas or diesel fuel to run those machines. There is no power and no communications, so how do you expect people to contact some group in the states that offers planes to assist disaster victims? While these pilots are willing to land their own planes at an airport, it takes a different type of plane that is capable of landing in the rough, even if a safe dirt strip could be cleared.

Rather than blame the victims, let's focus on the real problem, the lackluster federal response from the incompetent Trump administration, yeah?

[sarisataka]

12. Do Puerto Ricans

Wants to evacuate? How many prefer to remain and rebuild their home?

[Marthe48]

16. Not everyone needs to be evacuated

just people who have special needs, the elderly, very young children, anyone who is going to be especially vulnerable to starvation and dehydration.
Anyone who can help with clean-up and rebuilding would want to stay and help get their state back to normal.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Modern day Dunkirk, so to speak. n/t

[Girard442]

3. People should understand that flight ops without radar is entirely doable.

They can even be done without radio. Without a tower, even. Obviously, it's much better with those things, but it can be done.

[Not Ruth]

5. With a small plane, you do not need an airstrip either, just clear a field or a short road

You can pick up people all over the country, you can go to them, they do not need to come to you. If there were 10,000 planes a day taking 10 people each, you could evacuate Puerto Rico in a month.

[Girard442]

8. Yeah, people forget that in WWII fixed-wing aircraft...

...were used in some of the roles helicopters play now.

[sarisataka]

13. Do you think it can be done

With 10,000 planes daily that use nothing but visual flight rules to coordinate with each other?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. But if there's too much air traffic it's dangerous without ATC.

Smaller aircraft usually don't have TCAS, so there would be a danger of collisions. I think it's great that these pilots are helping out, but there are some genuine hazards.

[Borchkins]

14. 10,000 airplanes land at EAA in Oshkosh

during their fly-in week.

You have to want to help people and 45 and his administration don't want to help anyone, but themselves.

[brer cat]

17. A moment of truth.

You have to want to help people and 45 and his administration don't want to help anyone, but themselves.

I'm grateful that there are private citizens willing and able to pick up the slack.

[dalton99a]

20. +1

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. But there's an ATC tower at OSH.

I've flown into the airshow several times and even with ATC help it's pretty hair-raising.

[mountain grammy]

15. Thank goodness for these efforts.

Getting the very young and very old and the sick off the island is critical.

[Plucketeer]

21. I can guarantee

there would be deaths from such a mass effort of unregulated air traffic with makeshift landing strips and pilots of varied ability. How many mishaps (crashes) would it take to sour the effort?

[ATL Ebony]

22. Ya see Trump, there are other possibilities for helping these people. You MUST do better.

All those supplies just sitting there waiting on drivers is insane. You could have flown a sufficient number of drivers there and that would have fixed the broken link in the supply chain. If it were an island with stranded white supremacy groups you would have been there last week and they'd all be here on the mainland by now -- I guarantee you that.

[moda253]

29. Not really getting the defeatist attitudes here.

I get that this whole thing is a logistical nightmare but there are some people that repeatedly are calling people names or other thinly veiled names for not understand what they know to be the absolute truth of the situation. For some of these people the message is "You don't understand. This is far too difficult". Sorry. It is difficult. I think everyone understands that but "It's too difficult" is a phrase that needs to be thrown out the window at this point. It doesn't matter how difficult it is. We work at it. We keep chipping where we can and we find a way to do amazing things.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Very best wishes to this real hero. He has accomplished something beyond price.

You can be sure the people whose lives he touched will remember him for the rest of their days.

Thank you for this information.

[orangecrush]

31. Heroes

[samnsara]

33. without radar? thats scary...