Relief flight 'trip of a lifetime'

Richard Stull with the donated medical supplies he delivered to Haiti. (Courtesy photo)

With more than 4,000 miles flown in six days, the Good Samaritan has returned. Local businessman Richard Stull stated that it was a trip of a lifetime and he is ready to go again. The mission, flown on his dime in his personal six-passenger Piper Cherokee Six, was to deliver badly needed medical supplies to Haiti.

Returning to the States he carried a father and son, from Kentucky, who had served as relief workers in the earthquake devastated country.

Rich flew from McCook to Henrietta, Okla., for fuel and then on to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for overnight. There he picked up overwater survival gear, fuel and some 1,200 pounds of donated medical supplies. The FBO (Fixed Base Operator), Banyan Air, was particularly helpful even selling fuel at cost to all involved in the relief effort.

Stull shares his lunch with Haitian children at the fence of an airport. (Courtesy photo)

Then out over the Atlantic Ocean to the Bahamas, destination Odyssey Air FBO on Nassau. What is it like to coast out over the big water the first time and watch all land disappear behind you -- water water everywhere?

Personal experience reminds me that it is a sober lonely feeling but then I always had at least two and most times four engines powering my aircraft. Somehow, pilots suddenly become keenly aware that those engines sound "funny" about the time land disappears and then magically all gets better when terra firma is spotted ahead. Rich had the one and only engine, but he said he was in communication with other pilots flying the same way on the same mission and then, too, the overwater legs aren't really all that long from island to island.

Best of all, he had complete faith in his familiar 300 horsepower engine purring up front; an engine that had already carried him many hundreds of hours over land with nary a flaw or hiccup.

In the Bahamas, he met with the group of age 20-something members of Bahamas Habitat who had volunteered to coordinate the general aviation contribution to the Haitian relief effort. See http://www.bahamashabitat.org

Those gents supplied him with updated charts, preferred routes, frequencies and other needed information to operate in the non-radar environment that is the Caribbean. Then on to destination airport Les Cayes some fifty miles north of the capital Port-au-Prince. Enroute he overflew the islands of Exumas, Long Island, Crooked Island, past Mayaguana, over Inaguas and, for sure, well away from the eastern tip of Cuba! Along the way, the water was a brilliant aqua color and so clear that he could see the white sand bottom. Magical!

He was cruising at 8,000 feet but when GPS told him he was over Haiti all he could see was a solid cloud deck below. Then he spotted the runway through a "sucker" hole, power to idle and spiral down into the traffic pattern.

The greeting official was courteous and happy to see him: "That will be $5 landing fee please."

"Never mind that I've brought a half-ton of donated medical supplies sorely needed to aid your people" was his thought! Then, "Oh well, business as usual in a third world country."

Rich had carried an ample sandwich lunch, as yet untouched. As his aircraft was being unloaded, he spotted a cluster of children hanging on the chain link fence. All were thin and shouted out one of the few English words they knew "food mon."

He handed out all he had and was a bit bothered to see an older boy take a sandwich away from a much younger girl.

Fuel was not available at Les Cayes so he and a passenger hopped over to Port-au-Prince airport to buy enough to make it back to Nassau. The price, twice what he'd ever paid for gallon before, cash only and no change. Third world!

The son of the relief worker from Les Cayes boarded and all headed for Nassau and British customs. Quick and easy, added fuel and then back to Fort Lauderdale.

There, after a hassle with U.S. Customs, he retrieved the seats removed to load cargo on the way down. A long and exciting day! Then homeward bound stopping in Kentucky along the way to return the relief working passengers to their home.

Would he do it again? "In a heart beat! Next time though I'd like to take food to the poor natives who are unable to leave their Island hell," was his response. The haunting image of a hungry, painfully skinny, young boy reaching through the airport fence for even a scrap of food keeps coming to mind. They have so little and we have plenty!

The trip probably won't be possible now, because Bahamas Habitat has stepped back from coordinating the general aviation relief effort. Most importantly the temporary status of "international airports" for Haiti's smaller airfields has been lifted and all flights to the Island nation have to now use Port --au-Prince. That capital city has the only international port of entry airport meaning customs and additional landing fees before flying to outlying airports.

The corrupt Haitian government is back in charge aided by the equally dysfunctional United Nations. The people of Haiti still need help but there is a buck to be made by despotic bureaucracy so the people come second!

Some things never change! Third world!

That is the way I saw it.