Aviation Groups Step Up To Aid Hurricane Helene Victims

General and business aviation groups in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee have mobilized in a grassroots effort to bring relief to victims of Hurricane Helene stranded in areas difficult to reach by ground.

Hurricane Helene left more than 100 dead, hundreds missing and massive devastation in North Carolina and elsewhere, with mudslides, washed-out roads and stricken residents without power or cell phone service in many places.

“We quickly realized as a community with the resources we have being in aviation, we would very quickly be able to get donations into the hands of those in these smaller communities that would not be on the radar for the National Guard and FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency],” says Joel Amick, director of artificial intelligence for a financial services company, turned volunteer with the Carolina Aviators Network (CAN). CAN is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2021 to promote aviation and connect pilots in the area.

They are seeking pilots, aircraft, volunteers and supplies.

FEMA and the National Guard will first focus on the larger areas, such as Asheville, before moving into smaller communities. Amick’s group is prioritizing those smaller, rural, hard-to-reach areas.

“We’ve been pushing heli-ops into Black Mountain since there’s no way to get there,” he says. “Roads are either not passable, there are trees all over them or they are not there anymore.”

One of CAN’s directors assembled a spreadsheet of every airport within a 40-mi. radius south, southeast and southwest from Asheville, North Carolina—the areas hardest hit. The group is currently serving about 10 of the airports right now, Amick says. He is overseeing relief flight operations from Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.

“The need is for more pilots with aircraft of any kind along with volunteers and supplies,” Amick says. There is a special need for pilots with helicopters who can make deliveries pinpointed to hurricane victims isolated on mountains in need of insulin, baby formula or other supplies. Helicopters are mainly operating from the Hickory Regional Airport in Hickory, North Carolina, for local distribution, he says.

Volunteers from the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 309 are also flying relief efforts, while Operation Airdrop has established a staging base at the Concord Regional Airport in Concord, North Carolina. Columbus Municipal Airport and Western Carolina Regional Airport are also among the airports providing relief.

“We are calling on volunteer pilots to get ready to deploy,” Operation Airdrop says on its Facebook page. “We are calling for volunteers and donations. Monetary donations go toward all supplies and ops.” Those delivering supplies can take them to the Walmart near Concord Airport, where trucks will help transport the supplies to the airport. Operation Airdrop has begun flights from Concord to Hickory and Statesville airports.

“Fixed-wing pilots are encouraged to bring supplies, as they will be transporting essential items to these locations,” Operation Airdrop says.

On Sept. 30, pilot volunteers flew 101 flights using aircraft from an Aviat Husky to Citation jets from Statesville and carrying 52,000 lb. of donated supplies. Another 20 tons were loaded onto pickup trucks and trailers from the airport and distributed to those in need by ground, he says. On Sept. 29, aircraft delivered 8 tons of supplies on 43 flights.

“Our community is delivering these donations to our community,” he says. “They have a need, and we’re trying to fill it.”

An aircraft’s weight and balance dictate how much weight it can carry.

“These are people with private airplanes,” Amick says.

Volunteers include pilots, ground crew, load masters and others. “We ask the pilot, how much weight can you carry, and he tells us,” Amick says. A team then goes through the hangar selecting diapers, formula or other supplies for each flight. The items are weighed, put on a palette and marked for an aircraft before they’re loaded. The type of aircraft will dictate how much it carries and where it flies. A Beechcraft Baron, for example, needs a longer runway than a Cessna 172, he notes. The pilots make the decisions about where they go, check the weather and take off. After delivery, they return to do it all over again.

A similar operation by Operation Airdrop volunteers took place at the Concord Regional Airport. On Sept. 30, pilots flew 85 flights delivering 50,000 lb. of supplies, a spokesperson says. The group has since opened another staging station in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Airlink is also flying emergency responders, medical teams and recovery specialists and supplying aid.

“The amount of support has been unbelievable,” the Operation Airdrop spokesperson says.

Chris Williams, airport manager of the Western Carolina Regional Airport in Andrews, North Carolina, moved from Florida to escape hurricanes. He dealt with them there for 32 years.

Now, Williams is coordinating relief efforts from the airport in Andrews. The storm was heading straight toward him, but split just before it got there, moving toward Asheville on one side and Chimney Rock, Tennessee, on the other.

Now, “we’re at the very backdoor of everything for this area,” Williams says. The area is filled with hills, valleys and mountainous terrain.

“If we can’t fly it, we’ll ground-pound it,” he says. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, supplies sat in a warehouse because it was difficult to reach those in need. “I’m not playing that game,” he says.

There is an urgent need for ready-to-eat meals as helicopter pilots have been dropping them for emergency supplies, fuel for camp stoves, insulin, EpiPens, allergy medicine, baby formula, baby food, charcoal, instant coffee, tarps, rope, tools, such as saws and crowbars, first-aid supplies, hand sanitizer and a myriad of other items.

For more information or to donate, you can visit the Operation Airdrop site here. Likewise, the Airlink donations page can be accessed here, and the Carolina Aviators Network is accepting donations here. Hurricane Helene Airlift Relief can be viewed here.