Pilina Relief - Day 22 - The next evolution
August 31, 2023
Aloha all,
Thank you all for your continued support of the Maui efforts.
Sorry, my email yesterday was short but we’ve been working hard on multiple fronts and it took it out of me yesterday.
A few weeks back the FAA granted an exemption to those of us licensed as general aviators for the specific purpose of the humanitarian need as a result of the Maui fires. For those of you not familiar with FAA rules and regulations I won’t try to explain other than to say that there are specific rules around what we can do during each step of our individual licensing as well as how we can operate our aircraft as individuals and/or “commercial” operators. I’d try to explain further but there is a 10 lb. book that the FAA publishes every year that does that. (You’d be asleep and would have a law degree long before I could effectively break it all down for you.)
As you may all recall from my emails we’ve been operating as a hui (group) of aviators: general aviators communicating with small private businesses (flight schools, tour operators, our local island hopper) and some larger private aircraft. We all have very specific rules around how we can use the aircraft and what each individual licensee operating that aircraft can do. The amount of collaboration between everyone has been nothing shy of amazing! Working together we have been really efficient and complementary in skill sets and capacity so that we can get donations into the hands in need quickly.
Sadly, the FAA has made the decision to end our exemption as general aviators in assisting with the Maui relief efforts as of midnight this evening. We won’t be able to continue to participate in the capacity we have been as of Sept. 1. I wish it happened at a time when we all confidently could say that the people of West Maui were all taken care of and that there was no longer a need for our efforts. That would make the transition so much easier. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the feedback from the boots on the ground or the Maui fire folks we’ve been interacting with. If you know me though you know I don’t go down without a fight. I’m in contact with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) in Washington, D.C., on our behalf, to see if we can get an extension granted from the FAA and locally I’ve been lobbing calls to the superintendent of the Maui Co. airports (who has granted us permission to continue into the private airstrip at Kapalua airport), the Field Standards District Office (local FAA branch) and have had conversations with Maui legislators. If we aren’t able to continue it sure as hell won’t be for lack of trying.
On the personal downside, it’s hard for those of us whose lives and businesses have been put on hold for the last 22 days to think that the relationships we forged and the purpose we’ve dedicated ourselves to need to change regardless of how we feel about it. On the upside, I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t use a little more sleep and a moment to get my own house and life in order. I do realize that seems ridiculous to say that when so many people are still suffering but I’m trying to find positives in this.
It’s not all dark and our efforts don’t need to come to a screeching halt…they just need to evolve. We all knew this exemption wouldn’t last forever so for the last week or so we’ve been preparing for the next iteration of the Pilina Relief. Organizations like Paradise Helicopters and Mokulele Airlines want to continue to help, as small operators. They are already licensed and permitted to do what we, as general aviators, cannot. The finishing touches are being put on the plan and the grant request. We hope we’re able to quickly get the funding for those organizations to continue doing great work with the people of West Maui and perhaps even expanding into places like Kula, where a helicopter can land but there are no airstrips for fixed-wing aircraft. While I don’t want to share all of the details yet the idea would be to partner and purchase from local farmers and ranchers with the end result of being to continue to feed communities and hear directly from them what we can do to help.
I’ll happily announce the next iteration as soon as all of the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed but here are some data points I was able to pull together that I think might be helpful to share with all of you supporters. (And please forgive me for not getting some of this out earlier…there are just a few of us “managing” this all so I hadn’t had a moment to collect all of the data.) This data is solely for us general aviators.
Number of general aviators who have participated in the flights from Kona to Kapalua for the express purpose of Maui humanitarian acts: 19
Number of general airplanes getting us all safely into Kapalua and back to Kona: 5
Number of missions flown by the 19 aviators: 42
Average round trip flight time: 2.3 on the Hobbs meter (equates to 2 hours 18 min. of flight)
Total hours flown in 22 days: 96.6 hours, which equates to 4.025 total days of flight
The average useful payload of each flight (this changes with pilot weights, aircraft configuration, wind conditions, size and weight of the goods we take): 250#
Total weight of food, water, medicine, first aid, and general supplies moved by the general aviators alone: 10,500#
Every single hour of pilot time was donated (nearly all flights were flown with a pilot & licensed co-pilot for safety)
The fuel reimbursement that our supporters have been so generous to assist with is about 45% of the cost of actually operating the aircraft. The rest has been absorbed by the individual aircraft owners
I’m working on getting the data from the small aviation businesses that have collaborated with us to give the full impact of what we’ve been up to these last few weeks. (It’s equally impressive). In some ways the last few weeks have been a blur so I’m not sure I can quantify the amount of volunteer hours accepting donations, helping to sort through, boxing them so they’ll fit in the various aircraft, weighing them so we could safely fly the aircraft, etc. but I certainly don’t want to overlook all of those hours people donated.
Now that everyone is up to speed I’ll continue with the ask. (Just because our capacity may change doesn’t mean we will discontinue our engagement with the folks on Maui.)
How can you help?
Here is the list of requested donations from the 12 hubs in West Maui:
· Coconut water
· Sunscreen
· Can openers
· 5-gallon water bottles
· Batteries of all kinds
· Pots & Pans
· Baby formula
· Diapers (size 5 or bigger only, please. They have plenty of the smaller sizes)
Paradise Helicopters will be accepting donations of the above-named items. They are located at the Kona airport commuter terminal. If you aren’t on the big island please feel free to reach out to Mokulele, your local flight schools, or anyone around the airports. I’d bet they know how your generous donations can make their way to the donation hubs. And if you want to know what hubs our donations are going to, they are listed on the Pilina Relief page. Please direct anyone you know in West Maui who can use a little something to go to any of those hubs.
Feel free to patronize some of the amazing organizations who are collaborating with us to help: Paradise Helicopters offers amazing tours around most of the major Hawaii Islands, Mauna Loa Helicopter School for those of you who want to learn to hover, Tropicbird Flight Services (fixed wing - that’s airplanes for the non-aviation folks - flight school) where I did my training and Mokulele Airlines (our local island hopper, for those of you not in Hawaii). I’m happy to add Pacific Flight Academy in Honolulu to the list of collaborators. A big mahalo to some local restaurants who have donated pilot meals: Willies Hot Chicken and Taylored Meals. We already all love Punaluu Bake Shop goods but remember to pick up another loaf next time you’re at the market. Same with Lone Palm…I love their alfalfa sprouts on my salads and sandwiches. Grab yourself a bag to support this wonderful farm! Hawaii Farming (grab your keiki cukes next time you’re at Costco) and the Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council for always wanting to help feed Hawaii. And a continued mahalo to the Hawaii Food Basket for assisting us with the donation collection and for all of the wonderful work they do in feeding the people of Hawaii regardless of natural disasters!
Mahalo to you all for staying Hawaii Strong! Maui Strong! Lahaina Strong!
Dana Asis