Mike Wolanin | The Republic Pilot Jeff Anderson, of Bardstown, Kentucky, packs his plane full of hurricane relief supplies at Columbus Municipal Airport in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Relief efforts were organized by Civilian Crisis Response Team. Supplies were dropped off at the airport and flown to area impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Six aircraft were expected to land in Columbus Wednesday to pick up donated supplies and transport them to western North Carolina to help the victims of Hurricane Helene.
More than 100 people were killed, several communities were destroyed, and early estimates of losses are about $160 billion after the hurricane caused catastrophic flooding through the North Carolina area Friday.
On Monday and Tuesday, seven planes manned by volunteer pilots had transported about 2,800 pounds of supplies to Asheville, North Carolina, according to Columbus Municipal Airport director Brian Payne.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 90 aircraft had committed to using their own aircraft to deliver emergency supplies at their own cost and time, Payne said. More transports will be taking place in the days ahead, according to the Civilian Crisis Response Team. The Edinburgh-founded group, which is made up of about 2,000 volunteers in 19 states, is coordinating the relief effort.
On Sunday, team director J.R. Grounds put out a message through social media to request aircraft and pilots to help victims. As of Wednesday at noon, more than 35,000 individuals had read the post on Facebook.
“I don’t believe he knew what type of response he was going to get from his initial social media post,” Payne said. “Pilots in the general aviation community have come out extremely strong.”
One was commercial pilot Jeff Anderson, a resident of Bardstown, Kentucky.
“I had a few days off and the availability of the airplane, and thought I can help,” Anderson said as he was refueling his plane Wednesday morning. ” I used to live just north of Raleigh, so I’m a bit familiar with the area. My itinerary is to fly out to Asheville, drop off the supplies and try to remain on station to see if they need anything distributed.”
A short time after Anderson took off, a Cirrus Vision SF50 private jet touched down at the Columbus airport. The $3 million aircraft had just been delivered back to owner Angela Phillips of Dayton, Ohio area after receiving a new coat of paint, pilot Ashley Paulus said.
Phillips gave the directive Tuesday night to fly the jet to Columbus the next morning, pick up emergency supplies and deliver them to Asheville, the pilot said. She added that Phillips has a number of ties to western North Carolina.
“It’s funny, but I still don’t have power at my house in Dayton,” Paulus said. “But I get to be out and enjoy the power of helping others. The feeling of getting supplies to people who are really in need of help is just remarkable.”
Donors of emergency supplies include a number of church groups and other organizations in Bartholomew County, Payne said. He’s also been informed some companies, including Columbus Auto Group locations, are still gathering supplies for upcoming flights.
“But many times, it’s just individuals,” the airport director said.
That was the case with Aaron Christensen, an employee of Amazon Web Services who resides in Columbus.
“We saw a note in The Republic last night about donations, so my wife and I bought household goods, baby stuff and other needed items,” Christensen said. “We have friends there (in western North Carolina). They weren’t directly affected, but they know many people who were. Obviously, it’s an awful situation.”
Payne confirmed this is the first time the Civilian Crisis Response Team has used aircraft to transport emergency relief items to a devastated area. Previous disaster assistance efforts have relied solely on ground transportation.
Cameron Croucher, who provides aeronautical services at Columbus Municipal Airport for Jet Access, said pilots have told him they are trying to avoid getting in the way of rescue or relief efforts being undertaken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“FEMA is surrounded by red tape, so it can be a little tricky,” Croucher said. “Pilots don’t want to get in trouble, especially when the government is trying to control the disaster.”
Since FEMA is basing its relief operations out of the Hickory Regional Airport in Catawba County, North Carolina, pilots assisting the Civilian Crisis Response Team have been instructed to land in Asheville, located 77 miles west of Hickory, Payne said. The supplies are unloaded in a staging area where there is a fleet of about 20 helicopters transporting donated supplies from Asheville to Hickory, he added.
Volunteers recruited from various military and emergency backgrounds, including physicians, have been brought into Hickory, according to wire reports. From there, National Guard helicopters are going to the outskirts of hard hit areas such as Fort Mill, Spruce, Pine, and Burnsville.
Croucher said he is one of many pilots in our area who want to fly to the devastated areas to assist, but they neither own an aircraft and can’t afford the expense of making the round trip.
However, Payne feels residents of Bartholomew County have done a fantastic job of showing their generosity and coming together for the North Carolina residents who need help.
