…Working Around Katrina’s Bureaucracy…

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Despite beauracratic obstacles, hundreds of volunteer pilots and their GA aircraft are contributing to the relief effort. Civil Air Patrol pilots who live in Mississippi fly all day and return at night to homes damaged by the storm. “These people have drawn on some inner strength to get the job done,” says Maj. Owen Younger, who is overseeing operations in Jacksonville, Miss. CAP cadets are helping out on the ground, checking on victims and handing out thousands of pounds of basic supplies. Even the vintage aircraft of the Commemorative Air Force are helping. A CAF R4D (a Navy version of the DC-3) based in Lancaster, Texas, has been delivering freight from Austin to Hammond, La. Most of the crew flying the 60-plus-year-old airplane are age 70 and over. Angel Flight has kept busy with over 1,000 supply runs and relocation flights. LifeLine Pilots have been filling in for the regular Angel Flight missions. More pilots keep volunteering — LifeLine alone signed up 14 pilots in the last week. From Friday, Sept. 2 through Monday, Sept. 5, more than 200 civilian and military aircraft safely coordinated by Operation Air Care evacuated nearly 20,000 people, while bringing in relief supplies.

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