AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2012 - 74

the valuable airplane was their goal and that acting immediately was essential, Smith firewalled the throttle and shot down the runway, directly at the source of his concern. Breaking ground and then maintaining about a six-inch altitude as it thundered toward the bad guys, the airplane presented a frightening visage. The horsemen had no time to unsling their weapons, only to spur their horses off the runway as Smith and his adrenalin-soaked crew blasted past them, pulled up to just above the trees, and, staying low for the next few miles, escaped. The result of the film team’s work was a moving, 30-minute film that, entirely in the words of the inhabitants of the Darién, explained the value of the area and why it should be protected for their children and grandchildren as well as for ours. CAVU, as part of its educational outreach program, then made hundreds of copies of the film on DVD, and passed them out as the crew traveled from village to village, first in the Darién, and then in other areas of Panama. It was educational outreach of the first magnitude; for the residents of the Darién themselves, who had never seen their land from above and often
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didn’t have an understanding of its size or importance, and for outsiders, who learned of the value of the area, the need to protect it and consequences of failing to do so. CAVU’s policy of having its films narrated by local residents and scientists, making sure no “outsiders” could insult the residents by trying to tell them what to do, enhances the overall impact. By showing the film to political leaders and making sure that copies are in local schools and libraries, as well as on its website, the educational effect is far-reaching and on-going.
A TASTE FOR ADVENTURE. CAVU came into being because Smith had a history of volunteering his airplane (initially a Cessna 180, later a Cessna 185 and, finally, what is believed to be the only Robertson STOL Cessna T206H in the world) to support conservation work in wild and remote areas. While it’s safe to say that pilots have a greater taste for adventure than the average human, Smith is a little further along the spectrum than most. An American stringing for Reuters news service in Kenya in the 1970s, Smith learned to fly at Wilson Field, Nairobi. Not only did he get his first

500 hours of experience flying over east and central Africa, he got to know and become friends with famed pilot and race horse trainer, Beryl Markham, still feisty and opinionated near the end of her unconventional life. Later, combining a love of the natural world and flight experience in remote areas, Smith flew supplies to Honduran victims of hurricane Mitch and made flights for LightHawk, the largest of the conservation volunteer pilot organizations, in support of its work to protect threatened waters, lands, and animals in Central America and the United States. One year Smith flew more than 165 hours and was given LightHawk’s coveted Volunteer Pilot of the Year Award. He became aware of the powerful effect that flights over at-risk areas had on decision-makers, educators, and local residents. People who had never been in an airplane and were fighting to save their way of life suddenly got a perspective that brought into focus what was going on around them. The excitement generated on each flight was contagious. The photographs and films made during the flights proved to be amazingly powerful tools; “truth from above,” that people used

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2012

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