AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2017 - 82

LITTLE AIRPORT, BIG DIFFERENCE

Hurricane Irma roared ashore in Florida
on September 10, just south of tiny
Summerland Key Cove Airport in the
Florida Keys. The narrow strip is four feet
msl and tucked between rows of pastel
houses. After the storm unleashed its fury
on the necklace of Florida Keys islands, the
situation at this idyllic aviation community
was anything but typical.
"We heard you had chain saws," said
Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Capt. Joey Cafone
as he greeted AOPA Air Safety Institute
Executive Director Richard McSpadden
next to a Navion stuffed with the saws and
other essentials. The relief supplies arrived
at the 2,550-foot-long by 20-foot-wide
strip of asphalt on a compassion flight from
Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, organized
by AERObridge. Power, water, and communication services to the Keys were still cut off;
evacuated residents seeking a look at their
property weren't officially allowed in; and a
dusk-to-dawn curfew was in effect.
Cafone said first responders would
use the chain saws to cut through downed
power poles and other debris to look for
unaccounted-for residents and to make
way for personnel to restore services and
infrastructure.
A Beechcraft Bonanza owner's home
was stripped of its roof, shutters, and

82 | AOPA PILOT November 2017

landscaping; a Cessna 182's tail was crushed
against a hangar-home; and an automobile lay submerged on its back in a nearby
waterway. The stench of rotting food and
bait from upturned refrigerators and freezers filled the air. Residents who couldn't-or
didn't-evacuate were stranded without
food, water, or shelter.
"These people need food and water-
now," emphasized Drew Norman, a
volunteer who previously helped with
Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston
(see "Helping after Harvey," page 85).
Mooney Acclaim pilot, Florida Keys
resident, and broadband service provider
Jordan Smith loaded his single-engine aircraft with sleeping bags, cleanup supplies,
and baby necessities at the Lakeland emergency distribution center and flew them
to Marathon-which, according to local
pilots, was barely operational. He then
drove a truck with two fellow technicians
to Summerland to restore Wi-Fi service to
the airport's supply center. "I'm doing this
because I don't have a home to go to, and it'll
be a month before I have power," said Smith.
Robert "Bob" Raskey, a United Airlines
captain who acts as the carrier's employee
relief director, was at Summerland Key
shortly after he confirmed that several
thousand United employees living in South
Florida were safe.

"We've always been Monroe County's
secondary operations location," explained
Raskey, an avid GA pilot and aircraft owner
who helped coordinate the delivery of
emergency supplies. "It's interesting that
a little GA airport in the middle of nowhere
turned into an epicenter for search and rescue and critical humanitarian supplies," he
added. "It goes to show the world how a
little airport can make a huge difference."
He said the Summerland Key airport
served as a search-and-rescue center as
first responders fanned out north toward
Big Pine Key to look for a missing 31-yearold woman. He assisted special operations
teams, which used night vision gear to
locate the woman unharmed. "But we're
still in a state of emergency," he noted.
All of Thursday, September 14, and
Friday, September 15, under the hot Florida
sun, heavily laden aircraft disgorged their
supplies at the tiny strip. One by one, pilots
took off from Runway 12 headed north with
passengers in a relief effort that was reminiscent of a coordinated military operation.
"This is awesome," said Monroe
County, Florida, Sheriff 's Deputy Ken
Fricke, a Big Pine Key resident supervising the process from the makeshift supply
depot. He was also a victim of the storm
when Hurricane Irma struck. "My roof
lifted off, but I'll be all right," he said.
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2017

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