Bahamas Habitat

Volunteer pilot David Robertson shares about his recent trip to Haiti.

Where to start? On Thursday the 14th, I received a call from John. He basically ask if I would be willing to be on call to go take medical supplies into Haiti and bring American Missionaries out. I said “sure, call if you need me”. About 3 pm on Friday the 15th, I received a call and ask if I could be in Ft. lauderdale that night to load up and go to Haiti the next morning. I said that I could and about 9 pm I met Kenneth, a Cessna 340 pilot from Iowa and we loaded both planes for an early morning departure. After that things started happening fast. We met another Baron and an Aztec in exuma for fuel and landed at Cap Hatien, Haiti a short time latter. BMH had contacts on the ground there and the customs and immigration event was painless. Over the next few days we made multiple trips into Las Cayes with medical supplies, and once a group of 5 doctors from South Carolina. We moved missionaries from there out to Inagua and finally Nassau and home. The village of Mignon was a memorable trip for me. Matt and Cameron, chief pilots for BMH, found the strip on Google earth, and determined (more…)

The following story is from volunteer pilot Tom McLean.

The real story is about the Doctors that we flew over.  One that I took over was on her 28th trip, first since the earthquake, these dedicated people are putting theirselves in harms way to help others.  One doctor from Massachusetts has made several trips over with his wife, also a doc, he had planned this trip before the quake.  In fact his wife had arrived in Haiti the day of the quake.  He was unable to find out that she was safe until the next day.  He had several anxious hours.  A most gratifying sight was the amount of relief materials that are accumulated in the hangars that I saw in Ft Lauderdale and Nassau.  I have heard stories about Ft. Pierce having a large amount.  The goodness of the American people is overwhelming.  Those of other countries as well, when I stopped in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos for fuel there were several planes from Canada.  … I can attest to the fact that it was the work of Christians that was delivering Doctors, medical supplies and food to the people of Haiti in their time of great need. (more…)

After a failed business venture, Christine and Howard Mackie of Charlotte, NC found themselves with thousands of bottles of water just sitting in storage. Jenni Knighten, who began volunteering with Bahamas Methodist Habitat in the summer of 2009, heard the Mackie’s story from a coworker. Within hours, Knighten was on the phone with the couple. The Mackie’s wanted nothing more than to donate the water to Haiti, but found most relief organizations unable to assist. Jeff Moore, a long-time BMH volunteer and freight broker, began working on the logistics. Moore was able to secure a carrier truck that could haul the water to Fort Lauderdale. This story continues as the BMH team in Nassau is currently working to have volunteer pilots transport the water from Florida to Haiti. Fox Charlotte News came out to the loading dock to speak with Howard Mackie and Knighten about how a busted business venture and networking made this donation possible.

Video is below!  Or, view the page on FOX.

JOHNSTON COUNTY – Michael and Gord Tessier couldn’t bear to see the devastation in Haiti playing across their television screens. So last week they fueled up their Cessna 337G and took off from a Canadian airport, bound for Johnston County.

Their plane was one of about a dozen to pass through the county airport en route to Haiti last week. All were part of a fleet of small planes that has shuttled supplies and help since an earthquake devastated the small island country.

“Normally you let the pros take care of this, but this is overwhelming,” Gord Tessier said at the airport last week. “We were chomping at the bit, and nobody was ready for us, eh?”

Johnston County was ready. The pilots volunteered at bahamashabitat.org, then geared up for their flight.

Read the rest of the story

You can also read about the Tessier’s story in the St. Catherine’s Standard

Bahamas Habitat Volunteer Pilot Mark Johnson is featured in a suburban Chicago newspaper sharing his story as he prepares a relief mission to Haiti.  In six days, he raised $14,000 of the projected $25,000 he will need to cover the cost of fuel and expenses in order to fly his charter jet to Haiti to deliver much needed medical supplies.

Read his story

On Tuesday Bahamas Habitat was able to move a vital piece of medical equipment that was desperately needed by the medical teams in Jacmel Haiti due to help from special volunteers and the support of Rotary International.

Bahamas Habitat has been working with the local Rotary Club and churches in the Clayton NC area to move medical supplies to Haiti through the organizations Airlift efforts.

“We attempted to move this larger equipment on a King Air earlier in the week and it would not fit.” said John Armstrong, the President of Bahamas Habitat who lives in Raleigh, NC and has been coordinating the over 40 aircraft that have participated so far.  ”We knew that there are only two general aviation aircraft that could carry the equipment and also land at the Jamel airport in Haiti, a Cessna Caravan and a Swiss built Pilatus PC12. We asked Jim Lee our local Rotarian contact and Don Buckner the Rotary District Governor, (more…)

A Pilatus turboprop plane carrying 3,000 pounds of tents, tarps, sleeping pads, medical supplies and freeze-dried meals departed from Johnston County Airport at about 1 p.m. Tuesday and was headed for an airstrip in Jacmel, Haiti. The plane was also carrying a valuable piece of medical equipment that was desperately needed by the medical teams there.

Joe Howley, of  Greenwich CT, the owner and pilot of the Swiss built Pilatus aircraft volunteered himself and his aircraft to help this critical mission. Clayton businessman and Rotary member Jim Lee – also a pilot – was aboard the plane with Joe McGuire the co-pilot.

Read the rest of the story in the Clayton News-Star.

Steve Watts is a corporate pilot for Mears Transportation Group out of Orlando.  This past weekend, he flew to Les Cayes, Haiti transporting six medical personnel and supplies as part of the relief effort.  The following is his story.

I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to fly a relief mission down to Haiti.  Matt Hansen and I took six medical personnel and supplies down there on Friday January 22nd 2010 in my company’s Cheyenne 400LS, N500PM.  I attached a group photo taken in Les Cayes to this letter which, unfortunately, excluded Matt as he had scooted off as soon as we opened the door to coordinate our arrival.

My first leg was into Nassau where I was met by Abe, Cameron and Matt who were organizing the surgeons and supplies.  Matt gave me a mission briefing while I was taking on fuel.  Odyssey gave me a break on fuel and was very helpful.  We loaded up and were off.  I wanted to take as much as possible so multiple fuel stops would be required.  As it turns out I was overly cautious about fuel and in retrospect I regret not taking on more supplies. (more…)

Brian Reiff  got involved with relief efforts after receiving an e-mail about Bahamas Habitat, a Christian nonprofit that delivers supplies and supports disaster relief work. The organization, which normally works throughout the Bahamas, has been coordinating pilots and aircrafts to deliver supplies to Haiti, in addition to evacuating missionaries and those unable to leave the island.

“It was an instant ‘that’s what I want to do,’” said Reiff, also of Carlisle, regarding his decision to assist. “I’ve been on other missions (and) I love to fly. It was a double hit.”

See their whole story entitled:

Carlisle pilots return from delivering supplies to Haiti

Outstanding! Amazing! Fantastic!

These might be words to describe the efforts, coordination and results being achieved by the very long list of volunteers and organizations that are working together to collect donated medical supplies, pack and stage at the airport for the volunteer pilots to drop in and pick up for delivery to our Nassau command post and for them to then fly into the outlying airfields served by the Bahamas Habitat General Aviation “Air Force” made up purely of volunteers in their private aircraft.

“In just a matter of days we have created an effective means to obtain, organize and move the medical supplies directly where they are needed most.” said John Armstrong, President of Bahamas Habitat, the organization that mobilized and is directing the airlift portion of the operation using private aircraft. “On the ground, individuals, churches, rotary clubs and others have responded and the outflowing of support has been amazing.” (more…)