Big Fucking Suprise:

Katrina: Airborne Aid Workers Thwarted…

Crews Frustrated

Many who are trying to offer help to the devastated Gulf region are
still grounded. Dr. Aziz Kamali, a family practitioner in Stockton,
Calif., mobilized a volunteer group of 20 nurses willing to donate 7 to
10 days of vacation time to help out. Angel Flight America is ready and
willing to fly them there, but having gone through "proper channels" as
of Friday, Kamali still couldn’t get the OK to leave. The Louisiana
governor’s office has told him, "’We don’t know where to put you and
how to use you,’" Kamali told The Stockton Record.
They said they’ll get back to him. Dave Pechan, an Angel Flight pilot,
told the Record that he was grounded for a week, ready and willing, but
unable to get approval to fly. An agreement was signed in August with
the Department of Homeland Security saying that pilots could be
deployed within two hours of a disaster, but when the hurricane struck,
that didn’t seem to help.

…Working Around Katrina’s Bureaucracy…

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.