Cessna provided an inspiring addition to the early hours of last
month's NBAA 2008, with the announcement of the company's sixth
annual Citation Special Olympics Airlift Program, to help athletes
travel to the 2010 USA National Games to be held near Lincoln,
NE.
This will be the sixth time Cessna has organized the extensive
airlift campaign to benefit Special Olympics. The company put out
the call Sunday for volunteers to help transport more than 2,000
athletes and coaches from across the nation on their Citation jet
aircraft.
"The success of the airlift starts with our Citation owners
committing to provide a safe way for the athletes, coaches and
families to travel to the games," said Cessna Chairman, President
and Chief Executive Officer Jack J. Pelton. "We also rely on
support from Cessna employees and volunteers, the Federal Aviation
Administration, on-site airport officials, local fixed base
operators, hundreds of volunteers from the community and the
Special Olympics organization. It's amazing to see the
collaboration that happens for this massive event."
Cessna also introduced the event's honorary chairman... and
noted that future athletes may have the opportunity to fly with Han
Solo himself.
"The Citation Special Olympics Airlift is a unique event that
brings together the general aviation community to carry out the
largest peacetime airlift in the world," said actor and Citation
owner Harrison Ford. "This is just another example of how GA owners
and operators give back, whether it's encouraging young people to
learn to fly through EAA’s Young Eagles organization or
providing transportation to special athletes."
Cessna expects to recruit at least 325 Citations to transport
2,000 athletes to Lincoln on July 17 and return athletes to their
home base on July 24.
The first Citation Special Olympics Airlift in 1987 involved
more than 130 Citations carrying nearly 1,000 athletes to and from
South Bend, Ind. The last airlift, in 2006, included 235 Citations
transporting 1,500 athletes to and from Des Moines, IA.
Corporations and individual Citation owners and operators in
every state are needed to donate their Citation business jet(s),
pilots and fuel for the airlift. While the games are centrally
located, more than 3,000 athletes will travel from all over the US
to compete.
"The airlift would not be possible without the support of
Citation owners and operators, so our goal as event organizers is
to make participation as easy as possible. Going to on line-only
registration will streamline the process," said Rhonda Fullerton,
Cessna Community Relations manager and director of the Citation
Special Olympics Airlift.
For the first time, registration is exclusively on line, at the
FMI link below.
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