Will Be The Plane's First Visit To The Central Florida Show

The world’s only flying ophthalmic teaching hospital makes its inaugural landing in Lakeland, FL at the 46th annual Sun 'n Fun Aerospace Expo taking place March 31st – April 5th, 2020. Orbis International’s Flying Eye Hospital is an MD-10 aircraft that travels the world providing first-rate surgical services to those in need as well as ophthalmology training, presentations, and live surgical demonstrations to eye care professionals in low- and middle-income countries.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is a state-of-the-art medical teaching facility complete with an operating room, classroom and recovery room. This third-generation Flying Eye Hospital allows world-leading medical volunteers to travel far and wide sharing their knowledge with and developing the skills of hard-to-reach communities that need it most. Orbis’s telemedicine platform, Cybersight, expands its reach even further.

“Sun 'n Fun is honored that Orbis has chosen our event to showcase its adaption of medical technology with aviation. To inspire individuals to pursue the limitless aerospace career options that are in high demand today is the mission of the Sun 'n Fun Aerospace Expo, the premiere fundraising event for the Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE). Having this aircraft onsite and accessible throughout our event to the general public is a unique opportunity and one that will be showcased as part of our STEM-focused activities”, says John “Lites” Leenhouts, president and CEO of ACE.

The Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE) and Orbis share a core belief that positive actions taken today impact the future. ACE’s aerospace education programs and scholarships are addressing the ever-increasing demand for aerospace professionals. Orbis is addressing avoidable blindness and visual impairment. One third of the world’s population has a vision impairment or blindness, and in nearly half of these cases, the condition could be prevented or treated, but a lack of access to quality eye care stands in the way.

“We are thrilled that attendees at Sun 'n Fun will have the opportunity to see our one-of-a-kind Flying Eye Hospital and learn about its role in our mission to end avoidable blindness around the world,” said Bob Ranck, president and CEO of Orbis International. “By bringing together aviation and ophthalmology, Orbis has been training eye care teams in low- and middle-income countries to save and restore sight in their communities for nearly four decades.”

The 46th annual Sun 'n Fun Aerospace Expo is the world’s 2nd-largest event of its kind. The Fly-In activities include daily airshows, two night airshows, a tradeshow, career fair, workshops, forums, and many family activities. Attendance reached a new record last year of over 225,000 from 80 countries over a 6-day period. The “Experience Flight in 2020” theme will highlight over 60 airshow performers, hundreds of static displays, plus signature flight demonstrations by the USAF Thunderbirds and the F-35 Lightning II Demo Team. Other highlights include the 75th Anniversary of the Pitts aircraft, commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the ending of WWII, a drone show, and much more.

(Images provided with Sun 'n Fun news release)

FMI: www.flysnf.org