Sometimes It's How We Use Our Airplanes That Really Counts

Following is a story sent to ANN by Florida pilot Francisco Murillo. It is published in its entirety from the author's blog with his permission.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

“Francisco, have you ever had cancer?”

The voice came through the intercom and it caught me by surprise. The question came from 8 year old Aref, who was sitting in one of the back seats of the plane, next to his mom, Liliana. Aref’s 10 year old sister, Shaddi, was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat next to me.

Abdala Family With Author

This was the day before Thanksgiving. Some days before that, I had received an email from Angel Flight Southeast, an organization for which I do volunteer work as a pilot. They had several missions at risk of being canceled and wanted to know if there were volunteers able to fly them. I don’t usually fly missions on weekdays due to my job responsibilities, but I decided to work late the day before so I could clear my schedule for the day of this particular mission. Having an 8 year old that had just undergone 2 months of radio therapy riding in a car for 6 or 7 hours between Jacksonville and the Miami area did not look right to me.

The departure out of North Perry Airport in Hollywood, Florida was done under patches of rain, but quickly turned to clear skies and beautiful weather. I was on my way to Craig Field in Jacksonville to pick up my passengers. The leg northbound was uneventful and by the time I arrived there, the Abdala family was already waiting for me at the airport lobby.

Aref’s dad, Anuar, had driven the day before from South Florida to Jacksonville, so that they could vacate the room they were using at the Ronald McDonald’s house. Because of the long stay that Aref needed in Jacksonville at the Proton Therapy Institute, they had a lot more belongings than what would had fit in a Cirrus, the plane we were using to fly Aref back home for Thanksgiving.

Aref Prepares For The Flight Home

I  knew this was going to be an interesting trip when Liliana told me that there was a twist to the story. Shaddi had been told that she was not going to be riding in the plane with Aref and his mom, but that instead, she had to ride back in the car with his dad. The fact is that the plan since the beginning called for Shaddi to ride with us in the plane, but Aref wanted to surprise her and boy… was she surprised!  When she was told at the last minute that she was flying with Aref and Liliana, her gorgeous eyes grew wide in disbelief, and she started chasing Aref around the airport ramp to hug and kiss him.

We took off from Craig Field northbound and the JAX controllers quickly turned us back southbound. Flights under an IFR flight plan can get quite busy, even more around areas of heavy air traffic, like Jacksonville and south Florida, so having a very chatty co-pilot in Shaddi made it specially challenging. Of course, I could use the isolate function in my intercom to talk to air traffic controllers without interruptions from my passengers, but I used it as little as possible in this trip because I really wanted to enjoy having these two young kids in my plane.

During the leg southbound I heard about how they enjoyed the Homestead Air Show, which took place just a couple of weeks ago, and about how fantastic the Blue Angels are. Having been to that same show with my family I had to agree with them. They also told me jokes and kept me entertained for the whole trip.

Before our arrival in South Florida I briefed Liliana and the kids in advance that we were going to have to descent through a cloud layer and that they may feel like in a little roller coaster, but that I was not expecting anything significant. The turbulence turned out to be not bad at all and all my passengers behaved beautifully. Once on the ground at North Perry Airport we had the opportunity to see a Piper Pawnee plane picking up a sign to tow around the city.

Aref did not complain once during our 1 hour and 40 minute trip from Jacksonville to the Miami area. Liliana explained to me that the skin in his lower back is burned due to the radio therapy he received during the two months he stayed in Jacksonville. I was impressed with how brave this 8 year old kid is and how much support he is receiving from his family.

'Co-Pilot' Shaddi

When Aref asked me if I had ever had cancer, I thought it was because of my shaved-of hair style and that he had assumed that I had lost my hair during radio therapy, as it had happened to him. I was wrong: I asked him why he wanted to know and he said that usually people that have had cancer are the ones that help other people with cancer. This really left me thinking.

While working on this story a few days after this flight, I went to pick up my son at school because he was not feeling well. While waiting for him at the school reception I saw a poster in one of the boards that reads:

“If you want to be happy for an hour, go watch T.V.
If you want to be happy for a day, go to an amusement park.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, go out and help others.”

Aref, you may be too young to understand this, but there are people out there that want to be happy by helping people like you.

FMI: http://n720p.blogspot.com/ www.angelflight.org