A Look at Aviation Volunteerism

When you love to fly and you like to help people what do you do? You become a member of the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps or EVAC. The members of EVAC perform many duties including getting close to a scene quickly after a major disaster to offer help. Founded in 1987, EVAC’s mission statement is “The Emergency Volunteer Air Corps promotes and coordinates effective and useful additional general aviation volunteer participation during emergency relief efforts, especially during disasters”.

There are several advantages to having airplanes and helicopters on a rescue team. First, if an area that needs help is blocked off for an reason, such as a fire or high water, EVAC would be able to overcome that obstacle and rescue people from a dangerous situation where otherwise their lives may have been lost. Also smaller aircraft can fit into tight spots to pick up an emergency worker or other person who find themselves trapped while working in a disaster area. When lives are at stake every minute counts so another advantage is that aircraft are able to arrive on the scene of an emergency much quicker than a vehicle on the ground. They can also help to transport les critical patients to an unaffected area where they can receive more timely treatment, bring medical personnel or extra volunteers from non-affected areas in to help, drop off medical supplies if needed, help survey the disaster area to look for survivors.

Pilots, amateur radio operators, and anyone else wishing to provide their time are encouraged to join EVAC. The more hands EVAC and organizations like it can contribute to an emergency situation the less overwhelmed firefighters, police, and EMS will be, which will save more lives and avoid more injuries. There are also many opportunities in aviation volunteer organizations for people who are not pilots or radio operators. One can help to arrange transport from the airport to a hospital, help coordinate a plan of action, or help with in-flight duties such as sitting with the patients or helping the pilot watch for other aircraft.

Our human instinct is usually to flee the situations these volunteers run toward and many times they do not get the recognition they deserve. Aviators who volunteer their time and risk their lives during times when others need them the most are ordinary people with big hearts. They care about people, even the ones they do not know. You may ask yourself how someone can gamble with so much for a stranger but only they know the answer to that. We should just be thankful they are there when we need them.

Volunteerism is important especially during a sever disaster. Outside of church and school most of us do not do much of any kind of volunteering. It takes a person with special qualities to face a dangerous situation for the needs of other people and is definitely not for everyone, but that makes the ones who do it even more special and heroic.