Flight Operations portal active
Good information saves Lives
After a disaster, knowledge is critical.
The picture you see above is Marsh Harbor Airport, in the Bahamas.
Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas on September 1st, 2019. A wind gust of 176 knots – 202 miles per hour – was measured at the surface. The Abacos and Grand Bahama were devastated.
When a disaster happens, the world responds. But before anyone can fly in to help, they need to know what things look like on the ground.
For several days, no information was available. Relief aircraft were waiting, but critical information was missing. What airports are open? Is there fuel available? Is there ATC? Where is help best directed?
Learning from the lessons of Dorian, the mission of Relief Air Wing is to get that information, provide it to the first responders, and help to coordinate the aviation relief effort.
So who are we?
Relief Air Wing was set up by OPSGROUP: an international organization of pilots, flight dispatchers, airlines, and aircraft operators that work together to share safety critical information.
Why we can help
OPSGROUP was formed to solve a problem. When MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, we learned that a handful of people had known about the risk, and avoided the airspace. Nobody else did, because they didn’t know.
Today, OPSGROUP has 7000 individual members – We are Flight Dispatchers, Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers, and operational specialists from large airlines, small aircraft operators, Civil Aviation Authorities, ICAO, NBAA, and a multitude of other aviation organizations.
We work together to share critical new information about airspace risk, procedures, and just help each other out.
We’re using that experience and expertise to set up Relief Air Wing to do the same thing in disaster relief: get the information that matters, and share it with the aircraft operators and relief agencies that need it.
If you don’t know the OPSGROUP story, read it here.
Like to help? Volunteer with us.
Become a Relief Air Wing volunteer.