Captain John’s 462nd Angel Flight Mission
Yesterday, August 11th, John and I departed home base Luray at 0830 for a short flight to Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport (KSHD) where we picked up our passenger, Jason Bennett. From KSHD we flew Jason to his destination (Elmyra, NY) This was a two leg Angel Flight, with Jason starting off his day in Ashville, NC where Angel Flight pilot, Phillip Plemmons flew him to join up with John and I.
After arriving in Elmyra, NY, we enjoyed talking with Jason while he was waiting on his ground transportation. Jason is an Army Veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division and completed three tours of duty during his time of service. And like a lot of our service men and women, he is dealing with PTSD, we want thank Jason for service to our Great Country and we wish him all the best with his treatment. Let us never forget the sacrifices so many make in order for us to have the freedoms we all enjoy… and too many times take for granted!
Our flight home encountered some severe storm activity all around our home base area at the time of our planned arrival, so after diverting around part of it and seeing that home base Luray was still under the gun, we decided to land at Winchester Regional (KOKV) and wait it out. After about 30 minutes on the ground we saw a window opportunity to get airborne again, landing safely back at home base Luray about 20 minutes later in light rain.
Our total flight time was 5.4 hours but not a lot of pictures to show due to all of the haze at our flight level.
Have a Great Day All!
PS: By the way, this was Captain John’s 462nd Angel Flight, and his 1st one since turning 98 on Saturday!
Thank you so much for the flight