10/02/2024
Yesterday Carol Krispin and I collected items from Preservation Pub, Alec Bissell, Branden Johnson, and others loaded them into and after waiting for the clouds to break we took off. We initially tried to get to Sylvia, NC (24A) but the cloud ceilings in the mountain didn’t allow; we then found a path along the French Broad River valley into Asheville (KAVL)
Asheville airspace was busier than I’ve ever seen Atlanta’s! The tower is operating again and refused us permission to land. We then deviated and attempted to get to Spruce Pine (7A8) but the clouds just weren’t cooperating. We flew out of the mountains the same way we came in along the French Broad. The devastation is everywhere. In addition to the flooding there’s landslides, rockfalls, and altered river courses across the entire mountain region.
We ultimately took our supplies to Elizabethton (0A9) where the military is operating Black Hawks taking the supplies into the remote communities.
Once we unloaded we took on a mission for a friend of mine to overfly houses of his loved ones to see if the houses still exist and if they appeared intact near Burnsville, NC. Fortunately his loved ones houses appeared to be intact. The road into their community is gone due to a mud slide; the bridge across the river into the area is gone; and the power lines are all down for miles.
We then went to Greenville (KGCY) to see about picking up more supplies to ferry to Elizabethton but those folks have taken the initiative and had 2 good ole boys with 4x4 trucks pulling cattle trailers heading out with all the supplies there to get them to Newport.
We headed back to the hanger and prepped the plane for the next mission which we hope will be this afternoon. If the clouds lift we will go to Concord, NC (KJQF) to help ferry those supplies to smaller airports.
The President is visiting Asheville and Greenville today so that’ll shutdown all of us for several hours as POTUS means temporary no fly restrictions for 30nm radius around him today from 1-2:15pm.
This area is stressful to fly into—lots of traffic. Clouds are low; mountains are everywhere often with their tops still in the clouds. The airspace is super crowded. Black Hawks are everywhere. They were still performing and finding Search and Rescue operations. The radio chatter is constantly about needing another Helicopter here or there’s people needing to be picked up over there. Other planes are everywhere. But somehow it’s all working!
Memorable radio calls.
In Black Hawk crew chief volunteered to stay behind with nursing home residents assuring them more Black Hawks were coming and they weren’t going to be left.
Excited S&R radio chatter when they found a person alive and were able to get them into the helicopter.
Low pass recon reports from Black Hawk pilots reporting damage and the extent of the devastation as they got within 200 of the ground flying along the Nolichukcy River near Erwin. If you think my pictures (take about 1,500’ above the ground) look bad you have no idea how bad it is up close (judging by the descriptions given by this helicopter crew).
