Important - This video is for entertainment only. It is not intended for instruction and should not be used for any training purpose.
In mid-June, I participated in Thunder Run 2022, a huge simulated emergency response leveraging general aviation. The scenario was an earthquake off the Washington coast followed by a tsunami affecting several coastal communities. The impact of the earthquake and tsunami were significant with roads and bridges disrupted as far away as the Cascade Mountain Range. General aviation contributed critical transport of food and supplies from Walla Walla in eastern Washington. Longer range “Long Haul” volunteers and their planes flew supplies from Walla Walla into larger airports such as Renton (KRNT) near Seattle and Bellingham (KBLI) up north. Smaller “Short Haul” volunteers and their planes then distributed the supplies out to smaller airports around the Washington coast.
There are several links in the note below to material describing the event. This video just documents my small part in what was a huge effort. I flew two round trip missions from Renton to Walla Walla and back loaded up with 50lb bags of food (mostly onions and carrots). This was flown in a twin engine Diamond DA42 IV. Each leg was about 185nm and took approximately 1:15hr. Despite being scheduled at the start of summer, we had low clouds and some forecast icing over the Cascades. This resulted in many of the Long Haulers having to cancel but a few of us with de-icing equipment were still able to fly.
The Thunder Run 2022 organizers included an impressive number of community organizations including several Food Banks and the National Tribal Emergency Management Council. Despite the weather challenges, the simulation achieved an impressive list of accomplishments: Including 25,000lb of food flown and over 80 planes and 90 pilots signed up. Groups in BC transported food across the border (a first for this kind of exercise) and an AFW-affiliated effort in OR also flew food from Walla Walla. Most importantly, everyone is much better prepared if we have to respond to a real disaster in the future!
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For more information on Thunder Run 2022, check out:
• DART EVAC Thunder Run ...
www.evac.org/
www.thenorther...
2018 Diamond DA42 VI with G1000 NXi (Phase II) avionics. Certified for Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI). Also flying with Garmin Pilot on an iPad Mini. Three GoPro Hero 9 with RAM mounts in the cabin.
Video Timeline:
Takeoff at RNT: 2:50
Landing at ALW: 11:40
Takeoff from ALW: 16:00
Inflight discussion of Mission: 21:00
Landing at RNT: 27:15
23 авг 2024
