As the weather turned cold in the Northeast, the cycle of stranded endangered sea turtles ramped up, spurring rescue flights by private aviation aircraft.
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As the weather turned cold in the Northeast, the cycle of stranded endangered sea turtles ramped up again this year. This spurred rescue flights by private aviation aircraft, arranged by Turtles Fly Too, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017.
Every fall as the temperatures drop in the waters off the Northern U.S. coast, many sea turtles cannot adapt, becoming cold and lethargic. Unable to swim, they get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod Bay, where they wash up on beaches. There, they are collected by rescuers and brought to institutions—such as the New England Aquarium—where they are carefully revived and stabilized.
With the ailing turtles averaging in the hundreds every year, the space available to accommodate them soon becomes overwhelmed. It is necessary to quickly transport them to other facilities further south for hospitalization and rehabilitation before they are released back into the ocean. For this, Turtles Fly Too coordinates with volunteer private aviation pilots and aircraft owners who have flights heading south from the Northeast.
This week, Chuck Yanke, a Pilatus PC-12 owner and pilot, along with copilot Matt Barnes, transported 70 rare Kemp's Ridley sea turtles from Boston-area Marshfield Municipal Airport (KGHG) to Mississippi’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (KGPT), where they were then transferred to two local rehabilitation facilities. Earlier this month, another flight delivered 52 of the critically endangered turtles to Tampa, Florida. In another mission last week, a Daher TBM 850 carried five loggerhead sea turtles to Charleston, where they were accepted by the South Carolina Aquarium.
So far this year, Turtles Fly Too has coordinated 24 volunteer flights, carrying more than 300 turtles (including one flown to the U.S. from Wales).
As the weather turned cold in the Northeast, the cycle of stranded endangered sea turtles ramped up again this year. This spurred rescue flights by private aviation aircraft, arranged by Turtles Fly Too, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017.
Every fall as the temperatures drop in the waters off the Northern U.S. coast, many sea turtles cannot adapt, becoming cold and lethargic. Unable to swim, they get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod Bay, where they wash up on beaches. There, they are collected by rescuers and brought to institutions—such as the New England Aquarium—where they are carefully revived and stabilized.
With the ailing turtles averaging in the hundreds every year, the space available to accommodate them soon becomes overwhelmed. It is necessary to quickly transport them to other facilities further south for hospitalization and rehabilitation before they are released back into the ocean. For this, Turtles Fly Too coordinates with volunteer private aviation pilots and aircraft owners who have flights heading south from the Northeast.
This week, Chuck Yanke, a Pilatus PC-12 owner and pilot, along with copilot Matt Barnes, transported 70 rare Kemp's Ridley sea turtles from Boston-area Marshfield Municipal Airport (KGHG) to Mississippi’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (KGPT), where they were then transferred to two local rehabilitation facilities. Earlier this month, another flight delivered 52 of the critically endangered turtles to Tampa, Florida.