Story ID: 
Silverhawk Aids Its Fellow Nebraskans During Floods
By: Jerry Siebenmark
Caption: The Lincoln-based charter operator volunteered its crews and fleet to provide emergency transport during March flooding.
Word Count: 202
The Air Charter Safety Foundation this week highlighted the good deeds of one of its members, Silverhawk Aviation of Lincoln, Nebraska, for marshalling its fleet of King Air turboprops and Citation jets and crews to aid Nebraskans from the devastating flooding in March. In one instance, the 28-year-old charter operator employed five of its airplanes and 11 pilots and crewmembers to operate dozens of free flights to the eastern Nebraska community of Fremont, which had been cut off by rising floodwaters. 

Silverhawk was joined by a dozen or so pilots who rented airplanes or used their own to also provide transportation to Fremont residents, director of operations John Geary added. “Other people from the Fremont area came to the airport to donate food to the pilots and people who were there helping.”

And in the flooding’s aftermath, Silverhawk flew a total of 30 legs transporting 170 people and supplies to and from affected Nebraska communities. “Our employees were proud to be part of a company that would do this, and willingly offered any help they could,” Geary explained. “The perspective both inside and outside the company was, ‘This is what a Nebraska company does in times of hardship.’”