Charlie Bravo Aviation Becomes Harvey Support HQ

For the last few days, Charlie Bravo Aviation’s office has gone from brokerage firm to disaster relief headquarters. Last week, Robin Eissler, COO of jetAVIVA, reached out to Charlie Bravo CEO René Banglesdorf to see if she’d be willing to team up in an effort to provide support to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in southeast Texas and beyond. For René, the answer was simple, and the answer from Charlie Bravo employees was a resounding “Yes” as well.

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In addition to the Charlie Bravo staff, students from Georgetown ISD’s aviation program, volunteers from Celebration Church, members of the Austin Disaster Relief Network, employees of GTU Jet, pilots and countless others spent their time loading food, water, baby supplies, toiletries and more onto planes ranging from small Cessnas to massive WWII-era aircraft in order to help where it was needed the most.

Pilots from all over the country, some local and some from as far as Boston, flocked to Georgetown Municipal Airport to offer their assistance. Those that coordinated the efforts from the GTU Jet hangars and Charlie Bravo office received hundreds of texts and phone calls from pilots, all willing to travel on their own dime, asking what they could do to help. Many made multiple trips to and from cities like Beaumont, Orange, Houston, Corpus Christi, Lake Charles and others that were devastated by Hurricane Harvey. For much of the weekend, those planes were the only form of support that could get supplies into the affected areas, as major roadways were shut down throughout the region due to flooding, blocking access to organizations like the Red Cross.

What started last Wednesday afternoon on a whim turned into an organized, well-oiled machine that transformed much of Georgetown Municipal Airport into an efficient disaster relief center with unique access to areas that otherwise would have been left without assistance. As of today, September 5th, we are on day seven of what has been an incredible relief mission, as pilots and volunteers are still giving their time to the cause. In order to give a monetary donation or volunteer your time to help with these efforts, visit https://celebration.church/disasterrelief.

This disaster relief mission has been covered by a few news sources, links to which are provided below.