Braving Hell in Paradise
General aviation aircraft owners and pilots mobilized their machines and mustered their skill, courage, and humanity in equal measure for purpose of establishing a supply-line by which to provide humanitarian relief to the people of fire-ravaged Lahaina.
A composite-community comprising the famed Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts, Lahaina is an ocean-front census-designated locale of some 13,000 inhabitants tucked neatly away on the western shores of the Hawaiian island of Maui.
The supply-line effort by which Lahaina was sustained during the fires’ second week was conceived of and organized by CFI and flight-school owner Laurence Balter and Maui Brewing founder Garrett Marrero. Utilizing little more than text-messages and social-media, the pair recruited pilots, aircraft, volunteers, and donors, the combined efforts of which facilitated the commencement of relief flight operations of 11 August 2023.
In addition to the aforementioned pilots, aircraft owners, volunteers, and donors, Balter and Marrero prevailed upon the management of Kapalua Airport (JHM), a regional airport some five-nautical-miles north of Lahaina and—as Hawaii’s only non-grant-obligated airport—a facility long off-limits to GA aircraft.
Off-limits or not, the airport’s single, three-thousand-foot, paved runway offered the best-possible access to the disaster area.
Mr. Balter stated: "We called the airport manager's office and we received approval within 24-hours to operate relief flights into there.”
Volunteer pilots coordinated with local firefighters, who helped transfer badly-needed supplies from aircraft to ground-vehicles for transport and distribution to the savaged community.
"We were really the first responders bringing … everything. You name it: sleeping bags to food, water,” Baltar recounted.
In short-order, the relief effort’s logistics grew genuinely complex. Supplies were collected at a Maui Brewing warehouse, trucked to Kahului Airport, loaded aboard aircraft by volunteers, and flown to Kapalua, a trip of some 12-minutes.
Upon arriving in Kapalua, emergency supplies were hurriedly unloaded by local firefighters and civilian volunteers determined to clear the ramp for the next arriving aircraft.
"Within five-to-ten minutes, we were back out again," Balter averred.
Urgency and workload precluded quantification of the first day’s efforts. On the airlift’s second day, however, pilots made 57 drops delivering thousands of pounds of critical supplies, to include food, pet food, and medications.
"We're talking essentially 18-wheeler-loads full of supplies during that time," Balter explained.
In the absence of operable cellular networks, news of the airlift spread by word-of-mouth. On 12 August, the airlift pilots were confronted with an impassioned plea for insulin. Balter later learned a one-hundred-pound shipment of the lifesaving stuff was stuck on Hawaii’s Big Island.
"As soon as we got word, we deployed," Balter asserted. "Actually Garrett … it was his turn to fly."
They handily executed the delivery of critical medication, compelling Balter to remark: “I know we saved lives.”
As costs mounted, Balter established a GoFundMe page seeking donations to offset the costs of aircraft fuel. By 14 August, donors had pledged nearly $32,000 of the drive’s $50,000 goal. The majority of the funds were provided by pilots and former students of Balter’s Maui Flight Academy.
To the subject of the fuel by which the airlift has been sustained, Balter stated: "We're burning it, and we want to burn every penny of it to continue doing the efforts that we're doing.”
Balter likened the Lahaina airlift to the relief efforts undertaken by general aviation pilots in the wakes of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquakes and the hurricanes by which U.S. and Caribbean communities are assailed year after year.
Balter characterized the airlift as having been rewarding for all concerned, and a chance to ply one’s effort, ability, and empathy to assuaging the suffering of his fellow human beings.
"It was really heartwarming to see there were some people on, as we were on approach, on our base leg, you know, just kind of waving to us like, you know, giving us a thank you," Balter said. "Because they realized that this was their only lifeline."
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