Some 30 People Assisted By Grass-Roots Airlift Operation

A group of at least 10 local pilots from the Mojave, CA area were involved in a grass-roots airlift following massive mudslides in southern California assisting motorists who were stranded when Highway 58 was buried in mud.

The mudslide force the closure of the highway between the Sand Canyon area of Tehachapi and Mojave on Friday morning.

The Tehachapi News reports that Ken Hetge, the owner of Recover Your Cub at Tehachapi Municipal airport, organized the effort. He and other pilots agreed to donate aircraft, gas, and expenses in order to assist people who had been stranded by the closure of the highway.

In all, the pilots conducted 15-20 flights, picking up motorists at the Mojave Air and Space Port and flying them to Tehachapi Municipal airport, as well as transporting some from Tehachapi to Mojave. Among that latter group was a Los Angeles woman whose car was swept away by the mudslide.

The Red Cross was largely responsible for getting the motorists to the airport.

Pilot Bill McCune told the paper that the effort was a "good demonstration of what a group of pilots and a handful of pilots can do when we have a disaster."

(Image of Tehachapi Municipal Airport from Tehachapi government website)

FMI: http://ca-tehachapicityhall.civicplus.com/index.aspx?nid=26