In a project dubbed “Operation Good Cheer,” corporate and private pilots, aircraft owners, FBOs and other volunteers helped deliver more than 14,000 presents last month to nearly 5,000 children in foster care, group homes and residential treatment facilities across Michigan. More than 100 aircraft and 200 volunteers descended on the operation’s staging centers at Oakland County (Pontiac) International Airport (PTK), about 25 miles north of Detroit, on December 3 and 4 to receive, sort and load presents onto aircraft and trucks for distribution. Although most of the aircraft were piston singles and twins, several Learjets, Citations, Beechjets, a Convair 580 and a Falcon 20 also participated in the yearly airlift.
“We had 145 aircraft signed up this year,” said Jerry Drew, an air traffic controller at PTK who volunteers as Operation Good Cheer’s aircraft coordinator. “When the weather’s really bad, it can drop to only 40 aircraft as most of our aircraft are VFR-only.”
