Sustainability and Environment
Private Pilots Come to the Aid of Endangered Sea Turtles
Recent volunteer flights carried more than 100 critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles to specialized care
Loading boxed sea turtles through the cargo door on a Pilatus PC-12
Environmental officials and volunteers load boxes of endangered sea turtles aboard a Pilatus PC-12 on Tuesday morning © Turtles Fly Too

As the weather turned cold in the Northeast, the cycle of stranded endangered sea turtles ramped up again this year. This spurred rescue flights by private aviation aircraft, arranged by Turtles Fly Too, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017.

Every fall as the temperatures drop in the waters off the Northern U.S. coast, many sea turtles cannot adapt, becoming cold and lethargic. Unable to swim, they get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod Bay, where they wash up on beaches. There, they are collected by rescuers and brought to institutions—such as the New England Aquarium—where they are carefully revived and stabilized.

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