Cessna Aircraft Co. is recruiting Citation owners to help transport more than 2,000 athletes and coaches from across the nation to the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb.
Corporations and individual Citation owners and operators throughout the United States are needed to donate their Citation business jets, pilots and fuel for the airlift on two Saturdays: July 17 and July 24, 2010. Registration is exclusively on line at Airlift.Cessna.com.
“While Cessna may be out front promoting the event, the Citation Special Olympics Airlift wouldn’t happen without our Citation owners making a commitment to provide a safe way for the athletes and coaches to travel to the games,” said Cessna Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jack J. Pelton. “Now more than ever, our industry and the athletes need the lift that can be provided by this unique event.”
“It might seem early for Cessna to ask for a commitment to an event in July 2010, but organizing the world’s largest peacetime airlift takes enormous pre-planning. The most important element of our planning is determining how many aircraft we can count on and where those aircraft are based,” said Rhonda Fullerton, Cessna community relations manager and director of the Citation Special Olympics Airlift.
The first Citation Special Olympics Airlift in 1987 involved more than 130 Citations carrying nearly 1,000 athletes to and from South Bend, Ind. The last airlift, in 2006, included 235 Citations transporting 1,500 athletes to and from Des Moines, Iowa.
Special Olympics is an international organization that provides people with intellectual disabilities continuing opportunities to realize their potential, develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage and experience joy and friendship. Special Olympics offers year-round athletic training and competition in Olympic-type sports, including the USA National Games.
