Video
https://youtu.be/No9OZrk2Prg
Air X Embraer Lineage 9H-FAB
Isn’t it remarkable how life can be about extremes? On Saturday I found myself at a secret, unsignposted part of Stansted Airport far away from the main terminal.
Private waiting room
There's no cheap duty free booze and fags here, the only things for sale were a 15th Century sketch by Leonardo da Vinci (original) and a painting of meadows by Van Gogh. Those who normally use this secret facility could buy either on a whim, or perhaps even both, but today was different, today I was there!
Leonardo da Vinci, for sale
In 2018 I was in Ukraine when an elderly family member fell over. In moments a crowd had gathered, almost fighting to help. Within two or three minutes blankets had appeared, as had antiseptic, bandages, water and even an espresso. One of the babushkas took charge and organised around 20 people who’d come to help.
Roll forward to March 2022 and I was in Prague Main Station surrounded by refugees. Since Russia’s military invaded, the Ukrainian regime has forbidden men from leaving, so everybody this time is either a small child or female. Prague station wasn’t quite so bad as I remember Frankfurt being during the Syrian crisis, people this time had travelled more or less entirely by train. They none-the-less had that same washed out look I saw then.
By accident, I photoed a little girl in a yellow hat, who was clinging to her doll like it was the only thing of worth in the world.
The little girl in a yellow hat at Prague station
I knew at that precise moment, now is the time to repay that kindness shown by random Ukrainian people to my family.
People collecting supplies for refugees is fantastic, but from that point onwards matters become complicated. Specifically, just how do you get tonnes of humanitarian supplies into a war zone?
You need a few things:
1. A warehouse hub
2. A plane
3. Trucks with fixers who are able to navigate the war
Not surprisingly, a plane is the hardest part. Air X is an executive jet company owned by John Matthews. His wife Amy was determined to make a difference. One thing led to another, and hey presto, there was a plane. Air X loaned a $53m Lineage. The Lineage is essentially an Embraer 195, except the cargo hold is taken up by fuel tanks. There is a cargo hold where the rear galley would be.
Amy co-ordinating
So it was off to Stansted to help organise the supplies, searching everything for security and to ensure the supplies were humanitarian. Air X have a large store for spare aircraft parts, which they used to keep everything safe.
In Ukraine and neighbouring countries people are calling for long life cans of food, blankets and nappies. Can you imagine fleeing for your life from your home alone with a baby, and not having nappies……
We sorted things into bags, which are easier to store in an aircraft cabin. That was important because The Lineage doesn’t have underfloor storage for suitcases and cargo. So apart from a luggage room, everything had to fit around sofas and other furniture.
Supplies before sorting
Supplies after sorting onboard
Normal cabin layout
We then stacked the bags on big luggage trolleys, like you see tugs pulling. These were pushed into the Air X Hangar, where the Lineage was waiting.
Some of the aid ready for weighing
On the day a few different teams were involved, apart from me lugging boxes around.
You might know about “Big Jet TV”, an increasingly famous YouTuber. If you’ve seen pictures of planes landing in storm winds on the TV, that would be him. So Jerry “aka BigJet TV” streamed the whole event live on YouTube, which around 60,000 people saw live, plus lots more people afterwards. Hopefully Ukrainians will see we are trying to help.
BigJet TV
Also, Air X have a vast hangar they use for maintenance. Air X Aircraft Engineers came in on their day off to help. They focused on making sure the plane was balanced. If a jet is too heavy at one end, it’ll crash on take off. So they had to do the actual loading, whilst we got supplies to outside of the plane.
Two Captains and a flight attendant operated the jet. After our flight, the Lineage needed to be in Paris for one of Air X’s rich clients. One of the captains was carrying cards from children in his village and an invitation from his children’s football team, to come and play a game with them one day.
One of the objectives was to encourage donations. So BBC News came and we were the top story of BBC London TV News. There were also print journalists, who really got into helping move the cargo around!
As you may have seen, Russian President Putin has said convoys from the West are a legitimate military target. That’s in case they are secretly being used to supply arms and soldiers. So, we have to be very secretive to help keep our fellow aid workers away from any Russian attacks.
Unloading in Romania
We were very careful to make sure no arms had been snuck into the humanitarian aid. Absolutely, that was not the case.
Interior before unloading
Anyhow, what I can say is that fantastic volunteers collected the humanitarian civilian aid at tremendous risk to their own lives and it is being used by people who need it.
Air X team in London
Ukrainian team
I must say there are so many under utilised jets right now, and I believe Air X deserve a huge congratulations for their efforts.
