![]() ![]() ![]() To me, the most rewarding part is working with the people who are so grateful for the opportunity to have their operation because they can see their child for the first time, or their child can see them. “If someone needs a power cord, I’m on it. “Like many of our pilots, I arrange my work schedule so I can stay and help in any way I can,” Berwyn explains. “Plus, we have everything downstairs in the airplane-support equipment and spare parts-so we’re self-sustaining wherever we go.”Īfter Orbis volunteer pilots deliver the FEH to its destination, they are free to return home to their jobs. We tap and touch, make sure doors are locked, straps are tied down and there’s nothing loose,” she says. After the team transitions it back to flight mode, before we take off, the pilots must come through and put our hands on everything. “When it’s in hospital mode, there are operating rooms, equipment and medications that are out and available to doctors-nothing is strapped down. Nick Wood/Orbis Internationalīerwyn explains that the preflight process on the FEH is a very important element of each flight. The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is a full-on flying surgical teaching facility. In flight mode, everything has to be properly stowed, locked and strapped down,” Berwyn says. “We arrive at the airplane at least two days prior to a flight in order to preflight the airplane and check the loading of the equipment. After Orbis sets up the programs, the pilots get involved several weeks before departure with specific preflight planning. Long before the wheels are up and the FEH is headed to another three-week medical program somewhere around the world, an intricate dance has to be performed to transition it from “hospital” mode to “flight” mode. It took several years to convert the interior to the teaching hospital we see today, and because FAA certifies an MD-10 as being an MD-11 for pilot ratings, the FEH is flown under an MD-11 type rating. The FEH is a 1973 DC-10 that was converted to an MD-10-30 in 2001 and donated to Orbis by FedEx in 2011. Moving a hospital around the world takes a team effort, and Berwyn is proud to be an integral part of that group. It’s a full-on surgical hospital set up as much for training as for performing life-altering eye surgeries. The job of flying the Orbis FEH around the world has to be one of the most unique challenges any captain can have in professional aviation. It is imperative to maintain situational awareness in the sky and in life, be self-confident while remaining humble, stay aware of the inherent risks involved in flying, and exercise good judgment when faced with tough decisions.” “Being a pilot is more than just a physical skill,” Berwyn says, “and so many of the things we learn while developing aviation skills apply to life in general. Success in Berwyn’s career has come from having a full understanding of what it means to be a professional pilot, both mentally and physically. The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is a 1973 DC-10 that was converted to an MD-10-30 in 2001 and donated to Orbis by FedEx in 2011. This spring, she will be bringing the FEH to the Sun ’n Fun airshow in Lakeland, Florida. Destinations on her Orbis FEH flights have included Panama, the United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore, Ethiopia, Chile, Peru and Jamaica, as well as numerous static-display trips inside the US. Instead, she spends her off-duty time as a captain on the Orbis International Flying Eye Hospital, a one-of-a-kind McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30 that travels around the globe bringing needed medical training to doctors so they can learn new ways to treat avoidable blindness or vision impairment in underserved countries. Through her career at FedEx, she’s been a flight engineer, first officer and/or captain on the Boeing 727, Douglas DC-10, Airbus A300, McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and Boeing 777, respectively.īerwyn’s career has always been pegged at VY, and with a logbook now stuffed with more than 15,500 hours, you’d think she might contemplate slowing down-but that’s not how she’s wired. At about the same time, she was hired as a pilot for FedEx, where she has been employed for the past 34 years. Her career made a roaring start.ĭuring her Air Force years, Berwyn continued to build general aviation experience by flying hot air balloons, seaplanes and helicopters, before joining the Air Force Reserve flying KC-10s once her active duty was over. After she competed for a slot and was selected as one of the first women in that program, she became an Air Force instructor, flying T-37s and T-38s. In her senior year, the US Air Force decided to allow women to become pilots in the service. While studying meteorology at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, Cyndhi Berwyn began flying gliders. ![]()
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