Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ In Texas, a volunteer air force of more than 1,000 amateur aviators has come together to transport essential medical supplies to far-flung cities.

Some places are just easier to reach from the sky.

Also, it’s more fun. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

2/ As health care workers across the country combat the new coronavirus, it has been particularly difficult for small and rural hospitals to compete for the protective equipment they need.

So, these volunteer worked out a solution. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

3/ A group of West Texas businesses and Texas Tech University employees came together to design and manufacture medical equipment like face shields and deliver it for free to the most remote pockets of the state. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

4/ The group has drafted a volunteer air force, drawing on the considerable talent of a spread-out region where amateur aviators are not difficult to find. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

5/ Mark Merritt put a callout in West Texas Aviators: Would anyone be interested in helping to deliver medical supplies?

The answer, overwhelmingly, was yes. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

6/ The word also spread to a smaller group, the Fat Tire Cowboys, who come together to land their planes on land thinner tires could never handle, on sandbars, dirt strips on ranches, or runways with grass peeping up through the cracks. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

7/ The group has donated about 4,000 face shields and 150 intubation shields to dozens of small hospitals and senior care centers. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

8/ One of the team’s earliest shipments went to Ward Memorial Hospital in Monahans, 50 miles north of Fort Stockton, where a pilot said there was just one ventilator. bit.ly/3bSy3E5

9/9 Scott Gloyna, a former Air Force pilot, made the drop in Ward County along with a fellow Fat Tire Cowboy.

“Whatever it takes to get from here to there,” Gloyna said. bit.ly/3bSy3E5