PUBLISHED FOR THE EMPLOYEES AND FRIENDS
 OF OVERSEAS NATIONAL AIRWAYS
This wonderful story about Captain George 
Flavell & crew comes from F/A Irene Miller 
(Turner), El Segundo, California!

Says George Flavell about him initiating 
the Honduras Rescue Mission:
- It was not so much what I did, as what 
so many people did, that made the flight 
possible. 

I decided I would pick up the phone and 
start trying and if God wanted this to 
happen it would fall in place, if it 
weren’t to happen. I would soon find out 
and at least be able to say I tried. 

Ironically it took some lying to get it 
started, I began with ONA President Bill 
Bailey and I told him I had the fuel if 
I could have the airplane, he didn’t 
leave the phone, he didn’t hesitate, 
he said yes!

"IT MAKES ME PROUD TO 
BE PART OF ONA"

Without that ONA spirit coming 
right from the top it never would 
have gone beyond that phone call. 
The letter from Steedman Hinckley 
is published not to reflect credit 
for me, but to indicate the 
caliber of leadership that we 
worked for.

Pilot´s Initiative Aids Honduras 
Hurricane Victims In A Special 
DC-8 Mercy Flight 

The initiative of an ONA Captain has 
resulted in a little more comfort for 
many people in floodravaged Honduras.

Captain George Flavell, a JFK-based 
DC-8 pilot, was casually reading 
a newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, 
while on a week-end layover in Chicago, 
when he notised an appeal from a 
Valparaiso, Indiana businessman. 
It seems that a grocer, Bill Costas 
and friends, had made an effort in 
their small community to collect 
clothes, shoes and bedding for the 
flood victims. With their expectation 
of a few hundred boxes of gifts far 
exceeded, the group found itself 
with some 1200 boxes of needed
items on hand and no way to have the 
material, mostly new items, delivered
 to Honduras. Appeals to airlines and 
government went unanswered.

ONA HORIZONS

Upon reading this small item in the paper, 
Flavell thought that something should 
be done about it. He knew that one of 
our DC-8-21 series aircraft was on the 
ground in Chicago awaiting its 
next flight a few days later. After 
consulting with his fellow crew members, 
Co-Pilot Pete Green and Engineer Dick Hall, 
and receiving their willingness to 
volunteer their services for the flight, 
George called President J. W. Bailey and 
asked if ONA could make the aircraft 
available for the flight. Bailey gave 
his immediate approval pending some help 
on the fuel.
Captain Flavell and F/A Waibel are being 
shown around whats left of the 
Honduran village of Choloma.

They are actually standing on top of the 
village now covered by dirt and mud. The 
bushes shown are tops of palm trees and, 
sadly, underneath the visitors are the 
remains of village huts and hundreds of 
bodies. Photographer Jim O´Leary took 
some 500 photos during the course of the 
flight.

Two days later everything was in order 
and the aircraft, N819F left Chicago´s 
O´Hare Airport for the disaster area. 
Flight attendant Nancy Waibel also 
volunteered her services in order 
to take care of the several newsmen 
who made the flight and also to use 
her Spanish linguistic talents.

During the course of the flight, 
the aircraft received instructions 
to land in New Orleans for 
the night as the damage around 
the airport at San Pedro Sula, 
made it impossible to turn 
on the runway lights.

Fuel for the flight was obtained 
through the generosity of Bethlehem 
Steel who contributed $4100 toward 
the cost with the balance of the 
estimated cost of $8200 being 
donated by the businessmen who 
organized the collection in 
Valparaiso.
In discussing his flight with 
ONA HORIZONS, Captain Flavell had 
very hight praise for ONA´s 
Chicago Station Manager, Bill Buxman 
who "worked his butt off" to get the 
flight underway. 
Flavell also had similar praise for 
the ground staff of Butler Aviation 
in Chicago and for his fellow crew 
members and Mr. Bailey.