Co-pilots Dave Whalley and Woody Milroy undertook the challenge after being approached by CK Aviation to help the charity Lunar Aid, which was established in support of Medical Aid for Ukraine (MAU).
‘We didn’t even think about it – as soon as we got the call we thought we had to do it,’ said Mr Whalley, owner of Target Tyres.
‘So many people are displaced, injured or wounded so anything we could do would be worthwhile.’
The pair flew Mr Whalley’s Cirrus SR22 plane from Guernsey to Southend, where they loaded up 120kg of equipment for the journey to near the Ukrainian border in Lublin, Poland.
Twenty private aircraft were planned to embark on the journey, but only 10 made it due to the weather conditions.
‘They were flying in at all times of the day and night. Only three aircraft, including ours, got there on the first day,’ Mr Whalley said.
‘It was quite intense flying over the couple of days.’
Mr Milroy added: ‘The weather was quite bad with ice, hail and rain.
‘In all we flew over 16.5 hours there and back with each of us flying different legs – we were tired but pleased that we could help in some way.’
In total, more than three tons of equipment donated by doctors from across the UK were transported to Ukraine in the airlift.
‘Each plane had a specifically weighed-out pallet of goods to pack on to their plane, incorporating what maximum load we could take on versus what fuel we could load,’ Mr Milroy said.
‘Any spare space not filled with defibrillators, trauma kits and syringes on the planes was filled with softer items including gowns, gloves and tourniquets.
‘It was comforting to know that our supplies were picked up in Lublin and delivered to the various hospitals and clinics within 72 hours.’
Including stopping off for fuel, the pair made a total of seven flights and stayed the night in Lublin due to military activity in the airspace.
‘It was a normal city and everyone was carrying about their normal business,’ Mr Whalley said.
‘It was surreal knowing what was going on over the border.’
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