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A 16-year-old student pilot has turned his love of flying into an opportunity to help deliver vital medical supplies to rural hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.
TJ Kim, a sophomore at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, was bummed when his lacrosse season ended due to the deadly outbreak, so he brainstormed with his family about barnstorming with a good cause.
To keep busy and lend a hand, they came up with Operation SOS – Supplies Over Skies, according to the Associated Press.
Every week, the pilot-in-training flies personal protection equipment — including masks, gloves and gowns — to small hospitals, including the 25-bed facility in Luray.
“They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about. Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals,” he told the AP. “Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten.”
During his most recent flight in the Cessna 172, Kim delivered 3,000 gloves, 1,000 head covers, 500 shoe covers, 50 masks, 20 pairs of protective eyewear and 10 bottles of hand sanitizer to a hospital in nearby Woodstock.
His goal is to make deliveries to all seven rural hospitals in Virginia defined as critical-access facilities.
The budding aviator’s flight instructor, Dave Powell, said he was blown away when his student first suggested the project.
“For TJ to be more concerned with the needs of others in his melancholy state just reiterated to me how amazing this young man is,” Powell told the news service.



TJ’s dad, Thomas — who has been rounding up the supplies — bought his son a flying lesson for his 15th birthday. He was hooked in no time.
“After I landed, all I could think about was going back up,” said TJ, who hopes to attend the US Naval Academy and eventually become a pilot.
TJ’s proud father said he was glad to see his son turn his disappointment at losing his lacrosse season into a positive — “something that combines serving the community and his love of flying.”
“The stars really aligned here,” he said.



