Press Release
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Jetcareers.com Press Release
Who: Members of Jetcareers.com
What: Donations collected and care packs (totalling $2,500 and over 700lbs) sent to 12 U.S. Airforce A-10 pilots
Where: Jetcareers.com is based out of Scottsdale, Ariz. and 12 Davis Monthan Airforce Base pilots stationed in Iraq
When: Dec. 10, the packages were sent
Why: One of the pilots is a member of Jetcarrers.com
Holiday
Klimut
12/14/03
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. - Over 700 pounds of goodwill is on its way to 12 pilots in the Iraqi desert.
During the last few weeks of November 2003, 93 general aviation and commercial pilots who are members of the Scottsdale, Ariz. based Web site
http://www.jetcareers.com donated over $2,725 to buy, and ship, over 700 pounds of items to 12 United States Airforce pilots, from Arizona, who were recently deployed to Iraq.
Jetcareers.com, according to the Web site, is dedicated to helping aspiring professional pilots find their way through the process of flight training and then finding work in the aviation field.
“I am an MD-88/90 first officer based at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. One of my hobbies is helping aspiring aviators and even the general public answer questions they have about life as a professional pilot,” Doug Taylor, founder and webmaster of Jetcareers.com, wrote on the site. “There are plenty of commercial sources of information about careers in aviation, however, I saw a need for a source of information made by professional pilots for future professional pilots and other people that are interested in a ‘behind the scenes’ perspective.”
The site is free to all members and to anyone who wishes to join. Information about professional flying, flight training and articles from various pilots describing a “day-in-the-life” can be found at the site. But, the heart of the site is its forums - a portion of the site where members can post messages to one another. The site claims to have over 1,900 members most of whom are interested in pursuing a career as a pilot and who have posted over 70,000 messages.
One of site’s members is an Airforce pilot, based out of Davis Monthan Airforce Base, and assigned to fly A-10 attack aircraft. Mike Daftatian, the A-10 pilot, along with his squadron was recently deployed to Iraq to participate in Operation: Enduring Freedom.
"Mike Daftarian is more than just an Air Force A-10 pilot, he's a forum regular and a very close friend of ours. He's expected to be in Iraq for the holiday season and possiblly 6 months after that," Taylor wrote on the site. "Kristie [Taylor’s wife] and I decided that a good way to say thanks would be to take a collection and send Mike [and the 11 other pilots] a Christmas Care Package from the Jetcareers community."
What started as a simple gesture quickly ballooned into a large donation campaign.
“Doug and I never thought we would exceed our $100 goal to the tune of over $2,700 – more than 10-times the sum we thought we would get.” Kristie Taylor wrote on the site. “We know there are starving students, Certified Flight Instructors, regional and newly hired major airline pilots on the board. We know what it's like to be on welfare wages and eating out of cans. We have been completely taken aback by your generosity and support.”
Ninety-three members of the Web site, who range from student pilots to airline captains, averaged donations of nearly $30 per person.
The Taylors used the collected funds to buy everything from toilet paper and deodarant to an X-Box and movies to send to the 12 pilots in Iraq.
“People think general aviation pilots are noisy, bad neighbors and airline pilots are overpaid bufoons,” Taylor wrote on the site. “Any positive light helps us all.”
Money wasn’the only thing collected, however.
“We know that most of our users are eating Top Ramen, paying for flight training expenses, dealing with unemployment or that robust probationary pay for new hire pilots,” Taylor wrote in a message to the site. “Donations are voluntary and it's understandable if our users decide to send an awesome handmade ‘howdy’ card [instead of] monetary donation.”
Those who did not, or could not, donate money wrote e-mails of support and holiday sentiments to the 12 pilots. All e-mails were printed on Christmas stationery and then sent along with the goodwill items to the 12 pilots.
According to Taylor a collection like this has not occurred at other pilot Web sites.
“No other Web site, group or anyone else on the Internet did anything like this, and even though the media really hasn't grabbed hold of just what you guys accomplished, you're making history,” Taylor wrote.
For more information visit Jetcareers.com or contact Doug Taylor at
(Note: Doug .. please feel free to edit this post and plug in the contact info you want here)
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Et. all,
I sent this to the local news agencies here in town (PHX). Feel free to copy and paste this release (if it's ok with Doug of course) and e-mail it to your local news stations and newspapers. You'll want to send it to the address they list as/for the "newsroom" or for "leads/tips." Don't be afraid to send it more than once as press releases have a tendancy to be tossed (you'd be astounded at the number of these things news agencies receive on a daily basis.) Feel free to edit as it's been awhile since I've written a proper news piece. I'm a little rusty.
