Williams International: ‘We All Wanted to Do Something’

Williams International, a leading developer and manufacturer of small gas turbine engines, answered the call for first-response help in Haiti soon after the earthquake hit.

“We all wanted to do something,” said Bob Lambert, Williams’ flight department manager. “Our opportunity came across my computer from NBAA,” offering the connection to the all-volunteer group Corporate Aircraft Responding in Emergencies (CARE). “I immediately called to see if there was a plan I could put together for my boss,” Gregg Williams, Chairman, President and CEO of the privately held company.

Gregg endorsed the plan and encouraged his pilots to do whatever they could to help. “We took our big aircraft (a Cessna Citation X) down first,” Lambert said, “hoping to operate in and out of Port-au-Prince at will. But the slot reservation requirement limited us to one trip into Haiti, where we delivered medical supplies and doctors, and returned with several children and injured.”

“So then we worked into Santiago, Dominican Republic,” Lambert explained. “We delivered 900 pounds of critical medicines, baby formula, rice, and equipment in addition to our passengers – two doctors, an engineer, and an aide.”

That first round of missions, just a week following the Jan. 12 disaster, convinced Williams that the next round would take place in the company’s smaller Cessna Citation, a CJ2 (which is powered by Williams International FJ44 engines), because it could fly in and out of small airports within Haiti.

After returning from the second round, Lambert said, “I never knew general aviation was so powerful, and I’ve been a pilot all my life. We are continuing to do things that big airplanes and big organizations can’t do – it’s really an EMT (emergency medical technician), first-aid, ambulance kind of agenda right now. And that takes quick response and not a lot of levels of administration. It is general aviation that gets it done,” he said.

“So now it has turned into a company-wide agenda, and we are a team assisting in this general aviation effort,” Lambert said. “It’s even done powerful things for the whole company… because as I said, we all want to do something” to help in tragedies like this.