It's A Privilege

Privilege of Travel (Part 1 of 3): Flight to End Polio

• Jason Browne • Season 1 • Episode 6

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 In this episode of 'It's a Privilege' podcast, the hosts and two special guests, Peter Tien and John Ockenfels, explore the privilege of travel. Alongside hosts James Tierney and Don Rosenbaum, they discuss personal experiences with travel and its connection to privilege. The segment delves into how travel influences empathy and social perceptions. 

The episode then transitions to an in-depth discussion with Peter and John, who undertook a global flight, known as the "Flight to End Polio," to raise awareness for polio. They share riveting stories about their journey, the adversities faced, and the ultimate success of their mission to raise significant funds for polio eradication. The discussion sets the stage for further exploration in the next episode. This is part 1 of a 3-part series. 

Follow the Flight to End Polio: https://www.flighttoendpolio.com/
Learn more about the End Polio Now Campaign: https://www.endpolio.org/

For more information about the host, go to www.thejasonbrowne.com
Check out the TEDx talk here: TEDx Possibilities of Privilege
Thanks you for being a part of the conversation.

Jason Browne:

Welcome to it's a privilege podcast, where we explore the possibilities of our privilege. This is part one on the privilege of travel. We have two special guests today. They are passionate Rotarians, pilots, and advocates to end polio. One is a mental health professional who has led natural disaster efforts. And the other is a U S military veteran with an international service award. We have Peter Tien and John Ockenfels. I also have the privilege of having two wonderful co hosts. We have James Tierney, a private tutor, academic coach, improviser, and co founder of Happy Valley Improv, we also have Don Rosenbaum, a non binary healthcare professional and improv director, What can you expect in this episode? First, our crew is going to chat and explore the privilege of travel, and then we'll get into the privilege perspective with the two pilots And here's a story about how travel has impacted their lives to get us started. Let's check in on our own privilege.

James Tierney:

It's great to be here. Super excited. I'm in a good mood.

Jason Browne:

You're in a good mood?

James Tierney:

in a great

Jason Browne:

Okay. Perfect. All right. We start the episode off every single time in the same way. every day might be different, but what is one privilege that you're feeling today? Let's start with you, Dawn.

Dawn:

a privilege that I had today. I did not have to worry about my house today. I was able to go to work. I, sort of touch base, literally partner. and partner. I was like, tag you're it. And then I also left again. To come do this. So as a person who lives a busy lifestyle, I don't got to really worry about Is my laundry getting done is my house, clean Are my dishes done? Do I have dinner? I don't worry about. any of that.

Jason Browne:

not only home, but laundry is also being completed for

Dawn:

if I need it to be, yeah. I've got, a, I have an equal partnership with my romantic partner. So because of that, we manage the house together. And so I'm feeling that privilege to be able to be here with you guys today.

Jason Browne:

Nice. I'll be handing off my laundry to you, James. What about you? What is one privilege you're feeling today?

James Tierney:

I was gonna order the exact same one but now I can't. It's like when you go out you can't order the same thing.

Jason Browne:

You cannot order the same thing. You'll instantly be kicked off the podcast

James Tierney:

I figured as much. I think a privilege that I experienced today was the, the ability to communicate well. And I, for, you know, my day job as, as an educator and a coach and a tutor, I had an initial consultation with a new incoming first year student and her mom, and, you know, I have the ability to communicate and connect with people and that, made it so that way I made the sale. Not everyone can do that.

Jason Browne:

you made some sales. You made some new friends. Well, there you go. and for me, the privilege that I have is of course just being here with you and I can do that because this is my podcast. before we hop into our first segment with the privileged perspective How does travel relate to both of you and how is that related to privilege? Let's start with you James.

James Tierney:

I love traveling. Domestically and internationally, But I don't travel, internationally as much. I like to just get out and experience new things. That's how it kind of connects to me personally. Learning about the history, figuring out and finding out how, certain cities or areas have become what they are now. Uh, and, uh, You know, not everyone gets that opportunity, to not only experience the travel, but even learn about it.

Jason Browne:

why did but why is that something that interests you like when you get to travel what peaks the James Tierney in you

James Tierney:

I like to learn about how it came about. So for example, my wife and I just got back from traveling to Barcelona. And one of the things that we did was almost every day went on some sort of, walking tour to learn about the history and, the individuals and, groups of people who made it the way it is now. So that's what I really like about it.

Jason Browne:

As an educator, that seems very fitting. what about you, Dawn? How does travel relate to you, especially from a privileged perspective?

Dawn:

So, I've had a moderate amount of travel in my life. in the last few years I've tried to make it a priority to do so. I, um, two, two things about me that I feel are really, part of my upbringing was, one is, I come from a town that's incredibly transitional. Everybody's coming in and out and coming from different perspectives and cultures. And the idea that I would sort of stay stationary where I live has never been something I expected to do. So, I usually travel as part of my own experience to be able to learn about those cultures, as James said. also, I'm adopted. I have a lot of siblings from a lot of backgrounds. I grew up in a very multicultural type of family. And so traveling allows me to, be able to embrace different other people's cultural heritage. And, a lot of times it's been a really great opportunity for me to be able to just sort of meet new people, see how, and learn about other cultures and appreciate that. them.

Jason Browne:

it sounds like you had a diversity within your own household, but what was one moment when you were younger, when you got to go outside of your bubble and see something else and you're like, yo, that's different.

Dawn:

the first time that I ever got to travel. before this we had only like driven up and down the east Coast of North America And we stayed in the United States. So, for, me to actually be able to get on a plane and go somewhere the first time ever was, actually, in college, I took an opportunity and went to Ireland. and I was like, ah, Ireland, yeah. I'm, for those people who can see, a redheaded, fair skinned, freckled individual, so I tend to, blend in a lot when it comes to, when people think of Irish culture. but when I went there, it was, it was, You know, you're thinking, oh, they also speak English, No, no, no. Complete culture shock, in a really good way, in my opinion. being able to, explore what how did Ireland come about. And then, uh, I got to learn what the word meet means. Like, to meet someone, Um,

Jason Browne:

And my mind, I had so many different definitions of

Dawn:

yeah, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jason Browne:

you're talking about.

Dawn:

A friend of mine had done a study at the University of Limerick, so we went there and went. we saw a bunch of friends that she had gone to school with. And they were all talking about, oh yeah, so and so met with so and so, and so and so met with so and so. And I was like, wow, I thought these people knew each other really well. well, that's when I got to find out that to meet means to make out with. In Ireland. Oh. Yeah, so I was like, Oh, they know each other really well, exact opposite. Yeah.

Jason Browne:

if you have to go to a meeting,

Dawn:

What is that? How many people

Jason Browne:

are involved in that situation?

Dawn:

I was, I was concerned myself. but, I did learn that night that at least in the college snapshot of the people in university of Limerick, it was incredibly common to go to a bar and this was new year's Eve, but to go to a bar and meet with a bunch of people and then go home. And I was. Known as the most prudish American they'd ever met, according to them. Because I was like, no, I'm not making out with people. No, thank you.

Jason Browne:

I signed up for.

Dawn:

Yeah!

James Tierney:

Sounds like a meat pie, if you,

Dawn:

Oh, I see what you did there.

Jason Browne:

I see what you did there. Actually, meat pies are really delicious out in Australia. I never really had a meat pie. I thought it

Dawn:

I had

Jason Browne:

but until I had one, I was like, no, this is actually fairly delicious. The first time that Dawn really remembers traveling is defined by going outside of the country. But what's one moment you remember traveling that was not outside the country, that was significant for you when you were younger?

James Tierney:

It would have been ninth grade.

Jason Browne:

You knew exactly what it was.

Dawn:

Yeah, I know

James Tierney:

exactly what it was because we, so I grew up two younger siblings. my parents didn't have a lot of money and grew up in a very small, rural town. And the people who got to, like, got to go on airplanes and travel places, I viewed as having more resources and having more money than us. And in ninth grade, my grandparents used to be snowbirds and they would go down to Florida from upstate New York for the winter and for spring break in ninth grade, I got the opportunity to go down to Florida and spend the week with them and then drive back up with them. And I. told everyone That I could because I didn't want to be the poor kid who lived in the crappy house that was never Clean I wanted to fit in more. So when I got that opportunity, I was like, oh, yeah I go to florida for spring break so that's like the first real I guess

Dawn:

It was almost like a name drop of traveling. like, I'm going to Florida for spring break.

Jason Browne:

I find it fascinating that the moment that was most memorable for you had to involve other people's perception of you traveling. Not you experiencing something.

James Tierney:

Have you met me Jason?. I

Jason Browne:

I understand, but

James Tierney:

like, I run an Improv Theatre. All I care about are people that's an uncommon, But

Jason Browne:

I don't think think that's an uncommon thought process. I don't think what you're expressing is different than a lot of people. as using Travel can be just like getting a new pair of shoes or, getting an award some way it, it fits in, in my mind, it was like, Oh, there are all these things that exist that you can experience in the learning and data. And you're just like, listen, I could tell my friends. So what was the first time you traveled somewhere and you're like, Oh, I don't need to, that you did it for yourself. And it wasn't about somebody else, or you got some benefit out of

Dawn:

Has it happened yet?

James Tierney:

I mean, I do, I do take trips for myself. Like if I go to Las Vegas a lot and I

Dawn:

you do.

James Tierney:

Vegas, that's always for me. And I don't want to be like, Hey, everyone, I'm going to Las Vegas to gamble all

Dawn:

this money. That's

James Tierney:

not cool. I mean, it's cool to some people, but not for a lot of people.

Dawn:

So even that you don't share the information now because of people's perceptions of you.

Jason Browne:

wow.

Dawn:

It's the exact opposite.

James Tierney:

No, but if you think of like most of the travel I've done here in the US, it's usually for conferences. Kim and I, my wife and I, we traveled to all 30 baseball stadiums. We did a road trip over 62 days. So that was a big travel. That was for me, but it was also for my wife.

Dawn:

when it comes to travel, I feel like it's such an interesting thing that travel truly is to me an opportunity or a privilege because it's not something that's known for being cheap. And I think there is certainly a, there's, there is a step between, hey I traveled to something I can walk to or bike to versus something I can drive less than a half hour to versus, classic American road trip, which takes time, but it is still the car, and then the next step being, like, plane. And now in America we've got trains, which are known for being inefficient, and yet you can pay a lot of money to sit luxuriously in your inefficient travel, just so you don't have to drive. You can watch the scenery as it goes by, does it take a long time? Yes, it does. Like, it's become a thing that you do, and I can see why for James it's like I can say I traveled here Because we know that that is something that's somewhat envious when it comes to social status because of the cost.

Jason Browne:

I find it fascinating just how expensive train rides are right? I would feel like it should be really inexpensive for me to hop onto a train and travel to, I don't know, Detroit because in other countries like when I was in India. the trains are super cheap. But you are also the cheapest tickets are also on trains in which there's no air conditioning and there are no tickets, so they can be packed full of people. But you can get a train ticket from one part of the country to another for a couple dollars. And the most uncomfortable thing is like for me when I went there, I chose not to get that ticket because I was like, I don't know how busy it's going to be. I was a little nervous. So I, Had the privilege of paying for the higher level ticket and having my own little seat on the train but here in the United States, I feel like it's the same cost sometimes as buying a plane ticket Why why why why it doesn't make sense to

Dawn:

I used to take train up to Massachusetts where I was living at the time from pennsylvania when I would visit family And I remember I was looking at the train. They say these things take forever and it's long and no, we're good. We stopped for 20 minutes in one, I think it was DC. We stopped for another 25 minutes. just intentionally stopped for like 35 minutes. in, New York City. And then they stopped for a whole hour. I forget where it was, but it was like right before my stop. And I was like, oh my god. 10 and a half hours for a trip. for it. takes like a car, eight. So it was just, why? It's expensive and it takes a long time. It doesn't have to be.

Jason Browne:

before we hop into seeing the privileged perspective, do you know anybody who in your hometown, from your hometown growing up that hasn't traveled pretty much outside of that town? Like, what do you think that impact was

James Tierney:

Yeah, I, there's plenty of people in my hometown who, rarely, if ever, You know, travel, now I live on the Canadian border, so even those that maybe have only traveled 10 to 20 miles outside of our hometown have still most likely have traveled internationally and experienced something completely different since it is Quebec with, you know, the French Canadian language, etc. but there are a lot of people in my hometown who You know have either chosen or like you said life has Created the situation of of not a lot with any travel

Jason Browne:

Does travel matter? Like is it necessary to interact with others? Or is it just like this benefit that we get to do because it's expensive?

James Tierney:

don't necessarily believe that it's a necessity to travel. I think there's a necessity for community and to connect with people, even if it's in a small community. I think there are lots of benefits. of other cultures and experiencing that and recognizing that people who don't look or live like you are still other people in the humanity of it all. but I don't know if I would go as far as say that it is a necessity.

Dawn:

In my town and there is a very specific weird thing that happens that i've noticed is a trend for the people who are not Well traveled in my town who have never left my because my town is a college town There is a us and them mantra that tends to develop of the people who in the town That stay in the town and the people that come use the town for its educational resources and then leave And because of that there's i've I've learned that there are there's more xenophobia for the people who have never left here They sort of feel like they've, that they will make comments that show that they are not as open minded to new cultures, new people, new backgrounds, new experiences. some of them, um, will actually avoid anything that has to do with any kind of collegiate activities, just so that they, sort of, it's a weird pride of like, nah, I'm not I'm not a part of the collegiate part. I'm a part of the town part. the answer your other question about is it essential, I think that one of the correlations I've noticed is well traveled people tend to have more empathy for people of different walks of life, perspectives, cultures, et cetera. So, I don't find that travel is essential to every human being, but I do find it to be a phenomenal gateway to empathy,

Jason Browne:

before we head to the privileged perspective, there's one final thought I have on that. It's interesting to hear both perspectives that It's possible that traveling is not necessary for us to be productive human beings to communicate and interact with other people. At the same time, you're also suggesting that it's possible that by limiting one's perspective, we might be shouting to the choir or become insulated to our own thoughts. And it's interesting to say that, like, is that a bad thing? Oh, maybe not. Could it be? Maybe so. So depending on the person, depending on where you're coming from, will also impact just how beneficial travel could be to the human being that is there. So let's dig into that in just a little bit, But first, let's hop into the privileged perspective and see what these two pilots have to say.

John Ockenfels:

at four o'clock in the morning or four 30 in the morning on the end of the runway in Pongo Pongo looking down the brightly colored lights of that runway seeing nothing but a couple of white lights over on the side of the hill and everything else was black on black on black And then pushing the throttle forward as we advanced to start that 18 hour flight And for the next six hours it was dark and cloudy And as you push that throttle forward I still remember thinking we're going to make it we're going to make it And so that to me was the commitment of the entire flight was that one take off because that was the longest one how many people would have in the world would have ever thought to fly an airplane around the world to do that thing that everybody dreams of doing the Walter Mitty dream go someplace be somebody do something I had that experience Peter Tehan sitting here with me asked me to join him on a flight around the world And It took me some time to process that and to figure out what was going on because in it was such a big deal to me that I was afraid to say yes And when you think about that you're going to fly an airplane around the world We're going to go across the ocean in a single engine airplane What could possibly go wrong

Peter Tehan:

Well I think in the background is 702 pilots have in history have flown a single engine airplane around the world There's only 268 of us alive in the world today and this is a fight was about being battered over the head and everything telling us not to do it Literally literally from two years of COVID having canceled And then our route originally taking us out to Russia So in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine We had to cancel because they wouldn't allow us in their airspace And through all those hurdles we got to that point when Russia invaded they'd say we have to give up our dream because the only way around is the dangerous route through Australia which only 30 pilots in history Have gone that far to get around the world all the way down to Australia

John Ockenfels:

if either one of us would have said well maybe we shouldn't we would have been done but neither one of us was willing to accept that And we kept trying to find a way around it which some cases it was outright denial Yeah we can do this Yeah we can do this So story of the flight

Peter Tehan:

One of our favorite quotes that we show or tell people is people will tell us it couldn't be done shouldn't be done and only crazy people would do this and yet we probably was was defined by many in all three of those categories that shouldn't and were probably crazy But uh When you truly dream something and know it's the best thing to serve others you do it You figure out how to do it You don't throw it in and say I can't do it You figure out how to do it

John Ockenfels:

this started off as Peter wanting to fly his airplane around the world And he eventually asked me to join him so that there'd be some extra security there And I also have some talents But as we did this it was never intended to be a flight to talk about polio or to raise money for polio or to raise awareness about the necessity to eliminate polio It was always intended to be a flight of the two of us just enjoying going around the world As we decided that we're going to make it a fundraiser for something That was in the background Okay let's make a polio We're both in rotary That'll work Over the course of a few years of that drug on and drug on as we're being shut down three different times polio got to be a bigger deal in the flight The concept the number one concept overriding everything was always still the same Fly safe come home alive But let's see what we can do to raise awareness for polio That pretty soon became the driving force of the flight

Peter Tehan:

I was in his went down to his hangar we sat down and looked at each other and said the one thing we haven't discussed is what are we doing with this flight And we both the light went off I think at that point that we decided that it was against Our beings to say we're just going to have fun flying around the world The light went off I remember distinctly that we have to do something meaningful to make this flight worthwhile

John Ockenfels:

well the one thing we have in common we're both Rotarians okay And I've been very active in fully eradication program since I joined Rotary in 1986 but I just looked at Peter and I remember saying well why don't we just do it for polio since we're both Rotarians And about 30 seconds later it was a done deal We were doing it for polio

Peter Tehan:

When originally talked about this we looked at each other and said we're people we're two old farts going to fly around the world How much of an impact could we have

John Ockenfels:

It was the support of our Rotarians around the world that made this flight happen They stayed with us Through the entire thing When Peter was sick it was Rotarians in those individual towns that made sure that he was taken care of while he was in the hospital while I moved on to another city where we had more engagements to keep those from having to cancel

Peter Tehan:

you know people scratch their heads and said you guys will never do it I remember working in the ghettos of Karachi Pakistan where the leadership team there said a lot of people say they're coming to Karachi Pakistan And never come We were surprised last week that you were coming and we had to get ready

John Ockenfels:

And they knew about it for

Peter Tehan:

two years They knew about it for two years but that's the strength of and that's probably a privilege to having that kind of strength of dream

John Ockenfels:

one of the benefits of this is that we've been able to share current factual information about the people living in Afghanistan and Pakistan and their fight against polio For years people have been talking about the fact that in Pakistan and Afghanistan in particular Rolling bands of marauders have been attacking the caregivers doing the polio drops because they've been opposed to the vaccinations In fact a number of these ladies and it's always ladies by the way were killed over the last few years Well starting a short time ago The government the religious leaders everybody had a change and decided that vaccinations were a great thing They got on board with the program told everybody to allow it to happen And so now when we were in the the ghettos and these are the refugees from Afghanistan in the ghettos in Pakistan in Karachi In several cases it was the dads that brought the kids out to be vaccinated which is another stereotype that had to be changed because the stereotype is that the dads never take care of the kids Only the moms And yet we had the photographs showing several times and I saw the same thing when we did it in Chennai and a couple other places that we did some vaccinations

Peter Tehan:

But it wasn't necessarily easy on many parts of the district to make the decision And I remember as we were moving around in Karachi two Americans in the newspaper in the news going down into some dangerous parts of the city And to we had we were in a police vehicle escorted by two police vehicles lights and sirens behind us were two trucks Pakistani army rangers And when we got out of our police vehicle one truck load of soldiers surrounded John and the other surrounded me to make sure that we were being protected We didn't stand out We didn't stand out at all I think we would have felt safe without the guards simply because we believe so much in the mission The

John Ockenfels:

reality of it is we spent years planning getting all this stuff down and changing plans and modifying plans and getting ready to go We finally got ready to go And on the second day all those plans went out the window Because at the end of the first day as we were landing in New Hampshire we lost our primary alternator on the airplane the electrical system of the airplane was failing and it took us almost a week to get that to get parts in to get that fixed and get going again And we're on our way to Canada feeling pretty darn good at this point And all of a sudden we're running into a huge Ice and snow storm over our destination We had to divert to another town and land stay there for a few more days Finally got to our original destination of Goose Bay and more ice and snow By the time we got out of there and heading over to Europe we went from Canada and direct to Reykjavik Iceland But by the time we got to Wick Scotland we were 10 days behind schedule and just getting started with the most important part of the visiting part of the trip So we had to make some modifications I think one of our friends put it very succinctly when she said you had no problems at all other than mechanical immunological and medical Other than that we didn't have any issues

Jason Browne:

Yeah

Peter Tehan:

as we looked at our our privilege of growing up and coming from poor families both of us came from poor families I think our whole life of growing up to now we're in our seventies prepared us so well for this trip and I think the trip the experience of this trip would have been completely different had we had not had the life experiences of you with a big family and being in the military and being in Thailand or being You know coming from with my disaster background we're been held at gunpoint by terrorists I've seen lives completely destroyed and and the horrors of disasters and the hardships of the people we were serving I think all of those set us point where we could take our life experiences with us And serve others in this trip where had it been the first time for either one of us in these environments it'd

John Ockenfels:

be eye

Peter Tehan:

opening and would have I don't think we would have been as so successful I think we would have been overwhelmed

John Ockenfels:

there was never an incident on any place we went with any of the people we met That was negative from the standpoint of well we don't want to associate with those folks or they don't want to associate with us The opportunities that we had were so positive and so well received that in itself was unusual We didn't have anybody trying to tell us to go home We didn't have anybody trying to tell us we shouldn't be there And that was very uplifting I was never at a point where I was afraid for my life from the people we were with I had about 3 500 hours flying time in a Cessna 210 and about 25 hours in your airplane I think And now we're going to load this thing up We're going to turn it into the airplane that's never intended to be flown off the ground quite literally because the maximum allowable weight in a Cessna 210 is 3 800 pounds You And when we took off on that final flight we were well over 4 800 pounds But that's okay Even though it's against the laws of gravity we had a federal permit that allowed us to do that And basically it was an experimental flight on a one time ferry permit Is this really true we had to get all kinds of permits and modified modifications to the airplane and we weren't really sure if we could carry that much weight very easily And it turned out that we were correct It was really difficult to fly It was not stable at all the first for the first couple hours of each flight so yeah it was a challenge You know as we were leaving Germany and we were heading for Greece by way of Italy and we're climbing out of Germany they wanted us to climb to 15 000 feet And I'm climbing up this as we mentioned a little while ago this airplane is unstable the first couple hours of flying time because of the weight I'm talking to the controllers We're cleared to 11 000 feet coming out of Germany Finally got there They told me to go to 13 000 feet as we're approaching the Alps approaching the mountains Went to 13 000 feet And by now we're picking up some ice and some other issues very turbulent We're really bouncing all over the place here for a little bit up mountain waves And he cleared me to 15 000 And because of some fuel issues some fuel control issues I could not get the power I needed to climb to 15 000 feet And in the meantime I can see the clouds I can see the mountains occasionally and we're bouncing all over the place I finally had to call the controller and say I can't do this and I knew there was higher mountains ahead of us The controller just said go back to 13 000 feet which we could do And then they just directed us around the mountains And I still remember flying around some of those mountains at 13 000 feet And they might they were definitely less than a thousand feet below us and still getting taller as we're going around them And that was one of those times when it really got my attention is to Holy God what are we doing And then we got through those mountain areas and life was grand again

Peter Tehan:

I think back often about my Darkest fear or the moment when I knew we shouldn't be doing this We should have never taken off today And I was on this very long 17 hour flight from Pango Pango America Samoa to Hawaii taking it We took off at 4 30 in the morning It was dark we flew around the edge of the mountain and instantly lost communication with mankind And for the next 17 hours neither one of us had communication with the outside world Nobody knew where we were at I was sending up text messages every 15 minutes hoping that somebody did off satellites where we were at So if we went down we they might find some wreckings at that point It was going to be a long day We weren't going to make it to Hawaii until 11 o'clock at night Storms were in the forecast We went in and out of a few showers It was about 13 hours into the flight I remember sitting there It was we had just come through a bouncy turbulent storm John turns to me and said Peter we have a problem And of all the 90 days those few words Peter we have a problem was not what I wanted to hear at that moment And I my blood pressure jumped up I started to sweat just hearing those words And I said what's the problem And he said

John Ockenfels:

We're doing some calculations and I think we're going to be about an hour and a half short of getting to Honolulu on the gas And I don't know why yet we had done a lot of planning We knew we had two hours minimum of two hours reserve and we're going to land in Honolulu

Peter Tehan:

there's nowhere else to land except in the ocean it was going to be at nighttime it would be a very tough emergency landing I'm thinking I'll never see my wife and my kids again I'm just trying to figure out how do we stretch this fuel

John Ockenfels:

And so we were trying we had a ferry tank in the back 160 gallon rubber bladder of gasoline behind our seat And we would transfer that gas up to the top wing of the airplane And that's how they got to the engine room And every time that tank would get low we'd put more gas in it And then we'd write it down in a little notebook I was keeping track of the notebook and Peter was handling the gas transfer And so somewhere along the line I wrote down the number 23 gallons or was it 32 32 32 gallons Yep Twice on the same fill And so had shorted ourselves just over two hours of flying time And once we figured that out and I took that 32 gallon Dump out of there All of a sudden we magically had two and a half gallons or two and a half hours of reserve when we landed

Peter Tehan:

And so when we finally got the voice of the controller 60 miles outside of Hawaii we had already figured out we were going to have enough gas But we're thinking if we made one bad calculation could there be a second And until I'm on the ground in Hawaii then I'll celebrate and be able to really take my last final breath of that day and relax

John Ockenfels:

I think we may have set a record by the way for the longest flight because nobody that I'm aware of has flown a single engine airplane from Pongo Pongo all the way to Honolulu

Peter Tehan:

I think it really helps define who we were I think it's part of one of those defining moments of the flight because in that 45 minutes or an hour you know really define who our character

John Ockenfels:

During all these trials tribulations and there really were mechanical issues meteorological issues and medical issues on this flight we never really panicked We got concerned a couple of times but there's not a point at which we fell apart and we're not able to make decisions and think through the process How do we solve it How do we keep going What's next And I think that's really what defines the success of the flight you got to do these things If you're going to do this if you're going to if you're going to launch into something like this to have the capability to make decisions And figure out an alternative when we got ready to take off leaving Cedar Rapids Iowa the day we left Cedar Rapids we had already raised 300 000 which with the Gates match brought it over a million And so that was what we departed with As we went around the world and that continued we were telling people that we were we've already raised a million As we got further around we start seeing what's going on And we start telling people we're raising almost 2 million It's blown me away to be able to sit here and tell you right now according to what we found out this reflected so well with Rotary that they can actually see the bump in the financial impact of the polio eradication fundraising We've raised over 2 Million dollars with the Gates match which means we've raised over 700 000 of actual cash

Peter Tehan:

it hasn't sunk yet I'm still in awe Yeah Of the how we have motivated people to get involved and to buy into our dream And that dream is a long ways from being over

Jason Browne:

And that's where we're going to end part one on the privilege of travel Come back in our next episode where we discuss the story you just heard and dive even deeper with the two pilots with the QAP questions answers and privilege In the meantime go to our social media privilegepod on all platforms And let us know your thoughts about how privilege of travel might impact your life Thank you for listening Thank you for sharing And of course it's a privilege

People on this episode

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Jason Browne

Host
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Dawn Rosenbaum

Guest
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James Tierney

Guest
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John Ockenfels (Flight to End Polio)

Guest
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Peter Teehan (Flight to End Polio)

Guest