“The feel good public event of the year,” said the Times Colonist newsroom.
“The feel good event of the century,” said local Chek TV.
“The feel good aviation event of the globe this year,” said Vintage Aviation Magazine.
These media comments are about the rescue of the Hawaii Mars water bomber for the BC Aviation Museum, which culminated with its amazing August 11, 2024 flyby and arrival at the Victoria Airport, along side the Canadian Air Force's Snowbirds Demonstration Team.
From day one in January 2022 to its arrival on August 11, 2024, 32 months later, I founded and led the Hawaii Mars rescue effort in coordination with the donor and numerous stakeholders, plus I brought together an amazing media team who volunteered many hours capturing every moment.
Our media efforts received over 10 million views online and over 200,000 people watched the final flight.
This public engagement required a specific strategy with multiple daily tactics of focusing on the moonshot goal, which worked out even better than expected.
On September 30, 2024, the BC Aviation Museum presented me a unique award for this accomplishment.
“Without his vision and passion, it most likely would not have come to fruition,” said the BC Aviation Museum president.
It was a team effort.
In October 2024 I resigned from the museum, but the aircraft is at least safe behind the airport's security fence and visitors can now see it up close.
Here’s my acceptance speech;
