Nearly two dozen members of the Central Technical Support Facility family, including Director Col. John Matthews, were on hand at Killeen's Skylark Field June 16 to support the local Flying Vikings program.
The non-profit program is designed to provide chronically-ill or disabled children free airplane rides.
"It's not just plane rides," CTSF Test Operator and Flying Vikings volunteer Keith George said. "These kids actually experience the thrill of flying the air-plane."
Participating in the program Saturday were Vera Bolle, daughter of the CTSF's Carl Bolle, and Jared Ramsey, son of the CTSF's Tom Ramsey.
Each child was taken on a 20-minute flight over the Bell county area by volunteer pilot Paul Hansen.
Attending the Saturday session along with Matthews were Harry and Desiree Hewitt, Erik Sandlin, Susan Doran, Zach Doran, Jamie Doran, Lillian Figueroa, Aryah Gonzales, Dan Plair, Brian Demark, Daniel Demark, Brooke Payne, Mary Jones, Janet Eva, Chris Sammons, Austin Sammons, Bonnie Sammons, Donna Bryant, Archie Kinnebrew, Gillian Bolle, Bolle, Ramsey, and George.
Each year, according to a Flying Vikings brochure, the organization gets approximately 800 chronically-ill or disabled children into the air.
"The goal," George said, "is to exceed a thousand kids next year."
"I was so happy," he added, "to see that many people turn out from the CTSF. It was an honor to see Tom and Carl's children get a chance to do this."
Further information about the organization is available by visiting www.flyingvikings.org.
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