A Recap of the Around-The-World Flight to End Polio
DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow
Our club has the pleasure and honor of hosting Rotarian pilots Peter Teahen and John Ockenfels. They will visit our club to provide a detailed recap of their history-making, around-the-world, single engine aircraft flight to raise funds for the fight against polio.
On November 1, 2022 Peter and John flew into the Decorah Municipal Airport, where our club hosted them while conducting our regular noon meeting. Their purpose was to describe plans for what seemed like a daunting challenge--a seven week, 20,000 mile around-the-world flight to raise awareness for Rotary International's polio eradication campaign. We were able to view their custom Cessna 210 (N732WP) on the airport tarmac and hear more about their goal of raising $1 million, with 100% of the proceeds going toward Rotary International's Polio Plus Program. Thanks to the 2-for-1 Rotary match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they hit the million-dollar mark even before they took off from the Eastern Iowa Airport on May 5, 2023. On July 30th around 9 am, they landed back at the airport after 90 days and 25,323 miles during their circumnavigation of the globe. N732WP had made 37 stops in 19 countries. There were unexpected challenges: John flying solo while Peter completd a short hospital stay; an electrical failure over the Pacific (repaired after a 90-minute detour to Brisbane, Australia); and an encounter with a squadron of armed soldiers in Karachi, Pakistan.
Peter is President of Teahen Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an author, and a mental health professional. He serves on the faculty at the University of Iowa and is the founder of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival. He has served in leadership roles on 67 major disasters throughout the world. He is recognized for his work on aviation disasters and is internationally known for his work in critical incident stress management and the psycho-social impact of disasters. He has served for 19 years as a national media spokesperson for the American Red Cross.
John maintains World War II aircraft, including his own North American Aviation T-6, a Boeing Stearman, and a Cessna 182 Skylane. Prior to his retirement, he served as the chief executive officer of City Carton Recycling, based in Iowa City, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa and served in the United States Air Force from 1972 to 1976. For two of his four years in the Air Force, he was a crewmember onboard an AC-130 Hercules in Thailand.
For more information on the flight please visit https://www.flighttoendpolio.com/home.
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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.