Visionary Club Faces—Hal Biesteck

As a pilot for United Airlines, Hal Biesteck never needed to confirm that someone would be at the airport to turn on the lights or pay for jet fuel. But aboard Orbis’s Flying Eye Hospital (FEH), that’s all in a day’s work!

While he was a Captain at Orbis supporter United Airlines, Hal learned about Orbis and its work to end avoidable blindness. An Air Force veteran, service is in Hal’s blood—so piloting the FEH was how this dedicated and generous volunteer chose to spend his retirement years. Recently reflecting on his time with the FEH, Hal said, “Every mission has something special that you always remember … what you saw … the people you met.”

Flying an airplane to some of the most remote regions of the world poses a unique set of challenges. For example, “just like people need more oxygen at high elevations, airplanes need more fuel, so you need to accommodate for that.”  In airports in the developing world, where runways are often shorter than ideal, takeoffs and landings also require special preparation and honed skills.

As a member of the aircrew, Hal did not always have an opportunity to meet the local medical teams and patients who were trained and treated aboard the Flying Eye Hospital, but he could still see the impact of Orbis’s efforts—and its long-term sustainability. “By training local eye- care professionals, Obis ensures that the work goes on long after the Flying Eye Hospital departs.”

Although Hal no longer flies for Orbis, he continues to volunteer with our air operations team, traveling to countries in advance of FEH programs. For example, on a recent trip to Tanzania, he evaluated a local airport’s capacity to accommodate our plane.

Hal has chosen another way to create a lasting legacy of healthy sight by joining The Visionary Club and including Orbis in his will. He has chosen to support Orbis in this way for the same reason he has volunteered for so many years: “I know that my money will go to where it’s supposed to go—to programs that will end avoidable blindness. It makes me feel good.”