The call could come in at 3 a.m., and it often does. Once a human heart is packed for transport, MTJ Aviation has about four hours – six at most – to get it from the hospital where the donor is located to a recipient waiting across the country.
“When we have a heart on an airplane, none of us sleep until it gets where it needs to go,” said Caitlin Winkler, chief operating officer.
The company, founded by NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr., combines two loves discovered through his racing career: aviation and helping families struck by a serious illness. In 2007, just a few years into racing, he had established the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation to fight childhood cancers.
By 2014, Truex had bought a Beechjet 400XP for traveling to the Cup Series’ 36 races a year – a different city nearly every week for 10 months. Not long after, he decided to buy the charter operator managing his aircraft and hire the right people to run it. He saw an opportunity to operate the aircraft more efficiently and improve safety.
“At MTJ Aviation, we believe it’s important in life to always consider how you can help others – and that belief guides everything we do,” said Truex. “Since our launch in 2019, our dedicated team has completed over 1,200 lifesaving air and ground missions, providing critical support when it matters most.”
Based in Winston-Salem, NC, near Truex’s home, MTJ Aviation received its Part 135 certificate in mid-2019. At first, the company offered its flight services to fellow NASCAR drivers. Then COVID-19 hit, and all passenger flights stopped. Through his work with the foundation, Truex was aware of the need for fast, safe, reliable organ transportation.
“We stayed busy during COVID, and we got another airplane, we hired more pilots, we started talking to more hospitals, and it’s just been an honor to be part of this.”
Guy Cooper Chief Pilot and Director of Operations
Essential Service
“The thing that changed everything for us was COVID,” said Guy Cooper, chief pilot and director of operations. “We had just got charter up and running with the new certificate and then everything stopped.”
With one airplane, a small team and no one flying in March 2020, they called hospitals.
“Within 24 hours, we were doing our first flight, to go and pick up a liver,” said Cooper. “We didn’t miss a beat. We stayed busy during COVID, and we got another airplane, we hired more pilots, we started talking to more hospitals, and it’s just been an honor to be part of this.”
Within a few years, MTJ Aviation added ground transportation in Dallas and Baltimore, cities where they fly frequently to pick up surgical teams. Today, they work with several hospitals and organ procurement organizations (OPOs), the nonprofits that match recipients with donors and help hospitals coordinate transportation for donated organs.
MTJ Aviation averages about seven flights a week, but often with only two hours’ notice when a request comes in. There are transplant centers they serve frequently, but a donor could be at any hospital within range of the five Beechjet 400XPs or the two Hawker 800XPs.
“It could be Salt Lake City, it could be Puerto Rico, it could be anywhere,” said Karly Meacham, lead scheduler. “We are 24/7, and the call can come at midnight or 5 a.m. We fly hearts, livers, lungs, kidneys, pancreases, all the vital organs, so it just depends on the need.”
How U-Haul’s Nimble Business Aviation Operation Covers North America
The operation, which recently relocated to a larger hangar, aims to do 100% of its maintenance in-house.
Like an Ambulance
As Meacham explained, the OPOs call with a time when a surgical team would need to scrub in for collecting organs from a donor. “We back up all our flight times around that, when the doctors need to be in the air, on the ground, at the hospital,” said Meacham. “And then we only have a few hours to get to the next hospital with the recipient. So, our pilots make sure they are ready.”
Being ready to respond at any time requires teamwork, constant communication, the highest standards and the utmost dedication.
Meacham and MTJ Aviation’s two other schedulers take shifts when available. If a trip occurs between shifts, they hand everything off to the next scheduler, including texts with pilots, drivers, maintenance technicians, OPOs and surgeons.
Pilots keep a day shift and night shift, with a duty rotation of eight days on, six days off. Every shift, one crew is up first, one crew is on standby and the schedulers can call a reserve crew if needed.
“It is all-important to us, the business of saving lives, and it means we’re almost like an ambulance or the fire department,” said Cooper. “Our airplanes have to be ready to go. And if a pilot shows up in the middle of the night, and there’s an issue with the plane they were going to take out, we need another one ready to swap in.”
Dentist Leverages His Business Aircraft for Humanitarian Airlift
Dispatch Reliability
Ensuring that high degree of dispatch reliability and redundancy is the job of Ron Dietz and the MTJ Aviation maintenance team. Recently relocated to a larger hangar across the field, they aim to do 100% of their maintenance in-house, from the weeklong A-cycle inspection to the B, C and even the two-month D cycle. And they are always on call.
“The pilots could call us at 2 a.m., saying they don’t have rudder trim,” said Dietz, director of maintenance. “You’ve got to get your brain working, and start going through the systems in your head, trying to troubleshoot. And we have technicians there at the hangar working on it. We just know it’s critical. If they have a heart onboard, that’s what drives us.”
They perform daily checks before and after every flight, with much higher standards than in the manuals.
“We check engine oil every day, we do brake pins every day, nitrogen cannisters, tires,” said Maintenance Manager Shane Warf. “It’s part of the mission.”
MTJ Aviation's pilots follow a duty rotation of eight days on, six days off.
The legacy Beechjets and Hawkers may require more work to keep them in tip-top shape, so, to stay ahead of preventative maintenance, Warf launched a reliability program for tracking use.
“It’s a snapshot of each airplane,” said Warf. “How much it flies per week, per month. And we look for spikes and anomalies. We don’t need special software; it could be an Excel spreadsheet, but you start seeing trends. For example, if an airplane is consuming more oil, we’ll do some preventative maintenance to figure out why. Often it’s as simple as replacing a seal.”
That helps avoid unplanned downtime, and “if we catch it early, it could turn a $50,000 problem into a $500 problem,” said Warf.
“It’s overnight flying. In challenging weather conditions. High winds, contaminated runways, snow icing, all that stuff.”
Guy Cooper Chief Pilot and Director of Operations
Outside the Comfort Zone
“Our No. 1 aim is safety,” said Cooper. “The challenge we face is that it’s usually the back of the clock. It’s overnight flying in challenging weather conditions: High winds, contaminated runways, snow, icing, all that stuff.”
Cooper puts a premium on experience. He keeps captains and first officers together to encourage mentorship and learning. And he aims to promote from within, developing a first officer-to-captain pipeline to build experience.
Cooper stands behind his captains and has had to decline calls from transplant centers due to hazardous weather, but “some of this flying will put you outside your comfort zone,” he added. “It takes a lot of coordination, forethought and planning. It takes a whole team, from our schedulers to our pilots to our maintenance team.”
Piper’s Wings
The lifesaving mission of organ donation inspires every member of the MTJ Aviation team to go above and beyond – on-call 24/7 and even ready to come in on days off, if they’re needed for a critical flight.
Before Caitlin Winkler came on as chief operating officer, she was a registered nurse with a career in organ transplant. “You’re taking somebody’s very worst day, and they’re making a decision to give this incredible gift,” she said. “When I think about the family receiving that gift – they get to walk their daughter down the aisle, they get to meet their grandchild – I always get chills.”
That was the decision made by Tyler and Caitlin Berryhill, when their 1-year-old daughter Piper died. Their decision to donate her organs saved the lives of three other children. In her memory, Martin Truex Jr. launched the charitable arm of MTJ Aviation, Piper’s Wings.
“Through this initiative,” said Truex, “we provide essential funding for pediatric transplant programs and hospital systems – extending hope and healing to the youngest patients and their families.”
Piper’s Wings also helps fund mercy flights for families and their loved ones. To raise awareness about organ donation, the nonprofit’s logo appeared on Truex’s No. 19 Toyota Camry TRD at NASCAR competitions during the 2023 season.
Snapshot: MJT Aviation
Aircraft: Five Beechjet 400XPs and two Hawker 800XPs
Base: Headquartered at Smith Reynolds Airport (INT) in Winston-Salem, NC
Personnel: 14 pilots, three maintenance technicians, three schedulers and 10 administrative personnel, including ground transportation coordinators and drivers
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.
