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\u201cHuman trafficking occurs everywhere, whether we recognize\nit or not, says Jared Miller, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Freedom\nAviation Network (FAN). \u201cWe are aware that a lack of safe transportation is a\nbarrier to leaving a victim\u2019s situation. We seek to eliminate this barrier and\nprovide life-changing transportation services to people who have been so deeply\nwounded. Not only will we assist bringing them out of their situation, but we\nwill also help them reunite with their families, go on short home visits, take\nthem to court appointments, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That vision of using general aviation was not always clear.\nIn 2020, Miller had been leading anti-human trafficking efforts globally for\nseveral years. He became burdened with the weight of recognizing that\ntransportation was the single most cumbersome, time consuming, costly, and\noften risky task that anti-trafficking agencies incurred in their efforts to\nserve survivors. After an extremely complicated rescue operation was\nsuccessful, he became overwhelmed with frustration at how unnecessarily\nchallenging providing such a seemingly simple service could be on organizations\nand survivors. That\u2019s when the idea of using private aviation came to him, but\nwith no experience in the industry, he was unsure how it would be possible to\nproduce a solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After reaching out to several trusted friends and colleagues,\nhe realized there truly seemed to be no one else trying to make this happen.\nSo, in the summer of 2020, Miller embarked on the task of becoming a private\npilot so he could assess the industry, make connections, all of which would\nhopefully lead him to answers. He was then connected with Stephanie Lamar, who\nat the time was a CFII, and they quickly began discussing this vision.\n\u201cStephanie was the first person to believe that something surely could be done\nregarding this idea,\u201d said Miller. \u201cShe went out and began recruiting pilots.\nWe began crafting this mission under a local anti-trafficking group and quietly\nworked on it for over two years.\u201d In 2022, Lamar began hearing a demand within\nthe pilot community for inclusion in this opportunity and together they decided\nto create Freedom Aviation Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Lamar, who is Co-Founder and Operations Officer for FAN, experienced\nher first flight when she was 9 years old in the back of a Cessna 172. \u201cI knew\nright then that I wanted to become a pilot and learn to fly. I had never felt\nso free, and even at that age, I really enjoyed being above the world.\u201d Lamar started her journey in aviation at age\n22 with her first flight lesson. It took many years and bumps in the road, but\nshe is now a First Officer with GoJet airlines, flying the CRJ-550.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, FAN has 72 pilots fully onboarded in 29 states.\nThese numbers are growing daily as the word spreads among the aviation\ncommunity. Both Miller and Lamar agree that every time a pilot makes a flight,\nthey are hooked, ready to sign up for more, and tell their friends. \u201cWe are\naveraging five flight requests a month and anticipate that number will increase\nquickly as our reputation spreads among the anti-human trafficking community.\nThe true demand is incalculable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The area where the organization is seeing the most flight\nrequests is in the southeast USA. \u201cThis region, it is where a majority of our\npilots reside, and our reputation within the anti-trafficking community is\nstrongest,\u201d said Miller. \u201cWe have received requests from across the country and\nour ability to render aid is directly contingent on having pilots available\nacross the country.\u201d The Freedom Aviation Network seeks pilots who are willing\nto remain flexible and on-call across the country as it\u2019s never known when or\nwhere the next call might originate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMiller shared one example where they were asked to\ncoordinate a flight for a survivor who had made the very brave decision to\nleave her situation and seek restorative care. \u201cShe needed to get far away, and\nher case manager was able to help her find a recovery program out of state. The\ncase manager was working directly with local law enforcement as the situation\nwas complex and had a certain level of risk. We were able to successfully\ncoordinate the flight and she was safely on her way to her new life. Since\nthen, the law enforcement agent involved in her case has told FAN that she is\nabsolutely thriving and that getting her as far away from her old life as\npossible was exactly what was missing before every other time she had tried to\nescape. She is even getting ready to begin a college degree program! She has\nbeen clean longer than she can remember, and she has the tools to thrive.\nBecause of the strides she has made, she is able to testify against her\ntrafficker with the hopes of stopping many other people from being exploited.\nFAN is on standby ready to fly her to her court appointments, home to her\nfamily, or on to her next phase as she seeks holistic restoration and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was once a young woman that needed someone to step in and\nhelp me out of my situation,\u201d reflected Lamar. \u201cIt is amazing how many adults\ndon’t step in to deal with the hard situations, and really be that person on\nthe other side that can rescue you, and really follow through and take you into\na place of safety. Now I have that opportunity to be the person on the other\nside, and if all it takes is a flight to get someone to safety, then that is\nwhat I will do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organization is seeing a 50\/50 split between short and\nlong flights. They have had flights from Florida to Texas, Minnesota to\nCalifornia, Texas to Pennsylvania, and some as short at 150nm. \u201cWe need people\nwho can fly 300nm or less and people who can fly long distances,\u201d says Miller.\nThey need pilots with aircraft that can support multiple passengers, although\nMiller notes that 90% of the time, they have 2 passengers on board (the\nsurvivor and the advocate). If a survivor is present, they always have an\nadvocate. But sometimes they take just the advocate to a site visit, survivor\ninterview, anything that supports the survivor’s ability to seek restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know what it is like to be forgotten, abused, violated,\nneglected, abandoned, and at rock bottom,\u201d shared Miller. \u201cI know what it is\nlike to wonder if there is anyone out there who cares. It is not my job to save\neveryone. What I can do is help one person at a time. I wake up every morning\nknowing that today I have an opportunity to show someone who is in their most\ndefeated moments how deeply loved they truly are and remind them that they are\ninfinitely valued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAt first, Lamar was a little overwhelmed by the idea that\nshe couldn’t save everyone, and that as many people as they fly to safety,\nthere would always be those left behind. \n\u201cThen Jesus reminded me that he is the shepherd, and he will leave the\n99 to get the one. So, we at Freedom Aviation Network are here \u2018For the\nOne.\u2019 Each flight carries someone to\nsafety,\u201d said Lamar. \u201cOne at a time we are making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kim J Stevens Most data sources estimate that at any given time, there are 27.6 million victims of human trafficking globally. Fifty-four percent of survivors of human trafficking say that transportation is a barrier to leaving their situation. Today, there is one organization that is working to remove that barrier, and that\u2019s by utilizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/FAN-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26053"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26061,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26053\/revisions\/26061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}