Soon after Maui fires broke out, Colorado pilot flew United Airways plane to mainland during his trip

The Eckelkamp family members had a family vacation in Hawaii just before chaos struck. They were being scheduled to fly out of Maui back to the mainland on Tuesday but got delayed for up to 33 several hours just after wildfires started.

Capt. Vince Eckelkamp, a United Airways administration pilot who lives in Colorado, saved the day and obtained his loved ones and 300 persons properly back again to the mainland.

Kathy Eckelkamp is the pilot’s wife. She’s grateful her spouse stepped up to assist.

“Our good friends and household have been contacting him a hero, this is the guy I married, this is what he does,” mentioned Kathy.

It all started out early Tuesday early morning, when the spouse and children still left their lodge and commenced their journey to the Kahului Airport on Maui.  

Ahead of they took off, they had been warned to be careful likely through Lahaina. They say the issues they noticed have marked them eternally.

“It was mad, there had been powerlines down, trees down, couple people walking, and they were getting pelted with sand and debris and roof shingles, it was like we ended up in a vortex,” said Kathy.

Their daughter Kallie Eckelkamp considers herself blessed immediately after understanding they escaped the worst of it.

“It is so frightening figuring out that we have been on Front Street a several several hours prior to the fireplace started… if we would remain for a few several hours, we could have been caught up on that,” mentioned Kallie.

The family’s flight was canceled and when it was rescheduled the upcoming working day, no pilot was obtainable.

Vince produced it very clear to the airline he was readily available to support.

“I bought a simply call from the crew desk, for the reason that they understood I was readily available for the reason that I available to increase and they mentioned no, but this time I was it, the flight was going to be cancelled if no 1 volunteered, there was just no additional pilots,” mentioned Vince.

With thousands of travellers stranded on the island – Eckelkamp and his family members assisted at the very least 300 men and women escape.

“This was a insignificant inconvenience for us, that’s it, these people today shed people, they shed their houses, they lost every thing, extremely psychological,” added Kathy.

As they approach the damage, they were being ready to escape – 1 point they will generally don’t forget are the many stories folks shared with them.

“We ended up relieved to occur dwelling, we had been exhausted, but we had a home to come home to our hearts go out to Maui, it truly is devastating,” reported Kathy.

United Airlines has reimbursed the pilot for the ticket he initially purchased for volunteering to fly the plane on his vacation working day.

Relevant: How to help those affected by the Maui wildfires