He has been an avid pilot for years.
And Harrison Ford has turned his love of flying to help those in need as he becomes a spokesperson for the nonprofit Airlink, it was announced on Tuesday.
The 78-year-old has just cut a new commercial for the organization, which flies volunteers and supplies out to disaster-struck areas.
Avid pilot: Harrison Ford has turned his love of flying to aid purposes, becoming a spokesperson for the nonprofit Airlink
‘Hello, I’m Harrison Ford and I wanna tell you why I decided to support Airlink, an organization you’ve probably never heard of,’ he plugged.
‘In the 10 years since its inception, Airlink has responded to 90 disasters, moved nearly 7,000 humanitarian aid workers, almost three and a half million pounds of vital supplies and partnered with over 130 nonprofits, saving them nearly $12 million by providing flights for their personnel and cargo instead of paying for air transport.’
Amid the coronavirus pandemic Airlink is ‘delivering over 6.5 million items of personal protective equipment and volunteer medical responders to hard-hit, fragile communities,’ Harrison said in the ad.
Airlink got together with another nonprofit called MedShare in April to fly 50,000 N95 masks to Newark airport, Fox News reported.
The cause: The 78-year-old has just cut a new commercial for the organization, which flies volunteers and supplies out to disaster-struck areas
Making it happen: ‘Hello, I’m Harrison Ford and I wanna tell you why I decided to support Airlink, an organization you’ve probably never heard of,’ he plugged
MedShare got the masks from China and Airlink managed to get them onto a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Newark.
The masks were for use both in New York City, which at that point was the American epicenter of the pandemic, and New Jersey.
Harrison has a passion for flying planes but this April he was investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration after mishearing an air traffic controller’s advice while landing at Hawthorne, the New York Times reported.
Timely: Amid the pandemic Airlink is ‘delivering over 6.5 million items of personal protective equipment and volunteer medical responders to hard-hit, fragile communities’
‘No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision,’ his publicist Ina Treciokas pointed out after the incident.
Three years earlier he was required to have awareness training after he made an error and flew over a commercial jet holding 100 passengers before landing onto a taxiway at Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport.
Harrison crashed onto a golf course in 2015 after suffering an engine problem, and an eyewitness told NBC he ‘saved several lives’ by managing not to bring the plane down on the suburban buildings just ’20 to 30 yards’ away.
Numbers game: Harrison said Airlink has ‘moved nearly 7,000 humanitarian aid workers’ as well as ‘almost three and a half million pounds of vital supplies’; he play a pilot in Star Wars
Another Indiana Jones movie is currently in development with Harrison attached to reprise his role as the title character in the iconic franchise.
Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four movies, has decided not to return for the fifth one, Variety reported this February.
However he will remain involved with the project in a producing capacity, with the directing gig going to James Mangold of Ford Vs. Ferrari fame.
Details: He also said Airlink has ‘partnered with over 130 nonprofits, saving them nearly $12 million by providing flights for their personnel and cargo instead of paying for air transport’; his other hit franchise is Indiana Jones