PROJECT LIGHTHAWK

Image Gallery

Dedicated pilot Michael Stewartt fights environmental battles from the helm of his airborne flagship, in a service called . . .

A new bird has taken to the Rocky Mountain skies . . . sharing the thin air with the eagles and hawks that lord it over those western peaks. The newcomer is a five-passenger Helio-Courier airplane, piloted by Michael Stewartt of Grand Junction, Colorado. With the goal of becoming "the wings of conservationists in the West", Stewartt's Project Lighthawk is providing the Rocky Mountain environmental community with affordable (or even cost-free) and quick transportation.

Early this year, Mike got a chance to prove his brainchild's worth when the Bureau of Land Management made a preliminary decision in favor of a proposed dam, the construction of which would have resulted in the flooding of a picturesque canyon in western Colorado. The Lighthawk aircraft flew a local photographer over the wilderness area . . . and then took him to Denver for the final hearing, where his aerial photos convinced the BLM officials to reconsider.

Then— from Denver—Stewartt ferried several environmentalists to Salt Lake City, so they could attend an organizational meeting for opponents of the Sagebrush Rebellion (a group which hopes to open up BLM and national forest lands to development). On such trips, the pilot points out, his plane can get environmental representatives to their meetings at less expense than can the commercial airlines, and in much less time than could an automobile. Moreover, the small craft can land at tiny mountain airfields as well as crowded metropolitan airports . . . enabling activists to be present at local grassroots meetings or major hearings.