The Aloha Aviators strives to be an organization which impacts underserved communities while providing
networking, mentoring, and scholarship opportunities to individuals seeking a career in aviation.
Aloha Aviators is a nonprofit organization that relies on the generosity of our donors and volunteer pilots to carry out humanitarian flights. These missions deliver medical supplies, rescue animals, and serve underserved communities. Our volunteer pilots not only donate their time but also mentor aspiring aviators. Donations are used to purchase the supplies and materials needed for each mission.
A key aspect of our missions is the mentorship component. Student mentees have the opportunity to sit alongside volunteer pilots during flights and actively participate in the planning process. They gain valuable, hands-on experience by practicing weight-and-balance calculations, making go/no-go decisions, and negotiating fuel and landing fees.
By involving students in crucial safety decisions, we provide a foundation in professional airmanship that goes beyond textbook learning. Every mission becomes both an act of service to the community and an immersive educational experience in aviation safety.
A key aspect of our missions is the mentorship component. Student mentees have the opportunity to sit alongside volunteer pilots during flights and actively participate in the planning process. They gain valuable, hands-on experience by practicing weight-and-balance calculations, making go/no-go decisions, and negotiating fuel and landing fees.
By involving students in crucial safety decisions, we provide a foundation in professional airmanship that goes beyond textbook learning. Every mission becomes both an act of service to the community and an immersive educational experience in aviation safety.
Wings Over Molokaʻi
Flying Nutrition in the Hawaiian Islands!
When a community ran out of food, a handful of pilots refused to let that be the end of the story.
Mahalo to PAPA, Southwest Airlines, and PFA for being part of the solution!
Mahalo to PAPA, Southwest Airlines, and PFA for being part of the solution!
Wings Over Molokaʻi
How a routine training flight turned into a 2,000 pound rescue mission, and why the people behind it say it was never about them. There's a moment every pilot remembers, the one where the wheels lift and the ground falls away and for a second, anything feels possible. For Roger Le and Nobi Buntin, that moment came twice in one week: once when Southwest Airlines flew them out to Hawaiʻi on behalf of the Professional Asian Pilots Association (PAPA), and again when a four-seat Cessna 172 lifted off from Honolulu, loaded down with school supplies, nutritious food, and the first 250 pounds of what would become a community's lifeline.
They didn't know yet how big this was going to get.
A Small Idea With Big Wings
The mission started small, the way the best ones usually do. Aloha Aviators, a nonprofit founded in Honolulu, has been quietly running missions: flight training and charity didn't have to be separate things! Student pilots logging hours in Cessna 172s could just as easily be carrying donations to Molokaʻi, an island just a short hop from Oʻahu, but a world apart in terms of what reaches its shelves.
PAPA's Outreach Committee heard about it and didn't hesitate. PAPA's Outreach Committee packed their bags, Southwest got them in the air, and the partnership with Aloha Aviators officially took flight.
What nobody fully anticipated was how badly Molokaʻi needed them.
"Leaving Shelves Bare"
Molokaʻi runs on barges. Almost everything the island depends on, food, supplies, the basics of daily life, arrives by sea. So when rising fuel costs forced barge service to a halt, the effect wasn't gradual. It was immediate.
"Rising fuel costs have forced the suspension of barge service to Molokaʻi, leaving shelves bare," said Kelma Lee Namakaeha, the island's community coordinator, who became one of the mission's most vital partners. PAPA's Outreach Committee reached out to her about the upcoming flight, Kelma didn't just say yes. She put out a call to her entire network.
Twenty four hours later, 900 pounds of animal supplies had shown up. Not pledged. Not promised. Shown up.
When One Plane Wasn't Enough
The Low Foundation stepped in with school supplies. Leahi Health TV sent nutritious food for the residence. And now, with hundreds of pounds of animal food piling up, it was clear the little Cessna 172 wasn't going to cut it.
That's when Bobby Nikkho and Morgen Jackson, cofounders of Pacific Flight Academy, heard what was happening and didn't even pause to think it over. They offered their Cessna Caravan 208, a workhorse of an aircraft with the payload capacity this mission suddenly required.
Word travels fast in Hawaiʻi (locals call it the "coconut wireless") and once Aloha Kitty, Animal Resource Kokua, Aliʻi Animal Hospital, and Kakaako Pet Hospital caught wind of the Caravan's extra room, they didn't waste it. Another 900 pounds of animal supplies rolled in.
By the time everything was tallied, volunteer pilot Laura Ivanova's Cessna 172 and the Pacific Flight Academy Caravan were carrying a combined load of roughly 2,000 pounds: school supplies, nutritional food, and enough animal food and provisions to make a real dent in a crisis.
Touchdown at 9 PM
Ten volunteers spent hours loading the Caravan in Honolulu before it finally lifted off, piloted by Austin of Pacific Flight Academy. It touched down on Molokaʻi at 9 o'clock that night, where a ground crew was already waiting.
Rescue Kitties of Hawaiʻi, along with Ory Kuamoo Sui Ritte Joao and Maraya Dawn, unloaded the aircraft in the dark and got supplies into the hands, and paws, of the people and animals who needed them.
By every account, the community's reaction wasn't just gratitude. It was relief. With barges down and shelves bare, this delivery landed at exactly the moment it mattered most.
"It's an honor and a privilege to stand alongside such selfless people," Nobi said. "Nobody did this for recognition. They did it because it needed doing."
The People Behind the Cargo
It's worth pausing here, because a mission like this only happens when a long list of people decide to show up:
Roger Le and Nobi, who represented PAPA on the ground and helped turn a good idea into a real operation. Laura Ivanova, who flew the first leg in the Cessna 172. Bobby Nikkho and Morgen Jackson, who didn't hesitate to offer their aircraft. Austin, who piloted the Caravan into Molokaʻi after dark. Kelma Lee Namakaeha, whose network turned a request into nearly a ton of donations. Ory Kuamoo Sui Ritte Joao and Maraya Dawn, along with the team at Rescue Kitties of Hawaiʻi, who met the plane and made sure nothing sat in a warehouse. The Low Foundation and Leahi Health TV, who initiated this mission, starting with school supplies and nutritional items. Aloha Kitty, Animal Resource Kokua, Aliʻi Animal Hospital, and Kakaako Pet Hospital, who answered the call not once but twice. And the twenty volunteers in Honolulu and Molokaʻi who loaded and offboarded every last pound of it by hand.
They pitched in because Molokaʻi needed help, and they happened to have time and skills to offer.
A Word of Thanks
Two names deserve their own line in this story.
PAPA, the Professional Asian Pilots Association, didn't just send representatives to Hawaiʻi. They lent this mission their name, their network, and their trust, giving Roger and Nobi the backing to show up and do the work. That kind of endorsement matters more than people realize; it's what turns a grassroots idea into something organizations can rally behind.
And then there's Southwest Airlines, who got Roger and Nobi to Hawaiʻi in the first place. Without that flight, there's no mission to tell you about. It's easy to overlook the airline that just gets you from point A to point B. But in this case, that flight was the first link in a chain that ended with a community's shelves being restocked. Southwest didn't just move people. They moved a mission.
As Nobi put it: "None of this would have been possible without the support from Southwest Airlines and the endorsement of PAPA. They gave this project wings, literally."
What Comes Next
The story doesn't end on the tarmac at Molokaʻi. Nobi, Bobby, and Morgen are already deep in planning for what's next: a mission aimed squarely at the Keiki, the children of Hawaiʻi, sometime this December. Details are still coming together, but everyone involved says the goal is simple: do it again, only bigger.
There's already a quiet hope circulating among the team that PAPA and Southwest will be there for round two. Given everything that came out of round one (nearly a ton of supplies, a half a dozen organizations united overnight, a community that didn't have to go without), it's hard to imagine they won't be.
For now, though, the team is just letting this one sink in. As Nobi put it standing on the tarmac after the mission was complete: "the greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you give your time, you're giving a piece of your life you never get back."
How a routine training flight turned into a 2,000 pound rescue mission, and why the people behind it say it was never about them. There's a moment every pilot remembers, the one where the wheels lift and the ground falls away and for a second, anything feels possible. For Roger Le and Nobi Buntin, that moment came twice in one week: once when Southwest Airlines flew them out to Hawaiʻi on behalf of the Professional Asian Pilots Association (PAPA), and again when a four-seat Cessna 172 lifted off from Honolulu, loaded down with school supplies, nutritious food, and the first 250 pounds of what would become a community's lifeline.
They didn't know yet how big this was going to get.
A Small Idea With Big Wings
The mission started small, the way the best ones usually do. Aloha Aviators, a nonprofit founded in Honolulu, has been quietly running missions: flight training and charity didn't have to be separate things! Student pilots logging hours in Cessna 172s could just as easily be carrying donations to Molokaʻi, an island just a short hop from Oʻahu, but a world apart in terms of what reaches its shelves.
PAPA's Outreach Committee heard about it and didn't hesitate. PAPA's Outreach Committee packed their bags, Southwest got them in the air, and the partnership with Aloha Aviators officially took flight.
What nobody fully anticipated was how badly Molokaʻi needed them.
"Leaving Shelves Bare"
Molokaʻi runs on barges. Almost everything the island depends on, food, supplies, the basics of daily life, arrives by sea. So when rising fuel costs forced barge service to a halt, the effect wasn't gradual. It was immediate.
"Rising fuel costs have forced the suspension of barge service to Molokaʻi, leaving shelves bare," said Kelma Lee Namakaeha, the island's community coordinator, who became one of the mission's most vital partners. PAPA's Outreach Committee reached out to her about the upcoming flight, Kelma didn't just say yes. She put out a call to her entire network.
Twenty four hours later, 900 pounds of animal supplies had shown up. Not pledged. Not promised. Shown up.
When One Plane Wasn't Enough
The Low Foundation stepped in with school supplies. Leahi Health TV sent nutritious food for the residence. And now, with hundreds of pounds of animal food piling up, it was clear the little Cessna 172 wasn't going to cut it.
That's when Bobby Nikkho and Morgen Jackson, cofounders of Pacific Flight Academy, heard what was happening and didn't even pause to think it over. They offered their Cessna Caravan 208, a workhorse of an aircraft with the payload capacity this mission suddenly required.
Word travels fast in Hawaiʻi (locals call it the "coconut wireless") and once Aloha Kitty, Animal Resource Kokua, Aliʻi Animal Hospital, and Kakaako Pet Hospital caught wind of the Caravan's extra room, they didn't waste it. Another 900 pounds of animal supplies rolled in.
By the time everything was tallied, volunteer pilot Laura Ivanova's Cessna 172 and the Pacific Flight Academy Caravan were carrying a combined load of roughly 2,000 pounds: school supplies, nutritional food, and enough animal food and provisions to make a real dent in a crisis.
Touchdown at 9 PM
Ten volunteers spent hours loading the Caravan in Honolulu before it finally lifted off, piloted by Austin of Pacific Flight Academy. It touched down on Molokaʻi at 9 o'clock that night, where a ground crew was already waiting.
Rescue Kitties of Hawaiʻi, along with Ory Kuamoo Sui Ritte Joao and Maraya Dawn, unloaded the aircraft in the dark and got supplies into the hands, and paws, of the people and animals who needed them.
By every account, the community's reaction wasn't just gratitude. It was relief. With barges down and shelves bare, this delivery landed at exactly the moment it mattered most.
"It's an honor and a privilege to stand alongside such selfless people," Nobi said. "Nobody did this for recognition. They did it because it needed doing."
The People Behind the Cargo
It's worth pausing here, because a mission like this only happens when a long list of people decide to show up:
Roger Le and Nobi, who represented PAPA on the ground and helped turn a good idea into a real operation. Laura Ivanova, who flew the first leg in the Cessna 172. Bobby Nikkho and Morgen Jackson, who didn't hesitate to offer their aircraft. Austin, who piloted the Caravan into Molokaʻi after dark. Kelma Lee Namakaeha, whose network turned a request into nearly a ton of donations. Ory Kuamoo Sui Ritte Joao and Maraya Dawn, along with the team at Rescue Kitties of Hawaiʻi, who met the plane and made sure nothing sat in a warehouse. The Low Foundation and Leahi Health TV, who initiated this mission, starting with school supplies and nutritional items. Aloha Kitty, Animal Resource Kokua, Aliʻi Animal Hospital, and Kakaako Pet Hospital, who answered the call not once but twice. And the twenty volunteers in Honolulu and Molokaʻi who loaded and offboarded every last pound of it by hand.
They pitched in because Molokaʻi needed help, and they happened to have time and skills to offer.
A Word of Thanks
Two names deserve their own line in this story.
PAPA, the Professional Asian Pilots Association, didn't just send representatives to Hawaiʻi. They lent this mission their name, their network, and their trust, giving Roger and Nobi the backing to show up and do the work. That kind of endorsement matters more than people realize; it's what turns a grassroots idea into something organizations can rally behind.
And then there's Southwest Airlines, who got Roger and Nobi to Hawaiʻi in the first place. Without that flight, there's no mission to tell you about. It's easy to overlook the airline that just gets you from point A to point B. But in this case, that flight was the first link in a chain that ended with a community's shelves being restocked. Southwest didn't just move people. They moved a mission.
As Nobi put it: "None of this would have been possible without the support from Southwest Airlines and the endorsement of PAPA. They gave this project wings, literally."
What Comes Next
The story doesn't end on the tarmac at Molokaʻi. Nobi, Bobby, and Morgen are already deep in planning for what's next: a mission aimed squarely at the Keiki, the children of Hawaiʻi, sometime this December. Details are still coming together, but everyone involved says the goal is simple: do it again, only bigger.
There's already a quiet hope circulating among the team that PAPA and Southwest will be there for round two. Given everything that came out of round one (nearly a ton of supplies, a half a dozen organizations united overnight, a community that didn't have to go without), it's hard to imagine they won't be.
For now, though, the team is just letting this one sink in. As Nobi put it standing on the tarmac after the mission was complete: "the greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you give your time, you're giving a piece of your life you never get back."
To receive a tax-deductible receipt or for any questions about our mission, please contact us directly.
Mahalo for your support and aloha spirit.
Mahalo for your support and aloha spirit.
"Funding Your Flight Training: Through Military, Scholarships, and Side Gigs"
Women in Aviation International Conference
We are excited to announce that our founder, Nobi Buntin, will be speaking at the Women in Aviation International Conference in Dallas, Texas!
Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center in Dallas, Texas
March 19| 3:00 PM CST | Room: Texas D
Join our panel: "Funding Your Flight Training: Through Military, Scholarships, and Side Gigs" - an honest conversation about the real pathways into aviation for aspiring pilots.
We'll be covering:
• Military service opportunities
• Scholarships & grants
• Creative ways to fund your flight hours
Sharing the stage with the incredible Cathyrine Armandie, Jolanda Witvliet, and Jessica Ruttenber, moderated by retired U.S. Air Force & United Airlines pilot Tiffany Behr.
If you're heading to Dallas for #WAI2026, we'd love to see you there!
Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center in Dallas, Texas
March 19| 3:00 PM CST | Room: Texas D
Join our panel: "Funding Your Flight Training: Through Military, Scholarships, and Side Gigs" - an honest conversation about the real pathways into aviation for aspiring pilots.
We'll be covering:
• Military service opportunities
• Scholarships & grants
• Creative ways to fund your flight hours
Sharing the stage with the incredible Cathyrine Armandie, Jolanda Witvliet, and Jessica Ruttenber, moderated by retired U.S. Air Force & United Airlines pilot Tiffany Behr.
If you're heading to Dallas for #WAI2026, we'd love to see you there!
Selected by Bombas!
We are thrilled to share some extraordinary news with you!
Bombas has selected our organization as a recipient of a sock donation in Spring 2027!
This milestone is the result of years of dedicated effort, unwavering commitment to those we serve, and a steadfast belief in the power of community care. After a long and hopeful journey through the approval process, we are incredibly proud to announce that our perseverance has paid off — and in the most meaningful way possible.
Bombas is renowned for its mission-driven giving — for every item purchased, they donate an essential clothing item to someone in need. Being chosen as one of their donation recipients is not only an honor, but a true testament to the impact our organization continues to make.
The donated socks will be distributed by our volunteer pilots directly to vulnerable communities across the United States reaching individuals who need them most. Socks are among the most requested - and least donated - items at shelters and community organizations, making this gift profoundly impactful.
We are deeply grateful to Bombas for their generosity and for partnering with organizations like ours to bring warmth, dignity, and comfort to people across the country. And to our supporters, volunteers, and community members - thank you. This achievement belongs ALOHA to all.
This milestone is the result of years of dedicated effort, unwavering commitment to those we serve, and a steadfast belief in the power of community care. After a long and hopeful journey through the approval process, we are incredibly proud to announce that our perseverance has paid off — and in the most meaningful way possible.
Bombas is renowned for its mission-driven giving — for every item purchased, they donate an essential clothing item to someone in need. Being chosen as one of their donation recipients is not only an honor, but a true testament to the impact our organization continues to make.
The donated socks will be distributed by our volunteer pilots directly to vulnerable communities across the United States reaching individuals who need them most. Socks are among the most requested - and least donated - items at shelters and community organizations, making this gift profoundly impactful.
We are deeply grateful to Bombas for their generosity and for partnering with organizations like ours to bring warmth, dignity, and comfort to people across the country. And to our supporters, volunteers, and community members - thank you. This achievement belongs ALOHA to all.
AVEMCO Insurance
Aloha Aviators has partnered with AVEMCO Insurance Company to provide aviation insurance. When you request a quote through our partnership, Aloha Aviators receives referral credits. These credits help us continue our mission of supporting the aviation community.
By getting your insurance quote through this partnership, you'll:
RENTERS:
Flying rented aircraft? Avemco Insurance Company offers coverages designed to protect you. Click on the Avemco® link to learn more or to buy online.
OWNERS:
Own an airplane or planning to buy one? Avemco Insurance Company offers coverages designed to protect you, your family, and your airplane. Click on the Avemco® link to learn more or to request a quote today.
Click the like button below. If you prefer to contact them directly, please mention the Source Code (AA69) or mention the ALOHA AVIATORS.
By getting your insurance quote through this partnership, you'll:
- Get coverage for your aviation needs
- Help support Aloha Aviators at no extra cost to you
- Contribute to strengthening our aviation community
RENTERS:
Flying rented aircraft? Avemco Insurance Company offers coverages designed to protect you. Click on the Avemco® link to learn more or to buy online.
OWNERS:
Own an airplane or planning to buy one? Avemco Insurance Company offers coverages designed to protect you, your family, and your airplane. Click on the Avemco® link to learn more or to request a quote today.
Click the like button below. If you prefer to contact them directly, please mention the Source Code (AA69) or mention the ALOHA AVIATORS.
Tax deductible donations can be made to the following Venmo Account...
@AlohaAviators
or contact us if you wish to make a Bank Transfer.