"You just see the world differently from an airplane," says C. Rudy Engholm, president of Northern Wings, based in Portland, Maine. That perspective can make all the difference when the future of the landscape is at stake. "You don't see political boundaries -- you see rivers, lakes, towns, forests, coastlines. It's a very powerful thing," says Engholm. The volunteer pilots of Northern Wings share that view of the world with policymakers, reporters, major donors, TV crews, scientists, and photographers when wild places and open spaces in New England and New York need protection. "For a lot of these causes, winning hearts and minds is very important," Engholm says. And those hearts and minds can change with a little bit of altitude.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/leadnews/a-higher-calling