Virginia teen pilot flies medical supplies to rural hospitals

TJ Kim loads medical supplies into a plane.
(Photo provided to the AP by Thomas Kim)

Like many high school students, TJ Kim wanted to find a way to help out during the covid-19 pandemic. So the 16-year-old sophomore, who lives in McLean, Virginia, decided to make use of his flying lessons to bring badly needed medical supplies to rural hospitals.

"Each week, he carries gloves, masks, gowns and other equipment to small hospitals. When he made his first delivery, on March 27 to a 25-bed hospital in Luray, he was taken aback by the reception," Matthew Barakat reports for The Associated Press.

"They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about. Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals," Kim told Barakat. "Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten."

Kim and his family dubbed the effort "Operation SOS" (Supplies Over Skies). His goal is to deliver supplies to all seven critical-access hospitals in rural Virginia, Barakat reports. Kim has been flying since he was 15; he hopes to attend the Naval Academy and become a pilot.