46 Waking Hours A life-saving helicopter pilot

Ryan Hanrahan (40) is a mechanical engineer and a commercial helicopter pilot. He set up Bumbleair, which transports sick children in Ireland to hospital for free. Born in Dundalk, he lives in Islandbridge, Dublin

Normally, I get up at 7am. First thing I do is go to the gym. Then I come back and have porridge and coffee. I live in an apartment in Islandbridge. Normally, I’m on the road for 8am, because I travel around Ireland doing survey inspections on wind turbines. A lot of them are in the west.

I spent five years studying mechanical engineering. It was the most amazing experience. Every summer, I would pack my bags and head off travelling. I was in the Amazon for a month, and I worked in Honduras, teaching scuba diving. Adventure is a big part of my life.

My late grandfather was a private pilot for planes. I never met him, but the stories about him were very inspirational for me. He set up a transport business in the 1950s and that grew to employ 120 by 1991. Also, he always believed in helping others. When I was 21, I did my first flying lesson in a helicopter. I thought it was phenomenal, but it was very expensive. I worked for six years as an engineer and surveyor, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to continue with it. Then I went back to pursue aviation.

I kept working, and every weekend, I drove up to Enniskillen to get my private pilot’s licence. I loved it. You’ve got this big engine strapped to your back, as you are zipping along the air. It was captivating. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go for it. There was a lot of fear, because it was a risk. I was giving up a normal life where everything was cushy. It was a big decision, but it just felt right.

So, I quit my job, sold my house and car and moved to Florida. I wanted to get a commercial pilot’s licence. The first week in my apartment, I heard this rumbling. I looked out the window, and there was a rocket taking off from Nasa. It was very inspiring. At night, I’d go out to the perimeters of Nasa. You’d see the whole sky illuminate, and you’d feel the vibrations from these rockets.

After almost two years in Florida, I moved to Portland, Oregon, for more training. While I was there, my neighbour’s child was quite sick. My neighbour was very stressed because he couldn’t take him to hospital in San Francisco. It was such a long journey. The following week, he told me that he got his son transported by plane for free. This was all thanks to an American charity called Angel Flight. It started out because these guys had a small Cessna plane. Instead of just flying around in the sky, they decided that they would transport sick children to hospital for free. It grew and grew, and last year, they had 4,000 missions.

I was so inspired by this that I decided to do the same thing in Ireland, except with helicopters. This would mean that I would combine my love of flying, and I would also be helping sick children. I approached two hospitals about my idea, but it didn’t work out. I knew that these were just challenges. Once you believe in your heart that what you are doing is right, and you are determined enough, you can do anything.

Then I read about Bumbleance, the charity set up in Kerry by Tony Heffernan and his wife Mary, after their two kids, Saoirse and Liam, passed away. They had Batten disease. They found it very stressful travelling up and down to hospital. Tony took it upon himself to fundraise and purchase ambulances that are themed like a bumble bee. The aim was to make positive life impacts for sick children.

Now we work in conjunction, and we have Bumbleair. It is early days, but my goal is to get this service up and running. I hire a helicopter and I donate my time, as does the other pilot. But then we need to pay for fuel. I funded the first flight, which cost €1,200; and the second flight, which was €1,500. I just felt that it was so important to get it started. The third and fourth will be funded by somebody else. We need to raise €50,000.

Our first flight was on July 2 this year. We flew from Westin, Dublin, to Knock Airport in Co Mayo. Bumbleance had brought our patient to the airport. There, we met 12-year-old Keith Gallagher and his dad. Usually, Keith had to travel for four hours in a small car to make it for his chemotherapy sessions in Dublin. He was very sick, and those journeys were stressful for him and his family. I just thought that this was unacceptable.

Keith had never been in a helicopter before. We took off into the air and flew over his house. I looked back at him and gave him the thumbs up, and he gave me the thumbs up back and smiled. He was just being a child, as opposed to being a child who was worried about getting his chemotherapy. He was so happy, and his dad was, too. When I saw that boy’s smile,

“When I saw that boy’s smile, I thought, ‘This is what it’s all about’”

I thought, ‘This is what it’s all about’.

For our next mission, we are going to fly Olivia, a one-year-old baby girl, from Sligo to Dublin for her treatment. To be honest, I didn’t even know that children that young got cancer. The family normally have a four-hour car journey, but in the sky, it will only take an hour.

I love entrepreneurship. I like to drive things. When you drive things that do good for other people, it’s very rewarding. And I get to fly, so I’m following my passion, too. I still have a day job, but it is contract work, and I work around flights.

When I go to bed at midnight, I like to read books on aviation. And then I practise gratitude. I’m very fortunate in my life. I’m very grateful for what I have every day. It is an honour to be able to help other people.