ERP took delivery of the Air Wing’s first aircraft, an NX Cub from Yakima, WA-based CubCrafters, at this week’s EAA AirVenture. Also commonly known as ‘Oshkosh’, AirVenture is the world’s largest airshow.

This is an important step toward providing air cover for the vast ERP megafauna sanctuary areas in Namibia in Southern Africa, established to protect elephants and rhinos and improve the economic wellbeing of impoverished rural people living adjacent to protected areas. The first aircraft will soon be joined by another new NX Cub. Both will be containerized and shipped to Namibia, then put into service late this year. The Cubs will provide ERP rangers with a potent tool to combat poaching and to monitor endangered desert-adapted elephants and very soon, also critically endangered black rhinos to be relocated to a separate area in the southern part of Namibia.

‘The tragic loss of elephants and rhinos to poachers is a daily occurrence in that part of the world’ said Quintin Smith, Partner in Group Elephant and a director of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ‘As an FAA-licensed pilot, I’m delighted about the role these Cubs will play in protecting endangered megafauna in Africa’, he added.

‘ERP’s presence at AirVenture dovetails neatly with EAA’s ‘humanitarian flying’ theme this year’, said ERP Air Wing Lead Tom Haines, well known in the industry as Editor emeritus of AOPA’s Pilot Magazine. ‘It’s a privilege to be here to showcase the important role that General Aviation can play in protecting wildlife and alleviating poverty in Africa’, explained Haines.

Smith accepted the NX Cub at the Redbird Flight Simulations exhibit during a signing ceremony with Brad Damm, Vice President of CubCrafters. Redbird and CubCrafters are generous supporters of the Air Wing.

‘When it comes to operating out of short, unimproved airstrips, few aircraft can match the NX Cub’, said Damm. ‘Having been to Namibia to see ERP’s fieldwork and the unforgiving desert environment, I’m confident that the NX Cub’s ruggedness and backcountry capability will be a tremendous asset in the hands of ERP rangers who will fly these capable machines day-in and day-out’, he added.

The ERP NX Cub will be on display at the Redbird exhibit (Booth 301) throughout this week’s AirVenture. ‘We share ERP’s vision for a world where these magnificent animals can thrive safely and away from human conflict’, said Charles Gregoire, Redbird CEO. ‘At Redbird, not only do we make simulators, we’re also pilots and aircraft owners who understand how effective general aviation airplanes can be on missions such as this’.