Tulsa-Based Company Donates To Plane On A Mission To Change Lives

A new Flying Eye hospital, set to travel across the world curing blindness, made a stop in Tulsa to thank one of its donors.

The converted cargo plane, not the new Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, is on a mission to change lives.

Everything inside the plane was donated; all the seats and everything else inside came from Tulsa-based Omni Air International.

Before its maiden voyage, the Flying Eye hospital made a stop in Tulsa to say 'thank you.'

"Most of the passenger features, portable water system, the lavs, the galleys all came from Omni," said Jack McHale with Orbis International.

Tulsa-based Omni International, which charters planes all over the world, helped turn a FedEx cargo plane into a state-of-the-art hospital and classroom. 3,000 parts like window shades, seats, and bins from a retired Omni DC-10 helped make the conversion.

McHale said, "This plane, it really took a village, and Omni is a prominent participant in our village."

It’s the third airplane Orbis built on its mission to cure blindness.

The charity says 285 million people around the world are vision impaired, and more than three-fourths of them could be cured.

Orbis International pilot, Captain Cheryl Pitzer said, "Just knowing you're able to help somebody. You use a skill you develop for work to make a living and to be able to use that to help somebody is fantastic."

Help from a company here in Tulsa.

"It's that kind of spirit that makes this airplane what it is," McHale said.

The plane will head to China this fall to not only train doctors but restore people's vision.