After 11 years of
quietly helping researchers and environmental activists carry out
their projects from the air, Tucson pilot Sandy Lanham was awarded
a $500,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation on Oct.
23.
Other pilots bill $300 an hour for similar
services. But Lanham’s Environmental Flying Services, with the help
of charitable foundations, only charges scientists and
environmentalists the cost of airport fees and fuel for her
45-year-old Cessna.
“Everybody that knows me must
be laughing because they know I’m not a genius,” says Lanham, who
adds that she may use the money for a new
plane.
Often flying just 200 feet above the
ground or water, Lanham has helped scientists discover new prairie
dog colonies in northern Mexico, monitored recovery efforts for
pronghorn antelope and tracked the migration of blue whales in the
Gulf of California.
Researchers and
environmentalists credit Lanham with helping them complete projects
that would be impossible or cost-prohibitive to do by land or sea.
One example: a 1,500-mile aerial survey of sea turtle nests along
the Mexican coast.
“It’s a man’s world down
there, for the most part, and she’s just this woman who’s got a lot
of starch,” says Cecil Schwalbe, a herpetologist with the U.S.
Geological Survey. “She’s treated almost like a celebrity when she
comes into camp.”
Copyright © 2002 HCN and Mitch
Tobin
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A wing and a genius grant.
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