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Pilot on Ebola rescue mission was company general counsel

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One of the pilots who flew to Liberia to pick up an American missionary stricken with Ebola was the general counsel of the transport company hired for the mission.

Randall Davis is vice president and general counsel of Phoenix Air Group Inc. in Georgia. He tells the Daily Report (sub. req.) that he sometimes fills in to fly planes when needed and he volunteered to fly to Liberia. He is an experienced pilot who has been fascinated with flying since he was a youth and watched planes take off and land on an airstrip near a family farm.

Davis says Phoenix Air is a special missions company. “Sometimes the missions are medical, sometimes exotic animals or artwork,” he tells the Daily report. “Some are special people.”

The company built a special isolation unit on one of its medical transport planes at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention five years ago. The specially outfitted plane was used to transport Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol from Liberia to Emory Hospital for Ebola treatment, though Davis was a pilot only on Writebol’s flight.

As general counsel, Davis drafts contracts and obtains security clearances for Phoenix Air planes to travel internationally.

A news crew was waiting for Davis when he came home from the flight. He told ABC it was an honor and a gratifying experience to help a person who was so selfless.

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