History of Disaster Air Response Teams or DARTS

In September of 2005 a non profit organization whose sole purpose is to fly fire, search and rescue, and FEMA personnel into National Disaster areas was developed by Morgan Garvey of Colorado based DARTS. The desire to help people and the sense of duty to respond that was brought about by 9/11 and Katrina, can now be realized in the form of Disaster Air Response Teams or DARTS. “I am proud to bring my program to the people of the this great country and to help bring together a coalition of all the special forces in America to respond as fast and a efficiant as possible to National Emergencies,” said Morgan.

Morgan Garvey’s History

Morgan Gavey created Disaster Air Response Teams or DARTS using his experiences in the field of emergency services and aviation as his backbone. Morgan was an air ambulance pilot and his job consisted of flying Lear jets into Colorado mountain towns to fly out hurt and sick people to Denver where they received needed medical treatment. “We flew our aircraft into the mountains day or night, good weather or bad. Some of these mountain airports had the convenience of air traffic control, most did not. Flying air ambulances was dangerous and challenging, yet because of what we accomplished it was one of the most satisfying jobs of my career.” The ability to save a life through the pursuance of my life long passion of aviation is an achievement Morgan has desired ever since and it has become part of the passion behind his drive to use DARTS to help others..

The events of September 11^th, 2001 were an assault on every American. As a pilot, the terrorists using aircraft as weapons to kill 3000 people made these events feel even more injurious to Morgan. On that morning Morgan was in the air flying as Captain on a Lear 45 from the east coast, to his destination of St. Louis Missouri . Over the radio Morgan heard loud commands from someone telling passengers to, “Stay in your seats, and nobody will get hurt.” The instant acknowledgement that an aircraft was getting high jacked was a cold and sobering reality on such a beautiful and routine morning to Morgan. Shortly after he heard the transmissions from flight 93, air traffic control proceeded to close and evacuate the entire United States airspace of all aircraft. After being rerouted to Nashville TN., and securing his passengers and aircraft, Morgan entered the passenger lounge just in time to see the second tower fall on the wide screen TV. “My first thought was to call family and friends, and let them know that I was alive and safe; my second thought was an indescribable anger for the people who I had just heard, and had seen kill thousands of people,” tells Morgan. He spent the next 4 days calling every military recruiter he could find. The recruiters liked his resume of accomplishments in aviation, but he was 35; to old to enter flight training with the military. “Since that day, I have sought a way that I can serve my community, state and country in this post 9/11 world. The creation & implementation of DARTS is that way we can all serve our country and to make sure that we have learned from and moved on from our past.

On August 25^th, 2005 hurricane Katrina came ashore as a category 4 hurricane, and laid waste to most of the coast between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. The devastation of land and property was an expected result from such a powerful storm, but what was not expected was the inability of State, and Federal agencies to deal with such a disaster. The infrastructure that needed to be in place for State and Federal agencies to act appropriately, no longer existed. The roads and highways that FEMA needed to deliver needed supplies and EMS facilities where either completely destroyed or underwater. Colorado Task Force One (CO-TF1) was one of FEMA’s emergency response teams who could not get into the hurricane area because of this destroyed infrastructure. CO-TF1 had several trucks loaded with supplies, equipment and 83 personnel none of which could get further than southern Texas. CO-TF1 was forced to return back home to Colorado without ever having an oppurtunity to engage the people and city that needed their help. I believe if CO-TF1 had aircraft available to them they would have been able to bypass the destroyed roads and successfully completed the tasks that they had spent millions of dollars and hundreds of man hours to accomplish”, tells Morgan Garvey. 

“To me DARTS is not work, it is my passion and so I hope it will also be yours.” - Morgan Garvey, Director of DARTS INC.