Maine employer teams with Ben Affleck on award-winning project

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association this month reported that Academy Award winner Ben Affleck, who has earned Hollywood honors for silver screen hits such as “Good Will Hunting” and “Argo,” has paired with a Maine employer to earn an honor of a different sort.

In what AOPA described as the aviation industry’s version of the Oscars, Affleck and Tempus Jets CEO Scott Terry are receiving the Endeavor Awards’ Inspiration Award for their work using aircraft for humanitarian missions.

Tempus Jets — a major aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul firm with annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars and multiple locations around the world — is one of the anchor tenants at Brunswick Landing (the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, now under civilian redevelopment).

Reports AOPA:

“Affleck founded the Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010 to combat the humanitarian crisis in the Congo. He recently joined with Terry — founder of Global Flight Relief, a nonprofit company dedicated to providing aviation assistance around the world.

The group uses both a Lockheed L–1011 and a King Air E–90 to provide medical assistance. The Lockheed — also known as ‘The Flying Hospital’ — features four operating rooms, 16 pre- and post-op beds, a pharmacy, and more.”

The humanitarian effort received new attention this week as Affleck took his cause to Capitol Hill this week, where he made headlines advocating for aid to Congo before a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

Affleck is next scheduled to appear on the big screen as the Caped Crusader in 2016’s superhero movie “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

Actor Ben Affleck (C) arrives at a Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on "Diplomacy, Development, and National Security" on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday. (Reuters photo by Yuri Gripas)

Actor Ben Affleck arrives at a Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on “Diplomacy, Development, and National Security” on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday. (Reuters photo by Yuri Gripas)