New York, USA — In a highly unusual occurrence, three United Airlines Jamaican pilots manned a flight bringing relief supplies for victims of Hurricane Melissa — a likely first by managers of one of the world’s largest airlines.

People who know airline runnings understood immediately that it was no coincidence when United Airlines flight 3015 touched down at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday, November 2, with three of four pilots on-board having deep connections to Jamaica.

But whatever nostalgia or importance the event might have brought for captains Trevor Bourne, Toray Bailey and O’Neil Barnes would quickly change to despair in minutes as they entered Jamaican skies and saw the enormity of the devastation caused by the monster storm on October 28, 2025.

Captains Bourne and Bailey were both born in Jamaica while Barnes was born in the United States to Jamaican parents and taken to the island as a young child, before returning to US after attending school at St Mary High School in the parish.

The fourth pilot was Jalal Paul, a Haitian whose country was also devastated by Hurricane Melissa. All four were in the cockpit during the critical phase of the flight, with Bailey flying the plane from take-off to landing and Paul as the co-pilot.

“The scene from the aerial view as we approached the airport was heartbreaking for all of us. You could see that something was different as the normally clear blue waters of the Caribbean Sea looked murky, trees were without leaves, while several buildings were without their roofs,” captains Bourne and Barnes told the Jamaica Observer during a joint interview.

They noted that the situation on the ground was even more stark, noting that they had been in Jamaica separately two weeks before the hurricane struck.

The powerful Category 5 storm, packing winds of 185 miles per hour, has left 45 dead at press time and a trail of damage to infrastructure like roads and buildings as well as crops, with a cost of some US$9 billion, according to initial government estimates.

Thousands across the island remain without electricity, communication and water, while others are in shelters or marooned due to blocked roads and rising flood waters.

“United’s management facilitated the arrangements to have us man the aircraft because they saw what it meant to us. Also, there were employees who wanted to know how they could help, so we were asked to take back information as to what form that assistance could take,” said Bailey.

Barnes said that for him there was an eerie feeling as he entered the normally busy Sangster International Airport and noticed how quiet it was. There was visible damage to parts of the building and there was no air conditioning service.

“Yet, what we saw on display among the workers we engaged with was resilience and a determination to pick up the pieces,” he observed.

An encounter between captains Barnes and Bailey with a young female employee whose house had been destroyed by the hurricane was one of many touching moments for the pilots.

“You would have thought that any request from her under such circumstances would be for financial help, instead her request was for toiletries. To us that represented the depth of the devastation and also the immediate needs of some of those affected,” they agreed.

Based on the stories of utter ruin, threat of starvation and loss of lives and livelihoods, the three captains and other crew members brought back crucial information to their supervisors, which resulted in United Airlines partnering with other organisations to further assist its employees and others in Jamaica.

Both Barnes and Bourne have flown relief missions before. A former member of the US Air Force, Barnes said he flew into Puerto Rico in 2017 following Hurricane Maria which caused extensive damage to that Caribbean island. Bourne, who has been flying for 13 years, took relief supplies to Haiti after Hurricane Laura in 2020.

For Captain Bailey, piloting United Airlines flight 3015 to Montego Bay was special.

“Montego Bay is where my interest in a career in aviation was first ignited, following a visit to the airport as a three-year-old when I first saw an aeroplane up close — an encounter which left an indelible mark on my young mind,” he said.

“I am of the firm belief that construction of any future airport in Jamaica should include a waving gallery, as it has influenced so many, including Trevor, O’Neil, and myself, to become aviators.”

In a 2022 interview with the Observer, then First Officer Bailey, a St Ann native, said that after that visit as a child, and after travelling to all corners of the world, he was looking forward to one day piloting an aircraft to Montego Bay, the usually scenic north coast tourist mecca.

He was grateful to United Airlines for facilitating the three pilots to make the trip together, something which is not normally done.

Since their return from Jamaica, the pilots have continued in their own way to bring awareness to the plight of those who have been severely affected by the hurricane.

In the meantime, many individuals and organisations continue to ramp up efforts to help with the hurricane relief thrust. The US-based Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), for example, has already shipped 18 containerloads and 18 planeloads of relief supplies to the island. The more than 1,490 pallets weighing 1.5 million pounds was secured with the help of over 1,300 volunteers at a cost of more than US$4.3 million, according to the organisation.

In the Florida city of Lauderhill, Mayor Denise D Grant, a Jamaican national, has shipped one trailerload of supplies, including 22 barrels, to the custos of Manchester to assist the relief effort in that parish. A second consignment was scheduled to be shipped off to assist suffering victims in Westmoreland, Trelawny and St James, Mayor Grant told the Observer.

The New York-based Queens United Sports Club, whose members and other participants in their annual Masters League Cricket tournament were stranded in Jamaica during the passage of the hurricane, dispatched several barrels of food and other items to assist the relief project, club President Austin Hutchinson told the newspaper.

He said that having witnessed first hand the wreckage caused by the storm, the club was continuing its relief effort as it was in the process of trying to secure generators and more food supplies to send to the island.

Captain Trevor Bourne

Captain O’Neil Barnes