Update. The Plan Got 250,000. The Aircraft Got More
Alaska's rural health program awarded $250,000 for a drone plan on August 14th. On September 4th it awarded $4,171,115 for aircraft.
The deck
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The story
This page reported that planning year as the whole machine story. Three weeks later it is not.
Tanana Chiefs Conference took the planning grant. A year of beyond visual line of sight waiver work with ACUASI at UAF before one box flies.
Ryan Air got the implementation grant. A family line flying 80 villages out of Unalakleet since 1953. Its award names "autonomous cargo drones and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft".
Both award rows are drawn as freight on one aircraft floor, with the ten rows out of 217 that name a machine.
Roughly $65 million is unawarded before an October 30th deadline. Which of those two grants should the rest of that money look like?
What we verified
38 CLAIMS, EACH RE-FETCHED FROM ITS SOURCE BEFORE THIS DECK SHIPPED
The Alaska Department of Health Notice of Intent to Award spreadsheet lists 217 award rows totalling $207,690,348.33.
Ryan Air's award was notified on September 4th, in the fifth Friday release.
Ryan Air's funded project is titled Using Advanced Air Mobility Systems to Deliver Perishable Pharmaceuticals to Remote Destinations.
Tanana Chiefs Conference received $250,000 for a planning year on drone pharmaceutical delivery in Interior Alaska.
The Tanana Chiefs Conference award is a planning grant rather than an implementation grant and was notified on August 14th.
The Tanana Chiefs planning project would connect a Fairbanks hub to 42 Interior Alaska villages across 94,000 square miles.
Tanana Chiefs says medication delivery delays of 5 to 14 days are common in winter.
The Tanana Chiefs planning project names the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration as its partner on FAA beyond visual line of sight waiver requirements.
The Alaska Center for UAS Integration is a University of Alaska Fairbanks research program that was selected as one of the first seven FAA unmanned aircraft test sites.
PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center received $6,518,029 to introduce the first robotic assisted minimally invasive surgeries to Southern Southeast Alaska.
Alaska Stroke Coalition received $3,156,626 for a statewide AI imaging network across 21 acute care hospitals.
Ten of the 217 Rural Health Transformation awards name a machine in their own title or summary, totalling $16,415,719.55.
The August 21st release was the largest round, with 105 projects worth $130,291,439.47.
Alaska will receive $272,174,856 from the Rural Health Transformation Program in the first year.
Alaska's first Rural Health Transformation budget period runs from December 29th, 2025 through October 30th.
All first year Rural Health Transformation funds must be fully spent by September 30th, 2027.
The Alaska Department of Health began releasing award decisions on Friday August 7th and releases them publicly each Friday.
Ryan Air serves 80 villages throughout Western Alaska.
Ryan Air operates 24 aircraft out of eight hubs.
Ryan Air started in 1953 in the village of Unalakleet and is managed by the third generation of the Ryan family.
Ryan Air's scheduled freight already carries furniture, clothing, food and medical supplies to the villages it serves.
82 percent of Alaska communities depend on aviation for year round access.
402 Alaskan communities depend on aviation for year round access, where aircraft often take the place of cars, school buses, semitrucks and ambulances.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities rural aviation system operates 235 airports.
CMS announced the Alaska awards as a $160 million investment across 142 projects on August 25th.
Alaska Department of Health officials announced a fifth round of federal Rural Health Transformation Program awards.
The reporter on the Alaska Beacon story carried by the Petersburg Pilot is James Brooks.
The fifth round of Rural Health Transformation Program awards totalled $25.8 million.
The fifth round funded 32 projects.
Alaska has awarded more than $207 million in Rural Health Transformation Program funds to date.
Ryan Air received $4,171,115 from the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Ryan Air proposes to deploy autonomous cargo drones and electric vertical take off and landing aircraft.
Ryan Air's proposal says the project addresses a near total lack of reliable affordable pharmaceutical access and medical transport in remote Alaska Native villages.
Ryan Air's project targets patients and healthcare providers in the Bethel and Dillingham regions.
Roughly $65 million of Alaska's first year allocation is still expected to be awarded ahead of a federal deadline of October 30th.
The Alaska Department of Health received nearly 1,800 project proposals for the program.
Alaska Commercial Company received $1.8 million in the same round for containerized hydroponic farms and says all of its project communities are off the road system.
Alaska is slated to receive roughly $1.3 billion from the Rural Health Transformation Program over five years.
Beats
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