Eye operation on board Orbis. Surgeons performing an operation in the operating theatre on board the 'flying hospital' plane Orbis. Project Orbis is a US/UK charity that instructs Third World doctors and surgeons in ophthalmolgy (eye medicine). The DC-10 aircraft has traveled widely in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Although it is primarily a teaching facility, Orbis has treated blindness in more than 23,000 patients since its first mission in 1982. Photographed in Krygystan (Kyrgiz Republic) in Central Asia.