Pilots Group Flying Mercy Missions Needs Angels on Ground, Too
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
June 14, 2005
(AgapePress) - A nationwide non-profit organization that for 20 years has been offering free chartered flights for people in need is looking for giving people to help it continue its missions of mercy. Angel Flight is a non-profit volunteer pilot organization involved in "public benefit flying." While the organization provides a variety of services, its primary work is arranging free transportation by private aircraft for people in need, getting them to distant medical facilities when commercial service is not available, not practical, or simply not affordable.
Tom Powers is the chairman of Angel Flight Southeast, the regional wing that covers Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. He notes that the more than 850 volunteer pilots in the wing, who fly thousands of medical and humanitarian air missions every year, dedicate hundreds of hours each year, not to mention thousands of dollars from their own pockets to keep Angel Flight's missions of mercy flying.
"It's really indescribable when you do take a mission," Powers says. "You fly somebody that really needs the help getting treatment in a far distant area, and you know that you're giving them that hope that they normally wouldn't get otherwise."
The head of Angel Flight Southeast says every time a volunteer pilot flies a needy person to a medical facility for help and healing, the aviator enjoys "just a tremendous feeling of giving back, not only to that individual, but to the community as a whole." And these "Earth angels" really are giving, literally, the regional wing spokesman points out, noting, "Our pilots completely donate their time, their aircraft, and the fuel costs."
Transportation provided by the organization is always free of charge to patients and companion passengers, with pilots generously donating their time, skill and equipment, and absorbing all maintenance and other related expenses. Last year alone, Angel Flight flew over 20,000 missions, yet steadily increasing demand for emergency medical transportation means the organization needs more pilots today than at any time in its 20-year history
Still, Powers notes, it takes more than pilots to keep this great humanitarian effort flying. The devotion and selflessness of volunteer aviators are of tremendous benefit to Angel Flight in the performance of its services, he says, "but where we need help financially is with our coordination of these missions on the ground, and with a staff of individuals in each region."
Powers urges those interested in helping to visit his wing's website. There, they can learn about volunteering and giving opportunities, including how to make one-time or ongoing charitable donations, how to "Adopt an Angel Flight," and how to sponsor a commemorative brick on Angel Flight's "Runway of Hope."
