Angel Flight FAQ's...
I love to fly. How can I help?
Angel Flight uses our network of volunteer pilots to provide free transportation via private aircraft to and from medical facilities. Our pilots donate their time, aircraft and fuel to help those whose medical problems have left them without the funds to reach places where they can get needed diagnosis or treatment.
Angel Flight is a non-profit organization. This allows for some of those flight expenses to become tax-deductible. (Consult your tax advisor for details.)
In order to keep up with the tremendous increase in mission requests, we must constantly increase our pilot member base. So if you're tired of punching holes in the sky, flying in circles, or going for the hundred dollar hamburger, let us show you how to put your aviation skills and talents to wonderful use. Join us. For a pilot membership application, click here.
What is Angel Flight?
Angel Flight is a tax exempt, nonprofit organization. The mission of Angel Flight is to facilitate access to health care by arranging free air transportation in private aircraft. Angel Flight links volunteer private pilots with needy people whose health care problems require long distance travel to and from medical facilities.
Angel Flight is an opportunity to combine your love of flying with volunteer community service.
Who Belongs to Angel Flight?
The members of Angel Flight are private pilots (aircraft owners and renters) and Earth Angels (ground support volunteers). An instrument rating is not necessary to fly on most Angel Flight missions, although we encourage all members to obtain the rating so they will be available for flights under a wider range of conditions. Less-experienced pilots are encouraged to fly as copilots.
Interested non-pilot supporting members (including the non-pilot spouses of pilots) are also very welcome. Non-pilot members are eligible to act as "copilots" on missions, in order to assist the patient. There is also a substantial amount of on-the-ground work for which everyone's help is valuable and appreciated.
Who Does Angel Flight Transport?
Angel Flight offers transportation to people whose medical problems make it necessary for them to travel for diagnosis or treatment, and who lack the financial resources for that transportation. Angel Flight will also carry, without regard to financial need, people whose condition or location makes it difficult or impossible for them to use other means of transportation.
Typical examples of Angel Flight missions include carrying cancer patients for chemotherapy, surgery or other treatment at a distant medical facility; carrying people with kidney problems to obtain dialysis or kidney transplants; carrying patients with heart problems for specialized diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up; and transporting children to and from "special needs camps" such as camps for burn survivors, camps for children with renal disease and camps for children with life-threatening illnesses. Angel Flight also responds to many other compelling human needs for which free air transportation would be of value.
The patients flown by Angel Flight must be ambulatory and medically stable. They must be able to get in and out of the aircraft on their own (or with limited assistance), sit up for the duration of the flight, and not require medical treatment during the flight. Patients often have a friend or family member accompany them.
Angel Flight Pilots also transport corneas, blood, other tissue, and technicians for the harvesting of organs as well as organ donors themselves (kidney/bonemarrow).
Where Do the Calls Come From?
Most requests for Angel Flight missions come from the social workers or discharge planners at hospitals and health care agencies. Calls also come from charitable organizations and societies such as the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. We also get referrals from related aviation-oriented charities such as the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) and AirLifeLine.
These are agencies that generally work with people who are financially needy (or have become so due to the cost of treating their illness). By using the expertise of these agencies and their personnel, we determine that a person meets our medical and/or financial-need criteria and thus justifies the pilot's donation of time and flying expenses.
What Kinds of Aircraft Does Angel Flight Use?
Most Angel Flight aircraft are single or twin-engine, propeller-driven aircraft. In some cases, jet aircraft are also welcome because they are ideal for the longer distance missions.
Since you don't need either a large or a fast airplane to be of assistance to most people who seek Angel Flight's help, the majority of our missions are flown in single-engine, four-seat aircraft.
How Far Will Angel Flight Fly on a Mission?
The pilots make the determination of how far they are willing to fly. Many of our missions are within a 500 mile radius of the patient's home base airport. Longer missions usually require "handoffs" with other volunteer pilot organizations.
We do not fly outside the borders of the United States. We occasionally connect with corporate or commercial flights for longer distances. In such cases our role is often to bring a patient from a remote location not served by public transportation, to a major airport.
What is My Liability?
Flights you make for Angel Flight have the same status as any flight made with passengers by a private pilot under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. You have no greater liability when flying a passenger for an Angel Flight mission than when flying a friend or neighbor.
Pilots are required to have liability insurance but do not have to name Angel Flight as an additional insured.
