Angel Flight Pilots Take Medically Needy Patients Wherever They Need to Go

By Caroline Klapper

Ken Jordan uses his own Piper Lance airplane to transport children and adults in need of medical or humanitarian need as a volunteer with Angel Flight Southeast.  The company is under the large organizational umbrella of Air Charities Network, whose mission is to provide free air transportation to people who need to fly for compelling medical or humanitarian reasons.  All volunteer pilots who work for the organization must bear the costs for operating their aircraft, which amounts to nearly $500 per flight for Jordan, who says that many pilots have done well and seek to contribute to a cause in a way beyond a simple monetary donation.  Gregory Church, vice president of operations for Angel Flight, says that pilots are "grateful for what they have. ? If they can give back, they give back. It's their time, it's their plane, and they take on the cost."

March 11, 2009