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legs averaging 460 to 550 miles in distance, with a flight time of roughly six hours. Passengers are both adults and children. One of the misnomers that we face is that Angel Flight Central just flies children, which is not true. As a matter of fact, more than 60 percent of our flights are for adults over the age of 18.
4. How many pilots and aircraft are currently affiliated with the organization? What is the process for registering?
Currently, Angel Flight Central has 330 dedicated pilots in our region. Each pilot either owns his or her plane or has access to one. The organization does have special requirements that each pilot must meet. Angel Flight Central stresses a culture of safety and is very concerned about the safety of not only our passengers but our pilots as well. We routinely tell our pilots they can always cancel a flight but cannot cancel a poor decision.
If a pilot is interested in becoming a volunteer pilot for our organization, they can log into our website at www.angelflightcentral.org and click on “Pilots.” I can tell you for certain that there are individuals alive today because of the generosity of these men and women who give their time, treasure and talent to our organization.
5. Can you share an example of one of the patient stories? How did the network provide the care he/she required?
Mike C. is a single father of a high-school Junior. Mike runs his own home inspection business, mainly so he can set his own schedule. Mike was involved in a terrible car accident that left him with a threat of never walking again. To continue his miraculous progress, Mike is charged with traveling to a specialist in Minneapolis every two months. The drive to-and-from is debilitating, and usually requires a week or more to recover from, before feeling strong enough to return to his business. The process has left Mike financially and emotionally bankrupt.
During the Kansas City Better Business Bureau's Annual Meeting in January 2018, Brendan Sneegas, the AFC director of operations and development, unknowingly sat at the same table as Mike. Brendan learned of Mike's story and offered to set him up with an "angel flight" to determine if free air-transportation could make a difference in Mike's ability to recover and get back to his business quicker and with less pain. Mike more than agreed.
On January 28th, 2018 Mike and his son Zach took off from the airport with a local pilot and landed in Minneapolis 90 minutes later. Mike attended his appointment while the pilot waited at the FBO. At 8:30 p.m. the very same day, the plane touched down in Kansas City. Mike returned to his Independence, Missouri home and was able to be back, running his business the next day. Angel Flight Central hopes to repeat this story every two months as long as Mike needs us.
26 • TWIN & TURBINE
January 2019