On Wednesday 28 December 2011, I conducted my first Angel Flight mission. This is something that I had wanted to start doing for a long time now, since Angel Flight provided my wife and son with the same great service back in 2003 when I was deployed. Angel Flight is a non-profit service that provides children and families in need air transportation. Pilots donate their time, skills and a plane, to fly patients for free to help support their respective situations. I was very lucky to have this support and now it feels great to give back and provide the same support others.
On this day, I flew my SR22 to St. Mary’s, GA and picked up my first passengers. It was a young husband and wife that needed to be flown to Augusta, GA to the burn unit there. The young gentleman tried to put out a grease fire in his kitchen and ended up getting third degree burns all the way up his right arm. What made this even more special was that neither of them had ever flown in an airplane at all, so they were thrilled to see our beautiful country from the air. I flew them to Daniel Field in northern Augusta and then waited for them while he was at his appointment. About an hour later, they returned and we flew back to St. Mary’s. Flight time was approximately an hour each way, but still significantly shorter than driving all the way from southern Georgia. The weather was perfect with smooth air and very little wind. I really couldn’t have asked for a better first flight and it was extremely special to share my passion with them. For any pilots out there reading this, I very highly recommend signing up to do Angel Flights. It’s an extremely rewarding way to give back, and a great way to add flying time instead of just burning holes in the sky for no reason. If you don’t own an aircraft that is fine, rentals work great too. There are many organizations out there that provide this type of support. For those in the south eastern United States, check out: http://www.angelflightsoars.org/ 
