Those of us who fly for business or pleasure realize how lucky we are to be able to do what we do. And what better way to celebrate an avocation that brings us joy than to use our training and airplanes to give something back to the world we live in.

Volunteering your pilot skills and your airplane isn’t a luxury afforded only to full-time pilots. Organizations who use volunteers to transport everything from sick pets to body parts say the average volunteer is no different than the average pilot. The only special skills you need are compassion and a desire to help folks in need.

When you talk about volunteer pilots, most people think of Angel Flight America angelflightamerica.org, an umbrella organization made up of six regional organizations that provide flights to patients and their families for medical treatment.

This group flies nearly 22‚000 trips a year and with an average of 2.1 passengers per trip‚ is estimated to carry just over 50‚000 passengers per year. In the days following hurricane Katrina‚ Angel Flight volunteers flew more than 2‚100 trips bringing supplies into the affected region‚ then flying survivors out of the area. "We move a lot of bodies‚" jokes Angel Flight America’s Executive Director Ken Rusnak.

If you don't want to fly people, try pets. Marilyn Subach, founder of Flying Paws flyingpaws.org, a non-profit organization that flies special needs animals to rescue shelters and permanent homes, describes her 75 volunteer pilots as simply, "a big network of people who care about animals."

Subach said the organization lends its flying skills to relocating pets for soldiers abroad‚ but their main activity is helping take sick shelter animals to places they will be cared for.

A recent flight‚ for example‚ involved a California dog that had been shot with a pellet lodged near its spine. The dog was paralyzed and the shelter in California found a sanctuary in Connecticut that would take care of it‚ but needed a way to get the animal across the country.

Flying Paws arranged a flight as far as Phoenix and while waiting to find a pilot willing to transport the dog on the next leg‚ they found a local veterinarian who was able to remove the pellet. The dog is now in physical therapy and Subach said hopes are good he will be able to walk and be adopted by a local Arizona family.
If cross country isn’t your game‚ you can give back while staying in the pattern by volunteering for EAA’s Young Eagles program fyoungeagles.orgg‚ which gives brief‚ introductory flights to children in hopes that they will grow up to be tomorrow's pilots.