Angel Flight Page - Twin County EAA Chapter 1426

The following information was provided by Joanie Walker, wife of EAA Member and Angel Pilot, Lewis Walker.

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Recently Lewis Walker of Grayson County, an Angel Flight volunteer pilot for about five years, spoke to the EAA Chapter based at Hillsville (HLX) airport. As an official Community Representative of Angel Flight, he explained how and why Angel Flight is "the shortest distance between home and hope" for thousands of patients around the U.S.

HLX is in Angel Flight's Mid-Atlantic Region, with its mission control base in Virginia Beach. The headquarters staff coordinates volunteer services of its pilots with the needs of people who require assistance in traveling distances for medical treatment, evaluation or diagnosis.

The requirements for Angel Flight candidates are as follows:

* Patient must be traveling a distance of at least 200 nautical miles

* Air transportation limited to 1,000 miles one-way

* Patient must be ambulatory

* Four to five business days must be given for coordination of flights

* Patient must be able to sit upright during flight

* Patient must not require medical attention while traveling such as use of ventilator, IV, feeding tube, trachea, et. (Exception: oxygen is allowed).

* Patients under the age of 18 must have a legal guardian

* Weight restrictions apply

* Angel Flight requires a signed Medical Release form

All Angel Flight pilots are instrument rated, and must have 250 hours PIC time. They must also have 25 hours PIC time in type aircraft to be flown which can be owned, rented or borrowed by the pilot for the Angel Flight mission. Angel Flight pilots volunteer their time, aircraft, and fuel to the missions.

Over 5000 volunteer pilots (nationally) now fly for this worthy cause.

Lewis has flown patients to medical centers in the D.C. area; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Cleveland, OH; and Charlottesville. He has also moved patients along a "chain"of flights. Recently Lewis flew from HLX to Morgantown, WV, to pick up a patient out of Buffalo, NY. Lewis was "leg" two of the Angel Flight that day. The third "leg" pilot met Lewis at HLX to fly the patient on to his destination in South Carolina.

Angel Flight pilots are emailed listings of available missions from the Mid-Atlantic office. Pilots select when and where they wish to fly.

As Community Representatives, Lewis and his wife Joanie are currently providing Angel Flight information to local organizations so people in Southwest Virginia will utilize the free service. They also hope to recruit more pilots to serve in the Angel Flight program, and to encourage donations to the program from individuals and organizations.

Click here to visit the national site for Angel Flights