By: Reagan Barton and Alexandra Blacutt
After several years of not having the time or resources to become a pilot, this man now has the time and money to help people in need by being an Angel Flight pilot.
”I saw it advertised one time and thought I could maybe help a little bit and I contacted Angel Flight and got signed up, and now I’ve been doing it for a little over a year now,” Angel Flight pilot Larry Dillard said.
Dillard has been flying for six years and has been working with Angel Flight making about two trips a week.
To become an Angel Flight pilot, an individual must have at least 250 hours logged as pilot in command and at least 50 hours in the last 12 months.
Pilots must also donate the use of their airplane and fuel.
The charity is strictly donation based.
“It’s strictly voluntary on the pilots,” Dillard said.
Unfortunately a lot of flights get canceled at times due to weather and mechanical issues, but in Dillard’s experience it’s been the patients that cancel them.
However, he has one patient who never misses his flight.
“There’s this young man, I’ve been hauling him now for about a year and I normally always take his flights because I’ve gotten to know him and his mother. He’s 18 years old and has some form of rare cancer. I usually haul him down to Houston about four to five times a year and I’ve got to be friends with the family,” Dillard said.
This patient is about half of his flights, according to Dillard.
“I just really like him and his family. They’re nice people in a very unfortunate circumstance,” said Dillard.
Dillard said that as long as he’s in good health and has a plane, he’ll continue to fly those in need.