Short Hop or Long Haul, AeroAngel Delivers
AeroAngel has flown children across the country, as far as from Anchorage to Boston. Their shortest flight was from Durango to Denver; the longest (nonstop) from Philadelphia to San Francisco. An average flight might cover just a couple of hours flying time in a jet, but every flight gives children and their families a safe opportunity to travel for the life-saving medical treatment they would not otherwise have. Based at Centennial Airport (KAPA) in the Denver area, Mark usually flies as often as he can in the right seat so he can support and connect with the young passengers and their families.
A Bunch of Jets = Flexibility and Responsiveness
AeroAngel made a number of flights in the donated Learjet 55 (since sold) but now relies mostly on a growing network of 150 or more corporate and individual jet donors, as well as some funded charter flights. Thanks to that network, AeroAngel has flown passengers to their destinations aboard the Pilatus PC-12, the Hawker 800XP, the Embraer Phenom 300, the Bombardier Challenger 300, the Cessna Citation 525, the Learjet 60, the Eclipse 500, and a variety of Gulfstream jets. Because there are minimal configuration changes necessary for the majority of AeroAngel flights it’s possible to utilize most turbine-powered aircraft. One of Pestal’s goals is to put the AeroAngel logo on an Embraer Phenom 300 sometime soon, given the increasing need for flights- often on short notice.
Demand on the Rise During Troubled Times
So far AeroAngel has provided more than $2 million worth of air travel services for children and their families. The demand for AeroAngel flights is on the rise, particularly during the COVID pandemic. Mark sees at least 100 potential flights taking place during 2021. Pestal told us AeroAngel’s first jet flight came together in about 24 hours. 21 year-old Courtney’s only chance to survive kidney failure was a flight from a Denver hospital to John Hopkins in Baltimore. Mark phoned a friend who donated the flight, which departed the next day at 0700 local time. About a month later, Courtney was able to walk out of the hospital in Boston and fly back home to Texas. Helping people like Courtney is what AeroAngel is all about.
Growing as Fast as They Can
Mark has a five-year plan with the primary goal of filling 100 percent of critical flight requests and putting one or more light jets under charter to be able to provide flights for the children’s hospitals across the country. With the current growth trend, Pestal says AeroAngel’s business plans usually don’t last more than a few months. Another goal expansion would help to meet is the ability to launch flights on a few hours’ notice anywhere in the country. To help meet this goal, AeroAngel has set up an Emergency Flight Fund to help pay for charter flights when no other options are available.
An Epic Weekend of Flying With AeroAngel
When we talked with Mark we asked him for a unique anecdotal story about AeroAngel, he passed along this tale about an epic weekend of flying (and helping people along the way) in a Citation Mustang jet:
“AeroAngel is a unique aviation charity; no other group is doing what we’re doing. Over one weekend, while I was still in my day job with DOJ, we did 3 AeroAngel flights plus a couple of charter flights along the way. On Saturday morning it was wheels up at 0700 from Rocky Mountain Metro (BJC) to Henderson in Vegas to pick up a passenger (Alan) and his mother.
Next we stopped at Fort Collins (FNL) to pick up a 20 year-old (Payton) and her mother. We took the first passenger, Alan, and dropped him off at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Then we flew to Cleveland to drop Payton and her mother at the Cleveland Clinic (she ended up in ICU a few hours later from sepsis). We overnighted in St. Louis. Then we flew to Jackson, Tennessee to pick a young gal who needed to go to Sacramento. On a fuel stop in Pueblo, the owner got a call for a charter on the jet. So we stopped in Aspen to pick up one of our donors headed to Vegas. She rode along to Sacramento. Then we dropped the AeroAngel passenger in Sacramento, and then we flew to Vegas. On the way back to BJC we did another charter flight. It took a while to explain to the office staff what I did that weekend!”
Mark Pestal and his team at AeroAngel are doing outstanding work and we thank him and his volunteers for what they do. We also wish to thank Mark and his staff for helping us tell this story. To donate to AeroAngel’s Emergency Flight Fund head over to their donation page here. Now we hope you enjoy this promotional video about AeroAngel uploaded to YouTube by Elizabeth Stephani.
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