Become a Volunteer Pilot

Looking to use your aviation skills
to help others in need?

Read the information below about volunteer pilot requirements. When you’re ready, fill out the application to get started.

Want to become a volunteer Earth Angel driver? Visit our Earth Angel page to get started.

When you join forces with Angel Flight West, you’ll change lives by aiding passengers with transportation to medical care, specialty camps, and other essential services across the Western United States.

Have questions about piloting a mission? Send us an email at info@angelflightwest.org, or call (888) 426-2643.

There are a few ways to volunteer for Angel Flight West — you don’t have to be a pilot to make a difference. consider joining us an Earth Angel by providing ground transportation to and from flights.

The Need

For too many Americans, cost of travel presents a daunting barrier to care and community. And for some medical patients, illness or weakness makes commercial air travel, or a long-distance drive, unappealing or unnecessarily risky.

That’s where you, and your personal plane, can help make a lasting difference.

Hundreds of passengers need your help

Every day, on average, Angel Flight West oversees 10 unique flights — and each flight is piloted by a trusted volunteer: someone just like you.

Each of the upcoming flights depicted on this map represents a chance for an Angel Flight West passenger to receive the medical care they need. Each flight offers hope and health — gifts you can help deliver as a volunteer.

What to Expect

Flying with us offers pilots an amazing sense of fulfillment and the thrill of a powerful responsibility. Through it all, our volunteers and staff help make the process smooth and manageable for any trained pilot.

Check out this video presentation to learn how Angel Flight West makes volunteering easy.

Pilot Requirements

As a volunteer pilot with Angel Flight West, you’ll enjoy full control over:

When you fly
How often you fly
What passengers you fly

There is no quota of flights to meet — and our passengers understand Angel Flight West can’t always guarantee a particular service. Cancellation, for any reason, is always your choice.

Many of our pilots rent their aircraft. Although Angel Flight West pilots are able to live anywhere, our flights cross only the western United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Pilot Requirements:

1. Pilot applicants must have have logged at least 250 hours total time as pilot-in-command and at least 75 hours cross-country as pilot-in-command; or hold a valid Commercial certificate and at least 75 hours cross-country as pilot- in-command; or hold a valid Airline Transport Pilot certificate.

2. Pilot applicants must have flown at least 50 hours as pilot-in-command within the preceding 12 calendar months. Alternatively, within the preceding 12 months, they must have completed one of the following: a Flight Review (per FAR 61.56); a WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program level; a new Rating examination or checkride resulting in the issuance of at least a Temporary Airman Certificate confirming the new Rating; or an Instrument Proficiency Check (per FAR 61.57(d)). Pilots must retain all necessary records to confirm completion of any of these items used to qualify for Command Pilot status.

3. Pilot applicants must hold at least medical requirements as per FAR 61.53 (including BasicMed) current medical certificate.

4. Pilot applicants must hold a copy of the Certificate of Insurance, applicable to the aircraft that will be used for AFW missions, providing at least $500,000 liability coverage with a minimum per-seat coverage of $100,000. If the applicant is insured through a flying club or rental operation, or otherwise flying non-owned aircraft, the club, rental operation, or aircraft owner must hold a certification up to the required coverage amounts for the aircraft that will be used for AFW missions.

5. Pilot applicants must affirm at the orientation (and annually thereafter) that they will adhere to all FARs, and that they have (or will have) the certificate, rating (and type, if required) for the aircraft to be flown when acting as PIC on an AFW mission. This affirmation also includes having insurance in force and compliance with drug and alcohol provisions of the FARs. Click here to review the affirmation.

6. Volunteer Pilots must be 18 years of age or older to fly as a Command Pilot.

7. At this time, it is not permissible to use experimental or non-certified aircraft for passenger missions. Experimental aircraft may, however, be used for missions transporting blood or for any non-passenger missions.

Types of Missions

Our flights regularly transport passengers to medical treatment facilities. Free of charge, our pilots have helped smooth pathways to a wide variety of medical needs and services, including:

Advanced disease treatment that is not locally available
Pre- or post-transplant appointments
Transplants (with a large time window, pending availability)
Second opinions and expert consultations
Clinical trials
Pediatric care
Veterans Administration care

Beyond transportation for medical needs, we’re also proud to provide transportation for:

Children attending special needs camps
Wounded Warriors
Family members seeking to provide care to sick relatives or traveling to see someone in end stages of life
Survivors of domestic violence or disaster relief who are planning relocation
Pre-adoption visits

Unfortunately, our services cannot accommodate:

Funerals
General relocation
Air ambulance needs

Benefits

Our pilots cross the 12 Western States — and so can you!

Looking to direct your time, your aircraft, and your special skills as a pilot in service of great deeds? There’s no better way than aboard Angel Flight West.

Each Angel Flight West volunteer enjoys:

A laminated ID badge, personalized with your photo, that contains our 24-hour Hotline and Mission Preparation Checklist
A subscription to our informative quarterly newsletter, Flights of Hope
The Angel Flight West Volunteer Handbook
Access to the Philips 66 rebate program
Waived fees at FBOs and airports while on AFW Missions
An exciting variety of social events & fly-ins
Immeasurable pride in knowing they’ve made a difference in the lives of passengers in need

Angel Flight West is a nonprofit, 501 (c) (3) organization, so your contributions may be tax-deductible.

Pilot Testimonials

“Angel Flight affords an opportunity to upgrade my passion for flying to compassion for others. I can use my skills and equipment to assist others whom might not be able to help themselves. The sense of accomplishment after each mission is what keeps me coming back.”

“Flying Angel Flight missions allows me to help people in their time of need, while allowing me the pleasure of flying across this great country.”

“The last 6 years of flying for AFW has wildly surpassed my expectations. I have flown 28 flights as an Angel Flight West Command pilot. Every flight has been different and memorable from flying Santa Flights filled with toys to deliver to Native American tribes to flying kids with cancer. I can’t wait for my next flight.”

“Flying for Angel Flight West has not been just something that I do, it's become part of who I am. You folks run a remarkable organization and it has been very enjoyable and very meaningful for me to serve it!”