When pilots Wayne Petrus and Philip Thomas flew missions for Angel Flight South Central in the early 2000s, they noticed the tremendous need for flights originating from their home state of Louisiana.
Angel Flight was doing an admiral job, but with the organization based in the Dallas metro area, many of their pilots were also Texas based. It could be difficult to recruit pilots from Dallas to fly to Louisiana to pick up a patient who then needed to go to Houston for treatment.
The pair, based in the city of Monroe in northeast Louisiana, decided to start an organization that could focus on Louisiana and other areas of the Deep South, including parts of Mississippi, Arkansas and East Texas. Pilots for Patients (PFP) formed in December 2007 and Petrus – now a contract pilot with 6,500 hours including nearly 1,000 hours in King Airs – made the first patient flight on Jan. 14, 2008.
Through mid-November 2023, Pilots for Patients has completed 7,350 total missions in the air and on the ground with 2,706,081 nautical miles flown. The organization – the only active 501(c)(3) volunteer pilot organization based in Louisiana – has also given back over $6 million in in-kind services.
PFP averages 15-30 missions each week and needs additional aircraft and pilots, including Beechcraft King Air aircraft.
How it works
PFP’s mission is to assist those in need of air transportation for medical purposes. The goal is to eliminate the burden of travel and to let the patient concentrate on getting better. This service is free of charge for qualified patients and requesting agencies. Patients who travel with PFP must be medically stable and ambulatory. They must be able to climb into a small aircraft and sit upright for the duration of the flight. They must not have any medical condition that prevents them from flying in a non-pressurized aircraft as no medical care is provided in flight.
Pilots for Patients normally fly up to 350 miles one way. Petrus said the majority of PFP’s flights are for people heading to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, which is a six-hour drive by car from Monroe, a 1.5-hour flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza and one hour in a Beechcraft King Air. Patients needing medical treatment at facilities farther than the 350 miles are set up with a relay flight beginning with PFP and handing off to one of their companion volunteer organizations, such as Angel Flight, that will take the patient to their destination.
Founders Petrus along with Thomas and his wife, Sharon, continue to fly for Pilots for Patients and they serve on the board of directors. Board members of PFP are not compensated, and pilots who fly patients for PFP are also not reimbursed for their time, aircraft or fuel. The organization does not receive funding from state or federal government agencies. All monies donated to PFP are used to pay for two employees, hangar rent at Monroe Regional Airport (KMLU), utilities, office upkeep, recruiting and patient outreach activities along with numerous other expenses to operate successfully.
Pilots who have completed the paperwork to become a volunteer pilot can see what missions are being requested and sign up for ones they are available to fly. There’s no requirement to fly a certain number of flights. Petrus said PFP has about 200 pilots in its database and around 60 who fly regularly. “Some fly two trips a year and some fly over 50 trips a year, and we need all of them,” he said.
Pilots are based throughout the state to cover Louisiana’s main cities and to provide service to surrounding states as well.
First time patients watch a video on what to expect on the flight then receive a handmade quilt and goodie bag. “We try to make it a very pleasant experience,” Petrus said. “The patients are so gracious because they know that it takes a lot of resources to make this happen during their time of need. The services we provide aren’t based on the finances of the patient. If a patient has cancer and needs to go to MD Anderson, sometimes a private airplane is their only choice. They can’t take the airline because of the fear of catching something while their immune system is depressed and, for some, they are not healthy enough to make the six-hour drive.”
A King Air pilot’s perspective
Petrus, 64 years old, has been a pilot for 45 years and has owned Bonanzas and Barons over the years as well as building his own aircraft. He is retired from a career of owning hardware and hunting stores. He currently owns a Cirrus SR22 G5 and is a professional contract pilot for three different King Air owners – two BE200 models and one C90A Blackhawk model – a Kodiak 100 and a Pilatus PC-12.
“Those owners are generous enough that if we have a really big need for a group to go or come back, they will allow me to use their airplanes,” he said. “It’s not that often; I may fly four King Air trips a year for Pilots for Patients.”
Petrus flies approximately 250 hours a year professionally and another 100 hours flying personal and volunteering. Since helping launch Pilots for Patients 16 years ago, he has accumulated 330 PFP missions totaling 118,017 nautical miles and 704 hours … and counting.
The November afternoon we talked to him, Petrus had just finished flying three passengers from Monroe to Houston’s Ellington Airport (KEFD) and bringing one passenger back to Monroe. The patients included a 73-year-old man making his 43rd trip with PFP to treat prostate cancer, a man with lymphoma and a woman who was traveling home with a clean bill of health for the first time in three years of regular cancer treatments.
“You have patients who have good outcomes, and some who don’t,” Petrus said. “As a pilot, the people we fly regularly become like a part of your family. You share their journey with them. It’s a blessing for the pilot as much as it is for the patient.”
The majority of PFP flights are accomplished in four- to six-seaters. Petrus most often uses his Cirrus to fly for PFP but appreciates having larger aircraft available as needed. For example, they’ve had as many as five patients and their companions needing transportation on the same day – rather than four aircraft and four pilots, the mission could be accomplished in one flight.
He encourages King Air owners and operators in the Deep South to visit pilotsforpatients.org to get signed up.
“They won’t fly regularly because we don’t want to waste that resource,” he said. “We make sure that if we’re going to use a King Air that we fill it up on both legs. It doesn’t make sense to put one or two patients in an eight- or nine-seat King Air when we can do the same trip in a Bonanza or a Cirrus much more economically.”
Pilots for Patients also relies on patrons and accepts monetary donations through the website. Petrus feels fortunate to be able to continue to help his friends and neighbors in their time of need, whether it’s flying them for treatment such as heart surgery, chemotherapy, dialysis or bone marrow transplant or reuniting them with family after a long stay at a medical facility.
“I’m blessed in the fact that I have airplanes, I know how to fly them and I’m financially able to help people,” he said. “That’s really what life should be all about – trying to help if you’re able.”