Flying for others

Does public benefit flying interest you?

November 4, 2025 By Julie Summers Walker

We have been telling the stories of the general aviation community giving back through public benefit flying for many years. Public benefit flying is the act of volunteering you and your aircraft to help someone or something in need. From patient transfer to transport of blood and organs to hospitals, animal rescue to relocating endangered species, assisting veterans to disaster response, and educational opportunities to supporting conservation efforts, public benefit flying has many faces.

Photo by Mike Fizer

Over the years AOPA Pilot has reported on the many faces of caring for others through flight. We’ve been to Congo where Doctors Without Borders rely on general aviation for transportation throughout the country (“Hope Has Wings,” October 2016). We traveled to Colombia, South America, where GA pilots take doctors and surgeons across the Andes (“Mission Colombia,” May 2018). We’ve been in Haiti when disaster struck (“One Patient at a Time,” August 2015), and to the Bahamas when the island communities faced hurricanes (“People Make the Place,” August 2022). We’ve taken Christmas presents to disadvantaged children (“Santa Is a GA Pilot,” December 2020) and flown with the Special Olympics Airlift (“Special Delivery,” September 2022). We’ve reported on animal rescue (“Pets R Us,” November/December 2022 Flight Training), and flown along on conservation flights (“Stewards of the Earth,” February 2016). And in this issue, we’re profiling and celebrating pilots who give back (see “Briefing,” and “Pilots”).

Why do we tell these stories? Because all of us at AOPA believe that one of the most important things we pilots, who are so privileged to enjoy the gift of flight, do is to give back to others. So, consider changing that $100 hamburger run next week to a public benefit flying opportunity. It is the season of giving after all.