Volunteer Medical Flight Service Reaches a Milestone

All things considered, Lamar Dunn would just as soon not have found himself the focus of the celebration held Wednesday at Santa Monica Airport.

Angel Flight West--a free medical transportation service provided by volunteer pilots--was marking a milestone: delivery of its 1,200th patient so far this year.

And Dunn, a 30-year-old Kern County resident with leukemia, was the patient aboard the single-engine plane that glided into the airport to cinch the record.

Established 17 years ago by Malibu pilot Dennis Torres, the Angel Flight program now covers the United States from six regional flight centers.

About 900 volunteer pilots are coordinated from Santa Monica Airport. They have handled an estimated 8,600 flights over the years, ferrying patients from remote towns to big-city hospitals in 11 Western states.

Local Angel Flight operators three years ago had set a goal of doubling their flights, to 1,200 a year. Wednesday, they had easily surpassed what they described as “a lofty goal” with three months to spare.

Dunn, it turned out, was a perfect passenger to be welcomed Wednesday as the record-setter.

Since last year, the store clerk has chalked up 36 flights from his High Desert home to the UCLA Medical Center, where he underwent a bone marrow transplant and receives chemotherapy treatment.

“We don’t have a car that could make it here,” Dunn explained. “Angel Flight is mainly responsible for saving my life.”

Retired Air Force and aerospace test pilot John Herrington of Apple Valley flew a Mooney 201 for the 45-minute trip. Another volunteer pilot, Torrance-area resident Bob Van Horn, carried Dunn back to Inyokern Airport in a Cessna 205 following his UCLA appointment.

Angel Flight pilots provide their own planes and pay for fuel and other operating costs.

“It gives pilots a chance to do what they enjoy and do something nice at the same time,” said Jim Weaver, executive director of Angel Flight West. “As one pilot put it, ‘It gives me a chance to combine my selfishness with my generosity.’ ”

Besides accumulating flying time required for their licenses, Angel Flight pilots are often allowed to fly a more direct route through crowded Southern California skies, Weaver said. They are also often authorized a slower descent and a softer landing “rather than the slam-dunk” required at busy general aviation airports.

The medical flights can be booked (at [888] 4-AN ANGEL) by patients or their doctors. Weaver said Angel Flight has grown quickly since its start. It recorded just 15 flights in 1984, its first year.

Still, “our biggest challenge is making people aware that we’re here and that what we do is free. People think there are strings attached. There are criteria that we use, but no strings,” said Weaver--an Upland resident who does not have a pilot’s license.

Because Angel Flight is not an air ambulance, its criteria require that it accept only nonemergency cases and patients must be ambulatory. And they must truly need the transportation, either because of financial problems or because of the distance between where they live and where then need to go for medical treatment.

Those eligible for the free flights include children attending special-needs camps.

Many of the local Angel Flight calls come from Northern California. That’s where 51-year-old former logger Ralph Smith was heading Wednesday after undergoing medical treatment at UCLA.

Smith faced a three-hour flight to the Shasta area in a single-engine Aerospatiale with pilot Joe Areeda, a research scientist who lives in Los Angeles’ Fairfax area. Areeda calculated his costs for the trip would come to about $750--a tax-deductible sum.

Areeda was preparing to take off as Herrington’s plane landed with Dunn on board. Angel Flight volunteer Irene Garner greeted Dunn when he stepped from the plane. She promised him a ride in her car to UCLA.

UCLA provides taxi vouchers for Angel Flight patients to use for travel between the airport and the medical center. But last month a cabdriver became angry when presented with the voucher. The cabby roughly dragged Dunn out of the taxi and then threw his travel bag onto the airport sidewalk, said Garner of Santa Ana.

“He was mad that Lamar didn’t have money for a tip,” Garner said.

After traveling with Angel Flight, Dunn was happy Wednesday to meet an earth angel.