The day of the trip is the best part of the volunteer experience. This is where all the advance work and preparation pays off. Having fun is an important part of charitable aviation. If it’s your first flight, you may not know exactly what to expect, but volunteers almost always report that it was easier and more fun than they expected.
This video provides a few tips on how to the make the process easier for you and the passenger.
Liability Waivers
The only time you need to be concerned about the liability waiver is if one or more of the companions who show up for the flight are not listed on the itinerary. This may happen if the passenger brings a different companion and has not notified the coordination team of the change. Remember that you do not need to agree to this change, especially if the new companion differs significantly in weight. If you do agree to the change, you need to get a new waiver.
You may also wish to get a waiver plane-side for your own personal reasons. The plane-side waiver names you as well as the passenger and companions and the organization.
Fuel Discounts and Fee Waivers
We mentioned earlier that many FBOs offer fuel discounts or waive fees for charitable flights. Don’t forget to ask if you’re not sure.
Using the Angel Flight (NGF) call sign
For pilot volunteers, you should have been assigned a call sign number when completed your orientation. The call sign number is four digits that go together with NGF to create the call sign. For example, if your number is 2782, your call sign is NGF2782. You will communicate with ATC as Angel Flight 2782. We encourage you to use the call sign, but only while the passenger is on board. The call sign may help you get some preferential treatment from ATC, and it’s a good recruiting tool to get other volunteer pilots on board.
Also, to use the callsign, you’ll need a programmable ADS-B to avoid a callsign mismatch. For more information about using the call sign, you can review this article in our knowledge base.