"Supporting the Nationwide
Community of Charitable Aviators
Flying to Help Others"
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Dear Volunteer, Leader, or Friend of Public Benefit Flying, Here is your event and registration information for the Air Care Alliance's fourteenth annual public benefit flying national conference:
When: Friday evening and
Saturday all day, April 30 and May 1, 2004 Where: Wyndham Hotel, Palm
Springs, California
And a wonderful weekend at a great hotel! Tom is the winner of the prestigious National Aeronautic Association's new award for Outstanding Achievement in Support of Public Benefit Flying, first presented in the nation's Capitol on September 10, 2003. As the Founder of AirLifeLine he pioneered the concept of volunteer flown medical transport for charitable purposes. On Saturday we will have a full schedule of seminars, panels, and workshops, including a session led by AVweb Legal Advisor Phillip Kolcyzinski. He will provide an update on volunteer pilot liability, insurance, and "Good Samaritan" protection issues.
Events also include the annual membership meeting, elections, and an open board meeting. Who: All leaders and supporters in public benefit flying are welcome, including staff members and nonflying volunteers such as flight coordinators. Your hosts are the Air Care Alliance and Angel Flight West. Why attend? By meeting together we all benefit from the goodwill and fellowship of mutual support. Every year our conference promotes a strong future for all charitable flying. Working together and learning from each other we all become better equipped to lead our organizations and to collaborate more effectively in helping our communities. And we all have fun, too - which is why this year's conference also promises to provide you a wonderful vacation at a great hotel in Palm Springs! At past conferences we developed goals for improved understanding of volunteer pilot operations by the public, initiated appropriate treatment of our activities by FAA and other regulatory agencies, discussed how to improve our scheduling systems, completed a campaign for an international call sign, worked with the AOPA Air Safety Foundation for a guidebook and video improving safety of our pilots' flight operations, clarified liability and insurance issues, shared information on how to best conduct media and public information campaigns, and learned about how each group in its own way tries to use aviation to help those in need. Last year we also worked with the National Aeronautic Association to create the first ever National awards for public benefit flying groups and volunteers, with the program first announced at Air Care 2003. These awards were presented by NAA in the U.S. Capitol Building and also in local venues convenient to winning groups (See the NAA website http://www.naa-usa.org for their press release and additional information about the awards). Equally important, attendees represent the leadership of many public benefit flying groups who agree with the idea that by sharing ideas and working together we benefit not only our own groups but also our overall service to help those in need. At the same time we who have participated have formed many new relationships and friendships, which have led not only to groups cooperating to link flights, but also to the successful formation of some new groups and long term good relations among others. By email announcement we previously provided information about our reserved block of hotel rooms and that deadline of March 31 has passed. However, there are many other fine hotels in Palm Springs and nearby towns close to our facility so please do reserve your room now and plan to attend our events on a daily basis. We look forward to seeing you at AIR CARE 2004 ! Cordially yours, The Officers and Directors
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