Pilot Charles Mullen of Rocky Mount is one of 64 people who volunteer in N.C. Baptist Men's Aviation Ministry.

"If Baptist Men could get a plane ... there could be a plane flown out of Raleigh every day," said Charles Mullen of Rocky Mount, who in early 1997 piloted the first medical flight for the aviation ministry. "There are hundreds of people who have the ability (to fly) but don't have the resources."

Mullen, one of 10 regional coordinators for the ministry, co-owns a plane and has clocked 1,400 flying hours using it for business, pleasure and the mercy flights.

Most of the missions flown are scheduled through Virginia-based Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, a non-profit agency and affiliate of Air Care Alliance, which organizes medical flights throughout the United States. When a patient needs transportation, Angel Flight determines the shortest route, then contacts volunteers within a five-state area. Patients have been flown from Florida and Maine, from North Carolina to Michigan and from Ohio to Alabama, and many times the flights Baptist Men make are just one portion of a longer trip as volunteer pilots from other states work together to help with the cost.

Medical flight pilots must be "current" with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards which means they have received an annual physical and biannual flight test. They also must have a private license, 250 hours of flying time, and their "instrument rating," which means they can fly strictly by use of the plane's instruments in bad weather or at night.

"I think (the pilots) are unique," said Kelp Armstrong, mission coordinator for Angel Flight, of the 2,000 to 3,000 pilots who fly medical missions across the country. "They are volunteer pilots flying for public benefit. It is people helping people for free."

A sacrifice of time and money also is required, said Armstrong, because under FAA regulations, pilots cannot receive reimbursement or solicit funds for mercy flights.

"Not many people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to fly someone for treatment," she said of costs estimated at between $300 and $500 per flight.

Pilots who are not qualified to make mercy flights are still needed as co-pilots. "This is a tremendous help, especially if the passengers have special needs," said state ministry coordinator Bob Foy of Mooresville.

And not everyone volunteering for the aviation ministry needs to be able to fly. "We have pilots, mechanics, flight instructors, and those who can provide ground transportation," said Foy. Recipients of the ministry are usually in need of some type of non-emergency, but life-sustaining, treatment within a distance too far to drive. The patients can't afford to fly and neither the hospital nor the insurance company will pay for transportation. Needs range from cancer treatments to stroke rehabilitation to bone marrow transplants to organ donors.

Criteria for patients are that "they be able to walk, so they can board the small planes, and not able to afford treatment and transportation at the same time," said Armstrong. "Many families are just bent-down. It is not that they are poor, but they will have medical bills to pay for years to come." One of the first flights made by Mullen was to take a six-year-old burn victim, named "Kenny" from Brunswick, Ga., to Chapel Hill.

"He is such a tough little kid," said Mullen of the child who, with his mother, had traveled from Wilmington to Florida to attend a family funeral. When Kenny and his cousin discovered flames were produced from mixing a cigarette lighter and a can of hair spray, he was accidentally torched from the waist up.

At the hospital, Kenny's mother was told her only child had a one-in-a-million chance of surviving. His mother said, "I'll take it. One chance is all I need."

Kenny stayed in the Florida hospital for weeks until he was strong enough to travel home. A pastor visited daily, leading him to the Lord. When he could be moved, a volunteer pilot flew Kenny and his mother to Brunswick where Mullen picked them up and flew them to Chapel Hill for further treatment. Although Kenny's hands and face were wrapped in bandages, Mullens was conscious of the severity of the child's burns. "His ear was burned off and his fingers were webbed together," said Mullens. "His hands

were gnarled up, but he was a real fighter." Kenny is still in rehabilitation, but is able to travel from Wilmington to Chapel Hill by car. Graham Hood of Warsaw also flies with the aviation ministry. Since purchasing a plane last year, he has flown several missions. "God has given me the talent to fly and use it for his glory," he said.

When he became a Christian at the age of 32, Hood had no idea that one day he would use flying to honor God. It was a natural progression. "I love to fly and I love the Lord," he said.

Hood has years of experience in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Naval Reserves. He can land on an aircraft carrier, has been a flight instructor and flew Navy transports in Vietnam and tactical missions in Guam. "I've flown for 30 years," he said. "It gets in your blood."

Hood always tries to explain to patients about the people who are flying them. "I feel it is very important that Baptist Men get credit for doing these flights so God can get the glory for it," he said. On mercy flights, time is brief before boarding and after landing, so it is difficult to minister one-on-one. Also, the noise a small plane generates during flight makes it almost impossible to have meaningful conversation.

The flights Hood has taken include transporting a 5-year-old muscular dystrophy patient, a heart-lung patient and a pastor's wife from a local church who needed emergency heart surgery. He also helped a family from Michigan whose car broke down one weekend in front of his store while they were on vacation. He flew the father to Jacksonville, the nearest place to rent a car.

Hood said he would like to see the aviation ministry develop on a more local level. "I think it is more than simply flying for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic and doing things with airplanes and expertise," he said. "Part of my ministry is being ready to drop everything and go help my brothers and sisters in Christ who have a need."

As aviation takes Baptist Men to new horizons, Foy shares Hood's dream for more local ministry and Mullen's prayer for a small plane. He also would like to involve young people. "I don't know the direction the Lord is taking this ministry," he said. "But we are open and sensitive to His leading."