Vital Flight
Free medical air transportation · About this organization
What you get
Free volunteer-pilot medical flights and ground rides when arranged. A suitable plane may also carry your relative or nurse and declared medical equipment.
How to start
Call the Mission Request Line at least five business days before your flight, with appointment, passenger, baggage and mobility details ready.
Good to know
- A flight is not guaranteed; keep backup transportation.
- If requested, your physician or social worker completes a medical release. Bring photo identification and sign the flight waiver.
The details, as published
Vital Flight coordinates free volunteer-pilot transportation for medically stable patients who need distant nonemergency care and cannot reasonably use commercial travel. Missions depend on pilot, aircraft, weather, medical clearance, and route feasibility.
What help you may get
Travel And Transportation
Free medical air transportation — travel and transportation
Vital Flight coordinates free volunteer-pilot transportation for medically stable patients who need distant nonemergency care and cannot reasonably use commercial travel. Missions depend on pilot, aircraft, weather, medical clearance, and route feasibility.
Noncash help · As Needed
Can cover
- Nonemergency medical flight coordinated through volunteer pilots
- Potential seat for a family member or nurse and declared medical equipment when a suitable aircraft is available
- Transportation delivered by volunteer drivers when arranged by the organization
- Volunteer-pilot flight to or from approved medical care
Does not cover
- Emergency air-ambulance care
- Oversized luggage or adult wheelchairs that do not fit in the small aircraft
- Transportation when the patient cannot meet the small-aircraft ambulatory and upright-seat rules
- Volunteer pilots provide their time, aircraft, and flight expenses at no charge; the program does not issue a cash award.
- No numerical mission-frequency limit is published; each mission depends on eligibility, logistics, and volunteer capacity.
Check the main eligibility rules
Diagnosis
B-ALL is in scope. Potentially applicable to a United States pediatric B-ALL patient or family when current program-specific criteria are met.
Age
The program does not publish an age limit.
- No numeric patient-age limit is published.
- The qualification page states that a child who has reached the second birthday must use an approved aircraft seat and safety belt or an approved child-restraint system.
Treatment status
Active Treatment
- A provider must verify the patient or diagnosis.
- A physician or social worker must verify medical stability with a Medical Release Form when appropriate.
- The patient must be ambulatory, able to sit upright in a standard aircraft seat, wear a standard seat belt, and enter and exit a four- or six-seat general-aviation plane with limited assistance.
Financial need is required.
- The qualification page requires financial need but publishes no income threshold or documentation list.
- The passenger must have both financial need and a compassionate, humanitarian, or medical need.
Where you live and where your child is treated
Where your family lives
You must live in: Florida.
- Vital Flight serves Florida and the Bahamas; this catalog encodes the U.S. residence area as Florida.
Where your child is treated
No treatment-location restriction is published.
How to get started
Does a social worker or care team need to start it? No. A required care-team start is not published; the family can use the available route below.
Who can start: Patient, Parent Or Guardian, Caregiver, Social Worker, Healthcare Team
- Review passenger qualifications and gather the desired flight date, medical appointment, passenger, baggage, mobility, and equipment details.
- Call the Mission Request Line at least five business days before the desired flight; shorter notice may be considered case by case.
- If requested, ask the physician or social worker to complete the Medical Release Form.
- Before flying, provide photo identification, sign the Release of Liability, and keep backup transportation available.
Ways to apply or ask
- Phone · Open form or page · 800-276-0300 — Spanish line: 855-445-8801. The linked online mission-request host did not respond during the 2026-08-27 audit.
Documents to prepare
- Desired flight date and medical appointment/travel information
- Medical Release Form completed by a physician or social worker when appropriate
- Photo identification before flying
- Release of Liability signed before flying
- The assigned mission remains subject to weather, pilot, aircraft, and operational cancellation.
- Vital Flight coordinates a suitable volunteer pilot, aircraft, route, and linked legs if needed.
Availability and timing
| Program | Active |
|---|---|
| Applications | Open |
| Funding or space | Not Published |
| Application window | Not Applicable |
| Last checked | Aug 27, 2026 |
- The Mission Request Line is published; the linked online request host did not respond during this audit.
- Flights remain subject to pilot, aircraft, weather, and operational availability.
- Mission requests are tied to a desired medical travel date and volunteer availability.
- The program requires at least five business days' notice but may consider shorter notice case by case.
Limitations and things to confirm
- A flight mission must be at least 200 and less than 1,000 miles.
- Baggage is limited to 25 pounds per person in soft-sided luggage; mobility devices must be collapsible and oversized adult wheelchairs do not fit.
- Both financial need and a medical, compassionate, or humanitarian need are required.
- Detailed availability, cost, and eligibility rules for volunteer-driver ground transportation are not published.
- Not an air ambulance and no in-flight medical care is provided.
- Service can change for weather, maintenance, pilot, aircraft, or route reasons.
- The medical flight is nonemergency and requires medical stability and small-aircraft ambulatory/upright-seat capacity.
- Weather, volunteer, aircraft, and logistical constraints can cancel a mission, so backup travel is required.
- Confirm current capacity, exact access requirements, and response time.
- The official online mission-request host was unreachable; confirm whether a replacement web form is published while using the current Mission Request Line.
Official sources
Program details were last verified Aug 27, 2026. Availability can change, so check the official program before applying.
- Free medical air transportation · checked Aug 24, 2026
- Contact Us · checked Aug 23, 2026
- Vital Flight · checked Aug 23, 2026
- Missions We Fly · checked Aug 23, 2026
- How to Qualify · checked Aug 23, 2026