"NW_PILOT" wrote in
:

I can understand the Flight time requirements and the insurance
requirements but to pay a mandatory annual fee I do not understand?

As stated on the Angel Flight web site "The cost to join is only $50,
and the annual dues are $35" I can understand charging non pilots a
membership fee but pilots that provide a volunteer service should not
be charged.

You wouldn't believe the battles that have been fought over that. MOST
of the Angel Flight regions do NOT have a membership fee. I can tell
you at AF South Central we have that fight in the board meetings every
five or six years. It's always been defeated.

There is a cost of having someone as a member... Newsletter mailings,
special event mailings, calls to try to fill that last-minute mission,
calls from a local wing leader inviting them to fly, etc. Plus, when
you sign up, you get "gifts." So the membership dues are as much to
keep the rolls clean of well-meaning pilots who are never going to
actually fly a mission as it is for any attempt to recover money.

It's a little like putting a sign up in your yard that reads "Puppies,
$5" vs. "Free Puppies." The $5 isn't the issue, but somehow if people
pay even a few bucks, they are more serious about it.

Having said that, it is the general belief that the pilots are already
donating huge amounts of their time and money in support of missions and
trying to get them to pay (even just a few bucks) for the privilege is
.... well, just plain tacky. So the dues have NEVER been approved in our
region.
jmk