Oct. 8, 2018
The Air Care Alliance (ACA) applauded the recent passage of The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which includes a provision that volunteer pilots who conduct flights to help those in need on behalf of nonprofit organizations will no longer have to worry about liability in excess of the limits of their insurance coverage
Section 584 of the act, which provides this protection, applies to flights for “patient and medical transport (including medical transport for veterans), disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, or other similar charitable missions.”
The ACA is a volunteer operated nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the work of the pilots and other volunteers of more than 60 nonprofit public benefit flying organizations and acts as a referral service for those who need flights to transport patients in need, provide relief following disasters or to serve many other community needs.
“ACA has been working for this legislation for more than a decade, with the support of aviation organizations including GAMA and AOPA,” said Jeff Kahn, Air Care Alliance chairman and head of its Legal and Regulations Committee. “In addition, our most sincere thanks go to Sen. Jim Inhofe whose relentless efforts over the past several years have finally resulted in the passage of this legislation, and to his colleagues in Congress who strongly supported it.”
As a result, pilots will no longer fear that their efforts could place their families at financial risk. Pilots who have refrained from charitable flying because of these concerns can now join the ranks of countless thousands of other volunteers who contribute their skills and resources for the public good. Non-pilot volunteers have long enjoyed the same protection under the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997.