Angel Flight West’s volunteer pilots carry out acts of generosity each day by donating their time, talent, and resources to help others. Each time a mission is flown, a patient accesses the healthcare resources they need while being uplifted with hope.
Meet the volunteers who make it all possible in this monthly newsletter and, if you’re a pilot in the West, get involved today by visiting angelflightwest.org/pilot-page.
Pilot Name: Stuart Jackson
Wing: Wyoming
AFW Member Since: June 2025
Please tell us a little about yourself and how you got involved in general aviation.
I am a lucky man with a wonderful wife, Marisa, and three beautiful children, two of them married. I worked with L.E.K. Consulting for over 40 years, starting as an analyst and ending up as Chairman and Global Managing Partner. About two thirds of the way through my career, I found that I loved working with clients all over the U.S. but flying commercial to different cities two, three or four days per week was brutal and frustrating. I thought of finding a new career, but in 2008, the financial crisis brought down prices of business jets, and I acquired a used CJ2 with a professional pilot. It transformed my working life and jump-started my interest in building my own flying qualifications.
How did you hear about Angel Flight West? What made you decide to sign up as a volunteer?
I heard about Angel Flights through articles in pilot magazines and came across Angel Flight West when we moved home to Wyoming in 2023. It seemed like a great opportunity to continue flying while also giving back to the community.
Please tell us about your missions. Have there been any particularly impactful experiences that you’ve had that you would like to share?
Being based in the Mountain West, most flights involve transport to or from patients’ hometown airports in Wyoming, Montana or Idaho to specialty-care centers of excellence, mostly in Salt Lake City. I have come to appreciate how difficult it is for people who need specialized care while living in remote communities.
Taking care of long-distance travel gives patients and their companions one less thing to worry about when they are going through difficult times. It is a privilege to be able to help these people and I have enjoyed meeting people who live in very different circumstances to my own.
For example, it was good to exchange stories about children and grandchildren with a grandmother from a Native American community in northern Montana. We have very different backgrounds but still share many of the same hopes and worries for our kids.
Why should other pilots look into getting involved with public benefit flying by signing up to volunteer for Angel Flight West?
For much of my life, I have had a good income but little free time. I have always donated funds to causes that I felt were important, but it is only with Angel Flight West that I have started giving significant amounts of my own time. I have been surprised how different and special it feels being able to meet people and help them directly as they go through difficult challenges. It makes me think about times in my own life where people have done something which has cost them little but made a big benefit to me.
I hope that by volunteering through Angel Flight West, I am not only helping people at a difficult time but also encouraging them to help others when they are able to do so.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your time with Angel Flight West?
I have been impressed by how Angel Flight West does a great job of making volunteering easy by taking care of scheduling, ground transport, liability waivers, volunteer training and providing a safety-oriented environment that removes pressure to make a flight if the circumstances change. It is a great organization.
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Learn more about our mission today at angelflightwest.org/pilot-page
Sign up to change lives through gifted flights at afids.angelflightwest.org
