Pilot's Discretion from Sporty's
Jun 2, 2026 · 44 min · 12 segments
Public benefit flying might mean transporting a cancer patient or relocating turtles, but regardless of the mission Mark Hanson says it’s rewarding, fun, and great for keeping your pilot skills sharp…
Mark HansonGuestJohn ZimmermanHostSo you're incredibly passionate about public benefit flying, which is the term I hear used most often.
But before we explain why you like it and how you got into it, explain what that term means and maybe a couple of examples.
So basically, anything that you're doing when you're not getting compensation to take someone in an airplane.
So it could be, you know, someone that's doing a Young Eagles event and just doing a discovery flight, or it could be flying someone for access to medical care.
Um, so any general aviation plane can go out, any pilot can go out, and find a way to volunteer doing something.
Uh, and, you know, we're out there trying to make sure it becomes well understood.
What drew you to this type of flying? And I guess as an extension of that, why should pilots consider it? If, if you like it so much, why-- do you think other pilots will enjoy it?
Um, I probably like a lot of people, uh, when I started flying, I, I know I got really committed to flying because it was something I had on my bucket list to do, and I blew through my ratings very, very quickly because it was during the recession when I was training, and I had nothing else to do.
Um, but I got my, got my license and say-- said, "Now what?" [laughs] You know, and it's, you know, am I gonna fly for hamburgers? Am I gonna fly to Florida to see my parents? Um, and either good or bad, uh, during that-- at the end of that six-month period where I really blitzed through my ratings, um, I just-- I was referred into volunteer flying.
Um, and I flew a couple of extremely needy children that were a-trying to get access to medical care in Boston, and that was the hook.
You know, right away, it was, you know, gave me a compelling reason to use my skills, my airplane, um, to do something for others.
And, uh, uh, people that are out there giving back to the community in general, you get a certain level of feedback that is very hard to describe.
So I've-- I'm sort of on the extreme side of doing that [laughs] you know, probably, uh, volunteering more than most.
Um, but what I'm trying to do is leverage my skill set over the years and apply it so that many people can find out about, you know, the, the types of services that you can, can access.
I'm glad you brought up that question about what now, because I think a fair number of pilots, as you alluded to, they face that question.
We're goal-oriented people, and we achieve our goal, we get our license, we get our certificates and ratings.
Uh, and then if you don't have an obvious mission, if you're not flying in support of a business or you have a vacation home or whatever it might be, there can be that search, and it certainly seems there's not many better uses for a pilot certificate than this type of training, uh, and this type of flying.
And I've heard you say that transportation is often the number one barrier to care.
Give me a sense for how many patients out there in particular, we're talking about medical transport here, how many patients are missing out on care because of just basic transportation problems?
So you're incredibly passionate about public benefit flying, which is the term I hear used most often.
But before we explain why you like it and how you got into it, explain what that term means and maybe a couple of examples.
So basically, anything that you're doing when you're not getting compensation to take someone in an airplane.
So it could be, you know, someone that's doing a Young Eagles event and just doing a discovery flight, or it could be flying someone for access to medical care.
Um, so any general aviation plane can go out, any pilot can go out, and find a way to volunteer doing something.
Uh, and, you know, we're out there trying to make sure it becomes well understood.
What drew you to this type of flying? And I guess as an extension of that, why should pilots consider it? If, if you like it so much, why-- do you think other pilots will enjoy it?
Um, I probably like a lot of people, uh, when I started flying, I, I know I got really committed to flying because it was something I had on my bucket list to do, and I blew through my ratings very, very quickly because it was during the recession when I was training, and I had nothing else to do.
Um, but I got my, got my license and say-- said, "Now what?" [laughs] You know, and it's, you know, am I gonna fly for hamburgers? Am I gonna fly to Florida to see my parents? Um, and either good or bad, uh, during that-- at the end of that six-month period where I really blitzed through my ratings, um, I just-- I was referred into volunteer flying.
Um, and I flew a couple of extremely needy children that were a-trying to get access to medical care in Boston, and that was the hook.
You know, right away, it was, you know, gave me a compelling reason to use my skills, my airplane, um, to do something for others.
And, uh, uh, people that are out there giving back to the community in general, you get a certain level of feedback that is very hard to describe.
So I've-- I'm sort of on the extreme side of doing that [laughs] you know, probably, uh, volunteering more than most.
Um, but what I'm trying to do is leverage my skill set over the years and apply it so that many people can find out about, you know, the, the types of services that you can, can access.
I'm glad you brought up that question about what now, because I think a fair number of pilots, as you alluded to, they face that question.
We're goal-oriented people, and we achieve our goal, we get our license, we get our certificates and ratings.
Uh, and then if you don't have an obvious mission, if you're not flying in support of a business or you have a vacation home or whatever it might be, there can be that search, and it certainly seems there's not many better uses for a pilot certificate than this type of training, uh, and this type of flying.
And I've heard you say that transportation is often the number one barrier to care.
Give me a sense for how many patients out there in particular, we're talking about medical transport here, how many patients are missing out on care because of just basic transportation problems?
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