Wings of Mercy of Minnesota

All pilots, nurses and other professionals come to Wings already trained and licensed. Wings cost is the reimbursement of aviation fuel consumed during the mission to the pilot. The pilots are now paying $5.25 per gallon of gas.. Wings pays nothing for storage of planes, maintenance costs, training costs or anything else that is associated with keeping the plane and the pilot current. Our pilots are the nucleus of our organization. Take for instance the Schmidt boys. The twin boys, from Minot ND, were born with cerebral palsy. They had previously undergone corrective hip surgery which left them in full body casts. Steve Nelson, the pilot, flew to Minot and St. Paul's Gillette hospital twice (back and forth, back and forth) that day. His plane is equipped with one stretcher, our only stretcher. The human service aspect of our organization is the main reason why pilots enjoy flying for us. Although reimbursement of the cost of aviation fuel to the pilots is an incentive, it is nothing compared to the hug and smile Steve Nelson received from the mother of the twins after making those 2 flights.