By David Titmus

From a small office in the corner of his McDonald home, Larry Chome keeps up with more than 200 airplane pilots in the eastern part of the United States. Armed with a PC and a couple telephone lines, Chome acts as the nerve center – a dispatcher of sorts – for the Volunteer Pilots Association, and often arranges emergency flights in times of medical need.

The Volunteer Pilots Association (VPA) is a non-profit group of citizen pilots who provide free air transportation to financially and medically needy people. The VPA links people with pilots willing to fly them over long distances for medical treatment. Flights originate from airports around the country, including Washington County.

The group also arranges for the transport of donor organs – livers, kidneys, blood and tissue samples.

Chome, 57, founded the association 15 years ago and says one thing is certain – time flies.

“I’m very proud of this organization,” he says. “We’re a unique group in that we are completely volunteer, we have no paid staff, we pay no rent and we have no presence at the airports.”

At least not officially.

While the group may not hold office space at any airport, the VPA is the nation’s largest all-volunteer group of its kind and has members all over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, stretching eastward from Indiana and north from Virginia. Its pilots are only a short flight from almost any airport in the VPA’s service area.

“We average between 200 and 300 flights each year,” Chome says.

The association got its start in 1990 with support from the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), which coordinates the recovery of organs donated for transplant in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. CORE calls on the pilots to help pick up donated organs in faraway places and bring them back for transplant.

The VPA’s first flight took off in 1990, departing from the now-defunct Pittsburgh Metro Airport in South Fayette. The group then consisted of about five pilots.

But as that number has grown so have Larry’s responsibilities. He’s on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And since there are no set times when organs become available, calls for transport often come during the wee hours of the morning.

“It all depends. We’ll get no calls for two or three months, then I’ll get seven calls in a 24-hour span.”

When Chome receives a call, he begins working the phone lines finding a pilot living close to the pick-up area and available for a flight. He works from a list of the group’s pilots that includes contact information and the type of plane they have. Chome always is thinking about pilot safety and reviews flight paths and weather reports before making calls.

“Each pilot has the final decision in all cases,” he says. “If they feel they can’t go because of weather conditions or whatever, then that’s it, they don’t go.” The same holds true for passenger transports.

VPA pilots also fly needy people across the state and country to health centers for the treatments they require. Chome says the service is not an air ambulance, but will transport patients and one companion to centers for treatment.

Patients must be able to sit up, wear a seatbelt and be flexible on travel plans if weather conditions cancel the flight.

“A lot of people hear about us through word of mouth, and some hospitals and discharge units will mention us to patients.

“And I’m sure there have been people who’ve taken advantage of us, but I’m not going to close up shop because of a couple of bad people. I think most people are good, especially the people we’re dealing with.”

While the medical benefits of this group are obvious, what are the benefits for the volunteer pilots? They receive no payment and have to foot the bills for fuel, landing fees and any other costs associated with the flight. Those costs – depending on the type of plane and length of the flight – can run anywhere from $100 to $500 per flight.

“Pilots want to find a reason to fly,” Chome says. “Make no mistake, these are special people who want to do this service – and some of the pilots bond with the patients, especially if it’s a kid who needs treatment – but they also love being in the air.”

And the group always is looking for new members. Chome recently was in Frederick, Md. promoting the group and seeking new pilots. He received six new applications and got the chance to meet a few more of his pilots face-to-face.

“I call these guys at all hours of the morning and that’s it, I never get a chance to meet them,” he says. “But I had a few people come up to me and thank me for this. I told them ‘You don’t thank me. You’re the ones who get up at two in the morning in the cold weather and make the flights.’”

A 15th anniversary get-together – a fly-in in aviation circles – is planned at Latrobe Airport in September.

“All the pilots are invited to attend,” he says. “We want everyone to meet each other and thank everyone for 15 years.”

The group does accept donations, but never from the patients and families they’ve transported. For more information on the group, or to lend your support or expertise, call 724-356-4007, or visit the Web site at www.volunteerpilots.org.