GOODWILL The Right Flight Path Ed Faath and his fellow altruistic flyers at Pilots for Kids deliver joy when they bring gifts – and their uniformed selves – to children in hospitals // By Heidi Mitchell WHAT KID, AT SOME POINT IN THEIR YOUNG LIFE, didn’t dream of being an astronaut? Or a professional athlete? Or a pilot? For those who fall into the latter category, there’s a group of generous pilots pooling their resources and delivering gifts – and themselves – to youngsters in their times of need, namely as they await treatment in children’s hospitals around the US. It all started 42 years ago, when Ed Faath was an Army helicopter pilot. Around the holidays, his unit gathered some gifts and paid a visit, in uniform, to patients at a children’s hospital near their station in Columbus, Ohio. “I was taken aback by two things,” the veteran says. “The children, who were struggling and so sick, and their response. They were thrilled to see us.” It didn’t quite register at the time, but those smiling faces left a lasting impression. “Pilots aren’t heroes. We don’t think of ourselves as anything special. I certainly don’t,” Faath says. But those kids, they treated him and his unit like personal miracles. So when he ventured off as a civilian to join Airborne Express, an overnight cargo company (that was acquired by DHL in 2003), he remembered that jubilant feeling he got from visiting these young people in their time of need. He discussed it with his fellow pilots, and in 1982 they collected presents, made GIFT OF SMILES The pilots’ presence as well as their presents make all the difference for the children in hospital 12 NetJets
