JEFF MOORHOUSE:
Flying with Angels W ORDS BY RYA N P. CR U Z PH OT OS BY ROBI N KAR LSSO N
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Jeff Moorhouse with his Bonanza A36.
ver since I was a little kid, I wanted to fly,” says Jeff Moorhouse, who volunteers as Angel Flight West’s Southern California Wing Leader. Through Angel Flight West, Moorhouse helps people in urgent situations get to the places they need to go when the roads just won’t cut it. For years, he has dedicated his time in the pilot seat to this mission, helping dozens of people fly to medical appointments and cancer treatments, helping deliver emergency supplies, or even delivering blood to rural communities during the recent mudslides when supply chains were cut off. He can recall the day he decided to act on his childhood dream of flying. Over 25 years ago, he was on a business trip with an old associate who happened to be an accomplished former Naval Aviator. While the rest of their group flew commercially, Moorhouse and his pilot buddy took the scenic route via a little Cessna 182, enjoying a bird’s eye view of the coast and arriving hours before everybody else. “I was hooked,” he says. A few months later, Moorhouse began taking flying lessons in Santa Barbara, first earning his private license then his instrument rating. Much of his flight time was business related, but soon enough, he began to get involved with charity flights through Santa Barbara Aeromedicos, helping deliver doctors, nurses, and EMTs to clinics south of the border. A flurry of hurricanes made flying to Baja California near impossible, and Moorhouse started to look for other ways to keep flying and donating his time as a SUMMER2023 69
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