JEFF MOORHOUSE: FlyingAngelswith

WORDS BY RYAN P. CRUZ

PHOTOS BY ROBIN KARLSSON

Ever 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 pilot. He connected with Angel Flight West, a charitable organization that helps connect people to their medical appointments with over 2,000 pilots in 13 states. All the pilots donate their time, equipment, and supplies for the trips.

“When we fly, it’s all on us as a pilot; gas, time, and everything,” he says.

At first, Moorhouse says he tried to couple it with business flying. If he was heading on a business trip to the Bay Area or to Santa Monica, he would offer a lift to any patients headed the same direction. But soon, he says, it turned into “trips without business,” and he began to get to know the passengers and connect with their stories.

“As a pilot, transporting people going through treatment, we listen,” he says. “We don’t ask questions, but many of them let you know what’s going on.”

Eventually, they asked him to become the Southern California Wing Leader, and he took on an even more active role as a liaison to other pilots in Southern California and participating in goals and objective planning for the organization.

During extreme weather events and natural disasters, such as during the 2017 Thomas Fire or the 2018 Montecito Debris Flow, Moorhouse jumped into action, fueling up his Beach Bonanza A36 to help wherever needed: facilitating fire damage filming, delivering patients to Ridley Tree Cancer Center for much needed treatments, and transporting blood between San Luis Obispo and Ventura when the highways were shut down.

“That was my first inkling that when stuff happens along the 101 freeway and it cuts us off, it makes it really difficult to move people and supplies north and south,” he says.

Working and flying during these historic events gives him a unique perspective, he says, being able to see the damage of a massive fire from thousands of feet above. “To see the massiveness of some of these fires is just amazing,” he says.

It also gives him a chance to connect with people in the community and to have an effect on their lives. “It meant a lot to be able to help the people that you know you’re gonna run into at the grocery store or around town,” Moorhouse says.

While he spent much of his life in Carpinteria, where he and his wife, Christie, met in high school, Moorhouse now lives on a ranch off Highway 126. The pandemic slowed the rate of medical flights, due to the danger of transporting immunocompromised patients, but he says he still flies at least a few times a month, along with his time traveling as a spokesperson for Angel Flights West.

He’s always ready to fly, and said he keeps his Beach Bonanza A36 fueled and ready for takeoff at all times. “If something comes up, I can be in the air within 30 minutes,” he says. 