“Pilots for Hope” is an all-volunteer group of pilots who donate their time, aircraft and skills to help find missing persons. The idea was born in early 2018 when several boaters went missing on Lake Michigan and after the first-responders and other search-and-rescue (SAR) organizations (and even volunteers) exhausted all their efforts… the families of the missing were obviously hurting and pleading for more help. This broke our hearts and we wondered how we might be able to help more with initial and even residual searches. Thus we gave birth to “Pilots for Hope” to help augment those initial search and rescue efforts as well as extend the search beyond what initial responders could provide. We figured the more aircraft and eyes out looking for a loved one… the better. We want to save lives or, at the very least, bring closure for grieving families and friends.
Our services are offered completely FREE and we operate simply by the pilots (and other volunteer aircrew) personally covering the costs of the search flights. That said, we are allowed by federal aviation regulations to accept donations to help us defray the cost of our volunteer search and rescue missions. So, if you’d like to help us be prepared to fly more to save a life, please visit our GoFundMe page.
We are currently based in the Northern Illinois, Chicagoland area… so we can perform search and rescue missions in and around Norther Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and Northern Indiana. We are willing to fly volunteer searches for missing boaters and missing persons inland. If you are the family or friend of a missing loved one and believe that an aerial search might locate them… please contact us immediately.