What to Expect on the Day of Your Medical Flight

The night before your medical flight, you (the contact person identified in the planning and booking process) will receive an email with the specific planned itinerary for the next day. 

It will specify things like:

• The origin airport
• The destination airport
• Assigned flight number
• Assigned tail number for tracking
• Passenger information (for both the patient and an accompanying loved one, if applicable)
• Sending Center of Excellence information, including phone numbers, room numbers, and expected arrival and departure times for the medical flight team
• Receiving Center of Excellence information, including phone numbers, room numbers, and expected arrival and departure times for the medical flight team
• Crew names, including nurse(s), paramedic(s), captain & first officer

Things can change rapidly, so please make sure to call us as soon as possible if there is any important change in the patient’s condition. We strive to ensure every patient is safely transported with a high level of care, so want to prepare for any changes.

When it’s the day for the medical flight, the medical flight team will arrive at the origination facility to begin the beside to bedside care. The medical flight team will meet the patient to be transported, and meet with their care team to ensure there is continuity of care and understanding of the patient’s needs. 

The medical flight team will take the patient to a waiting ambulance (which Angel MedFlight arranges as part of the medical flight transfer) and is then driven to the origination airport. 

Every medical flight through Angel MedFlight is a private jet medical flight, which means the flight is there expressly for you. There is no standard airport security to go through. Due to the medical configuration of the air ambulance airplane, baggage can be more limited than you may be used to with commercial flights. Our team will discuss our baggage policy with you before the flight so you know which bags you can and cannot bring. Please know that due to government regulations, all passengers in the US need a REAL ID compliant ID. 

The patient in the ambulance (or other arranged medical transportation) will go directly to the airplane at the origination airport. 

The medical flight team will help the patient board the aircraft and get situated. Most of the time, the patient being transported is on a stretcher for safe transport. There are some situations when the patient’s comfort and mobility allow them to board and disembark the plane without the stretcher. 

As soon as the patient is loaded, comfortable, and ready to go, the aircraft will begin the flight.

Once the patient is situated safely, the aircraft crew will enter the standard taxiing process. Just like on commercial flights, there can be times where the aircraft has to wait its turn for the runway. Medical flights typically go out of smaller, regional or private-jet-focused airports that have smaller lines and less traffic, so there’s typically little to no wait to take off. 

During the flight, the medical flight crew will continuously monitor the patient’s vital signs, administer any medications required, and generally continually care for the patient. 

Any loved ones not flying with the patient on the medical flight will receive information on how to track the flight progress in real time online. 

Once the plane lands at the destination facility, the disembarkation procedure will commence.

Once the flight has landed, what happened at the origination will happen again – just in reverse. The patient will typically be situated in an ambulance, driven to the receiving Center of Excellence, and the Medical Flight team will assist with the check-in procedures. 

They’ll inform the receiving care team of any important details of the patient’s condition and help the patient get situated. At that point, care will transition to their new medical team at the destination Center of Excellence. 

See more about what to expect from the entire medical flight transfer process.

With over 35,000 completed medical flight, Angel MedFlight has the experience you can trust to safely transport you or your loved one. Our supportive team is available 24/7 to help you understand your options, your insurance, and the best path forward. Give us a call now.