About once a month, Hixson resident Peter Serodino fuels his personal airplane and flies a complete stranger across the region or country without asking for any compensation.
Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield presents Peter Serodino with the Tennessee Pilot of the Year award from the nonprofit organization Airlift Hope. Serodino transports patients each month to medical appointments and specialized clinics across the state and region at no cost to the patient.These strangers are patients and families of patients who require regular treatment at hospitals and specialized clinics far from the Chattanooga area. Serodino provides this free service through Airlift Hope, a nonprofit organization whose slogan is to provide “the shortest distance between home and hope.”
“One of the key ingredients of flying for me is to have a mission, to get somewhere for a reason,” Serodino said. “Flying locally in circles is OK, but after a few flights, it gets boring. Airlift Hope provides a mission and helps someone out at the same time.”
For his service, Serodino was recently awarded recognition as Tennessee Pilot of the Year by Airlift Hope. Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield and Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority Interim Director Terry Hart presented him with the award at Wilson Air.
Serodino said that after four years of service he still wishes he could cure the patients he transports, but he receives a great amount of satisfaction from being able to help in some way.
“There is an immense satisfaction in seeing how you affect someone’s life in a difficult time,” he said. “It’s such a stressful period the family is going through so it’s great to be able to take some of that burden away.”
According to Serodino, the service is completely free to the patients and a couple of companions. It is available for anyone and he said he would encourage more local pilots to participate in the program.
For more information about Airlift Hope, visit www.airlifthope.org or call 800-325-8908.