Al Nixon
Gainesville's Al Nixon Takes Off with a New Mercy Flight™ Southeast Wing in Georgia
–– by Leslie Johnston
 Although this north Georgia businessman and former military pilot is not a doctor or a healthcare provider, he - and others like him - are helping ensure that seriously ill patients receive the most advanced care possible.
When a patient's condition is serious and advanced care is available - even hundreds of miles away from the patient's home - Al Nixon believes transportation should not be an obstacle. Helping save lives is not a new mission for Nixon or for Mercy Flight™ Southeast(MFSE). What is new, however, is Mercy Flight™ Southeast's North Georgia Wing. The Wing was formed by the Leesburg, Florida-based organization in July to provide area pilots with a local base and expanded opportunities for medical and humanitarian air missions. Nixon serves as the North Georgia Wing's pilot liaison.
Mercy Flight™ Southeast's volunteer pilots donate their aircraft and their time to provide transportation to hospitals and medical centers for people who are, for any number of reasons, unable to travel privately or on commercial air transportation. Mercy Flight™ Southeast patients, many with life-threatening conditions, and their families travel for purposes such as organ transplants, participation in clinical trials, or for regularly scheduled treatments, such as chemotherapy, that are not available in their local area or for an expert opinion or highly specialized treatment. Mercy Flight™ Southeast is also available to fly humanitarian missions in times of disaster.
The North Georgia Wing had been in existence for not much more than a month when a natural disaster of unexpected proportions, Hurricane Katrina, struck. Nixon and his fellow Mercy Flight™ Southeast pilots immediately stepped up to the challenge of flying support missions, shuttling crews of volunteer workers, materials and supplies to the disaster area, as well providing transportation to reunite families.
Nixon, a commercial pilot with instrument ratings, has been flying for Mercy Flight™ Southeast since 2001. "After 9/11, when I read about the work the organization was doing supporting the American Red Cross, transporting workers and supplies, that's when I decided to join," he says.
For Nixon, his role as an Mercy Flight™ Southeast pilot is a natural one - he is both a long-time American Red Cross volunteer, having served as head of the organization's disaster services in the metro Atlanta area and he has been a pilot since the days of the Vietnam War. A fourth generation Atlantan, he graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. After graduation, he joined the United States Air Force, where he went through pilot training. "I flew F4 fighters - Phantoms - and B52 bombers," he says. Of his eight years in the Air Force, three were spent on active duty in Vietnam, flying 270 combat missions.
After leaving the military, he worked for Hangar One at Hartsfield, selling Beechcraft planes. Then, in the early 1980s, he made a career change and started his own company, Atlantic Fountains. He and his wife, who have a son and a daughter, have lived in the Gainesville/Lake Lanier area for the past 11 years.
After years of flying military planes and selling Beechcraft, he bought his own plane, a B55 Baron in 1999. "I may be prejudiced because I sold them, but I think it's a very good plane. I knew the plane well from my days in sales at Hangar One, and I had a lot of hours in it," he says. "It's a twin, so it gives me an added safety factor, and it has very good speed and it is economical to operate."
He bought the plane, he says, with volunteer service in mind. "I belong to the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary on Lake Lanier," he explains, "and I fly for them on a regular basis. In fact, that was my first venture as a volunteer pilot." Currently, Nixon flies about one Mercy Flight™ Southeast mission each month. About half of his passengers are children and babies, and it is often the little ones he remembers most. "I tell a little fib to all of them," he says. "I tell them that I've got a perfect record; I tell them that all of my passengers have gotten better. That gives them a little more hope and confidence as they're traveling to their treatment."
Although Nixon had previous volunteer and disaster services experience, such experience is not necessary to become an Mercy Flight™ Southeast pilot. "For anyone who has the resources to own a plane, and has some time to make it available and wants to give back to others, flying for Mercy Flight™ Southeast can be a real blessing," he says. "At Mercy Flight™ Southeast, we can make transportation available, when otherwise patients might be prevented from getting the expert opinion or specialized treatment they need," Nixon says. "In this way, we can help save some lives."
Education and public relations are also an important part of his duties as pilot liaison. "I speak to groups of healthcare providers and case workers," he says, "educating them about what Mercy Flight™ Southeast offers for patients with serious medical needs. I would also like for pilots and people who work at FBOs to become more aware of Mercy Flight™ Southeast as well." In addition to being the pilot liaison, he is also a member of the Board of Directors for Mercy Flight™ Southeast.
The Wing sponsors monthly meetings the third Tuesday of each month at the Piedmont Hawthorn FBO at Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville. For information about the North Georgia Wing, pilots can call 678-521-6053. Information, including a pilot application, is also available online within the pilots page.
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