Honor Flight Central Florida is excited to have begun the process of contacting Veterans that will travel with us as Honorees on their own Honor Flight Mission. We will be traveling with about 50 Honorees who will be provided their own Honor Flight at no cost to them, and allow for them to view and reflect at their memorials in Washington, DC. Each Honoree Veteran will be accompanied by an Honor Flight Guardian – a family member or friend, or a member of the public, who donates their time to accompany one of our heroes and cover their own trip cost for this amazing privilege. Guardians play a key role in supporting our Honorees during their very special day and frequently hear stories about our Honoree’s service to their country that may have never been shared before.  We have opportunities for members of the public to join us on our October 22 Honor Flight and would be pleased to have you join us in paying tribute to our most senior Veterans. Nothing else you can do in support of our honored Veterans will be more meaningful and have more personal impact. To join us and be paired with an Honoree, we need to hear from you as seats are filling up. A link to applications for Guardians can be found here on our website on the main screen header. E-Mail us with questions at honor.flight.central.florida@gmail.com or call us at (407) 203-7010.

We have scheduled an Honor Flight Central Florida Flight Mission for the fall of 2016 on Saturday, October 22nd. Our hub’s plans have us taking 50 Honored Veterans from the Central Florida community to the Nation’s Capital to view and reflect at the memorials built in their honor. The vast majority on this trip will be members of our Greatest Generation who served and sacrificed for us in WWll. If you would like to participate in the honoring of one of our heroes by escorting them as a Guardian on their Honor Flight, e-mail us at: honor.flight.central.florida@gmail.com 

Our Veterans have honored us with their service, it’s our time to honor them.

April 17 – Just a week ago yesterday, we successfully completed our first Honor Flight Mission of 2016 to the Nation’s Capital so that 48 Honored Veterans could view and reflect at their Memorials. The day began at 3:00AM when staff and volunteers began arriving at the airport to greet our Veterans and Guardians. Among them were numerous uniformed members of the Timber Lake High School JROTC, who seated our Vets in wheelchairs curb side, and helped them in the terminal. Our day’s Honorees totaled 48 Veterans – 24 who served us during WWll, 12 during the Korea War, and 12 during the Vietnam War. Our oldest was 94 and our youngest 66. Three served during WWll, Korea and Vietnam. 46 were men and were joined by 2 women. They came from as far away as North Carolina and as close as our own Winter Park. Our 48 Guardians came from as far as Kansas and as close as Winter Park. Our youngest passenger was 13 and a World War ll historian. He came as a Guardian to a WWll Veteran he knew personally who he encouraged to apply to Honor Flight. Like our other Guardians on the trip, his Mother came as well and also donated her time and trip cost to join another Honoree in a very special role for the day. At 5AM we conducted a sound off, and with our entire travel group of 96 plus our Paramedic team and Staff, we headed towards security and on to have breakfast at our gate. Another of the day’s tributes was staged at the security area, as the TSA Honor Guard raised Old Glory to salute our Honorees. That was the start of a long day we hope was full of tribute, respect, and Honor for our Veterans. Our day’s travels took us to the WWll, Korea and Vietnam Memorials, the Iwo Jima and Air Force Memorials, the Women in Service Memorial, the Navy Memorial, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery to witness the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. Words cannot begin to describe the emotion stirred when visiting these solemn places. To get a visual recap of this Honor Flight Mission, please jump to our website and go to our photo gallery to see the many albums of over 1,000 pictures put up by Staff Photographer Paul Riccardi along with videos captured by our Videographer, Alan Kornman. If you traveled with us or took pictures at the airport, you can upload them on our website as well to share with the Honor Flight Central Florida family and others that visit our site. We hope you enjoy the great pictures and post some of your own!

Click Here for our April 9th Mission Photos and Video  

For those joining us at our Flight Mission Reunion on April 30, we look forward to seeing you again, and hearing your stories about the trip. There is limited seating for Guest, but we may have room. Those with interest in learning more about Honor Flight Central Florida by attending the reunion event should e-mail us at:

honor.flight.central.florida@gmail.com with the subject line “reunion”

In only two short weeks, Honor Flight Central Florida will be proud to be hosting our first Honor Flight of 2016. We are pleased to be providing an Honor Flight for 50 Honored Veterans from in and around Central Florida. The majority of our Honorees are members of our “Greatest Generation” that served in WWll,  and they are joined by more of our heroes who served this Country in the Korea and Vietnam Wars. We have a full day planned beginning with an early morning flight from Orlando Airport after we gather in Terminal A beginning at 4:30 AM. Our Mission Flight takes us to the WWll Memorial, the Korea and Vietnam War Memorials, the Air Force and Marine Memorials, the Women in Service Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery to witness the changing of the guard and laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We will be departing Baltimore at 9:00 PM and returning to Orlando on Southwest Airlines Flight #2627 due to arrive at 11:20PM. We hope to end our day by having the public join our ground crew of staff in welcoming home our Heroes from what we hope will be a day filled with long overdue recognition and tribute for their service and sacrifices. Please join us and be part of welcoming crowd to some real Heroes. Opportunities to personally shake hands and thank surviving WWll Veterans in particular are dwindling. We are losing these Heroes at the rate of 900 or so per day and surviving WWll Veterans are at least 92 years old. Although it will be late, we ask for all our patriotic supporters to spread the word so we can fill the airport terminal with a grateful public – bring flags, bring signs, bring your family, bring your friends. Meet and Greet those who have honored us with their service, because it’s our time to Honor them!

On Monday, February 8th at 7PM, our Board of Directors and Staff will be meeting in Altamonte Springs to assign responsibilities to those wishing to volunteer and support the mission of Honor Flight Central Florida in our 2016 flight season and beyond. We are excited to make the public aware of two newly created positions on our Board of Directors as well as newly created Staff positions that volunteers can indicate interest in filling for our 2016 Flight Mission Season.

Directions to the conference room Altamonte Springs Police Sub Station:

Our meeting room is located inside the Altamonte Springs Mall 451 East Altamonte Dr. Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 office phone number 407-571-8295. Lower level between Macy’s and J.C. Penny’s. there is a mall entrance between those two stores, We are the first business on the right once your inside the mall.

First, we are pleased to announce that we are seeking a dedicated volunteer who wants to serve a two year term on our board as “Director of Fundraising”. The candidate should have some experience in fundraising for a 501C3 organization and will be responsible for heading up fundraising events and work with staff and other volunteers to carry them off to completion. The Director of Fundraising will also work with new staff members who will specialize in writing grant applications for submission to corporate and private funding sources. The candidate should have public speaking experience and be capable of making presentations to prospective donors. The right candidate will also have a somewhat flexible work schedule that would allow for occasional meetings with donors during traditional work day schedules.

Second, we are seeking a candidate to fill another new role on our Board as the “Director of Ground Operations”. The right candidate will be a person who is detail oriented and task driven. This position requires phone and e-mail contact and follow up with the vendors and volunteers who play parts in the Honor Flight Mission. Good organizational and communication skills are desired. A willingness and ability to negotiate with vendor suppliers is a desirable skill as well. The candidate will work together with our Director of Operations in the complete planning of Flight Mission agendas.

We are also seeking volunteers to serve on staff in specific areas of responsibility. Staff positions include 4 Veteran Outreach Coordinators to create awareness in the Veteran community of our mission and facilitate applications, 2 Grant Application Writers, 4 Guardian Outreach Coordinators to create awareness of the Guardian role and facilitate applications, 2 fundraising committee coordinators, a Veteran communications coordinator to assist with development of outreach marketing materials, and 2 Staff Administrators to assist with the various administrative duties that keep the planes flying.

We are asking candidates to join us at our February 8th meeting of the Board and staff to express their interest and inform us of their level of commitment.

Interested parties with questions can e-mail me at hfcfl.chairman@gmail.com for additional information and meeting details.

On Monday, February 8th at 7PM, our Board of Directors and Staff will be meeting in Altamonte Springs to assign responsibilities to those wishing to volunteer and support the mission of Honor Flight Central Florida in our 2016 flight season and beyond. We are excited to make the public aware of two newly created positions on our Board of Directors that volunteers can indicate interest in.

First, we are pleased to announce that we are seeking a dedicated volunteer who wants to serve a two year term on our board as “Director of Fundraising”. The candidate should have some experience in fundraising for a 501C3 organization and will be responsible for heading up fundraising events and work with staff and other volunteers to carry them off to completion. The Director of Fundraising will also work with new staff members who will specialize in writing grant applications for submission to corporate and private funding sources. The candidate should have public speaking experience and be capable of making presentations to prospective donors. The right candidate will also have a somewhat flexible work schedule that would allow for occasional meetings with donors during traditional work day schedules.

Second, we are seeking a candidate to fill another new role with the job title of “Director of Ground Operations”. The right candidate will be a person who is detail oriented and task driven. This position requires phone and e-mail contact and follow up with the vendors and volunteers who play parts in the Honor Flight Mission. Good organizational and communication skills are desired. A willingness and ability to negotiate with vendor suppliers is a desirable skill as well. The candidate will work together with our Director of Operations in the complete planning of Flight Mission agendas.

We are also seeking volunteers to serve on staff in specific areas of responsibility. Staff positions include 4 Veteran Outreach Coordinators to create awareness in the Veteran community of our mission and facilitate applications, 2 Grant Application Writers, 4 Guardian Outreach Coordinators to create awareness of the Guardian role and facilitate applications, 2 fundraising committee coordinators, a Veteran communications coordinator to assist with development of outreach marketing materials, and 2 Staff Administrators to assist with the various administrative duties that keep the planes flying.

We are asking candidates to join us at our February 8th meeting of the Board and staff to express their interest and inform us of their level of commitment.

Interested parties with questions can e-mail us at hfcfl.chairman@gmail.com for additional information and meeting details.