Angel Flight pilot John Nixon and his friend, "Earth Angel" Barry Joseph, were guest speakers at the NSW Local Government Association annual conference at Dubbo this week.

They told delegates that although pilots donated their time and the bulk of their aircraft operating expenses, the charity still needed more support, as the Local Government and Shires Associations anticipated presenting Angel Flight with a donation.

Mr Nixon, a businessman who built 18 Subway stores across NSW, had believed his work for the charity was important, but said when he became a father he understood it from a parent's perspective.

Mr Nixon, whose two-decade long friendship with Mr Joseph began when he started working at Joe Janson's and Company at Dubbo, gained his pilot's licence seven years ago - a childhood dream.

While his wings made it easier for him to visit his stores, Mr Nixon also realised it was a gift he could share with others.

Angel Flight had been launched in 2003 as a charity that would co-ordinate non-emergency flights for financially and medically needy people and they were looking for pilots.

Mr Nixon signed up and flew his first Angel Flight in 2006 and since then has made many mercy dashes, often accompanied by Mr Joseph.

Their longest flight had been from Dubbo to Bankstown to pick up a little girl and her father to take them home to Whitecliffs - a 10-hour day by the time the plane landed back at Dubbo, Mr Nixon told the conference.

His patients made an impression.

"I always remember the little girl from the back of Cobar who gave me a box of chocolates, she had her face removed and reconstructed after a quad bike accident," Mr Nixon said during his speech.

"She had such a positive attitude."

The businessman became a father in 2007 with the birth of twins Austin and Matilda, who were born two months premature.

Austin was left with cerebral palsy and profoundly deaf as a result of complications and had to be flown to Sydney every week for the first year of his life and every two weeks thereafter for therapy.

It gave the Angel Flight pilot insight into how families felt.

"I realised that donating my time flying for Angel Flight was a great benefit for these families, but I hadn't envisaged exactly how physically and emotionally (tough) and unaffordable it would be without the assistance of pilots, "Earth Angels" and co-ordination by Angel Flight staff," he told delegates.

Having his pilot's licence to take his son to appointments was a "godsend" without which they would have been "another family calling on Angel Flight for assistance".

Mr Joseph is one of more than 3000 helpers called "Earth Angels" but his role was different from most because he accompanied the pilot.

"I settle in our passengers, carry their luggage, fix their seatbelts, hand out lollies and water, talk to them and help them feel relaxed and comfortable throughout the flight," Mr Joseph said.

An association spokeswoman said it had collected about $10,000 at the conference from registration fees for Angel Flight, as was done at the earlier Shires Association conference, and the combined total would be presented at the end of the year.