But he also gets the occasional experience that will stay with him for years, such as the time he used his light aircraft to take a young mother and her toddler daughter back to Dubbo after a medical appointment in Sydney.

And it wasn’t just any old medical appointment: the toddler, born profoundly deaf, had been in Sydney to be fitted with a cochlear implant.

“She had two older sisters – five or six or thereabouts,” Mr Marston said.

“Her mother told me that when they fitted it [the implant], she was able to hear her sisters for the first time ever. Her eyes lit up and she knew then that she could hear.

“That one stuck in my mind. That was really something – that I was able to help them.

“She had been travelling back and forth to Sydney with Angel Flight for a long time. She would not have been able to do it without our help. It just would not have happened.”

Mr Marston, who has been in Bathurst for nearly 40 years (“I think I’m just about a local”), is one of a number of pilots who donate their time and their aircraft to provide flights to help country people access specialist medical treatment that would otherwise be unavailable to them because of distance and cost.

A pilot since the 1980s who has had a long association with the Bathurst Aero Club, Mr Marston got involved with Angel Flight about a decade ago because he wanted his flying to have a purpose.

“There are only so many things you can do [when you fly],” he said.

“You fly to Mudgee and have morning tea or fly to Canberra and have lunch.

“I thought this is not really what I want to do, I really want to do something worthwhile. 

“Angel Flight gives you a purpose: helping other people; people not quite as fortunate as we are.”

For a couple of hours, Mr Marston will share his aircraft with people facing difficult circumstances.

“You are part of people's lives. You might never see them again, but you feel as though you have helped them a bit along the way.”

The Angel Flight Australia charity, which was established in 2003, does not seek to act as an alternative to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, CareFlight or Air Ambulance. It offers transport, rather than aero-medical support.

A referral must be sent to Angel Flight with the authority of a health professional who is familiar with the passenger’s medical condition and pilots are required to have more than 250 hours as a pilot in command.

Mr Marston said his advice for a pilot thinking about volunteering their time was simple.

“I can't recommend it highly enough, really,” he said.

“If you are the sort of person who has got empathy with people then you will get a tremendous amount of satisfaction knowing that you have helped someone.”