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More than a mile above southern Virginia, plugging along at 150 mph, Matthew Oehmann laid his flight plan across his plaid shorts.

He followed the flight on paper, marking tracks across a thick line that stretched from Chesterfield, Va., to Greensboro's Atlantic Aero at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Or he simply looked out the window, beyond his sneakered feet. He watched the rolling landscape, where baseball fields looked no bigger than one of his many Pokemon cards back home.

Beside him, pilot Chris Malone explained the dashboard's array of instruments, pointing to each number, each blur of radar green, inside each circle, each rectangular face.

Then, Malone gave Matthew the controls.

For a few minutes, Matthew flew Malone's single-engine plane, a 1979 red and white Piper Dakota, through a crowded highway of clouds that looked like thick wisps of cotton just beyond the windshield.

"What do you think of this?'' Malone asked. "Is this pretty cool?''

"Yeah,'' responded Matthew.

It was one of seven words Matthew said throughout his hourlong trip Sunday. But no matter. Matthew didn't need to talk. All you had to do was watch. Every so often, Matthew - a quiet boy of 12, with a face full of freckles - grinned big.

Matthew had never flown in a single-engine plane before. And he flew for free, into PTI for a five-day stay at Victory Junction Gang Camp, the acclaimed camp in Randleman for children hammered by serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions.

Matthew flew courtesy of Angel Flight, a nonprofit network of volunteer pilots who fly patients 1,000 miles or less after a doctor's OK. The pilots cover all costs.

"The reward is seeing people being so thankful,'' says Malone, the 51-year-old pilot with 17 years of flying experience. "I mean, once he was on the plane, Matthew came out of his shell, and as a dad, that makes your heart feel good.''

Malone started as a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight in July 2005.

Since then, he has flown nine missions and met passengers that ranged in age from 3 to 87. They all have hard-luck stories. Matthew was just one.

In September 2001, when Matthew was a kindergartener, doctors removed a cancerous brain tumor the size of a grapefruit. Since then, Matthew has had surgery four more times.

Matthew has lost his hearing in his right ear and some hearing in his left ear. He struggles with learning difficulties and wears a helmet to protect his brain after doctors removed a three-inch section of his skull.

He will go through at least two more surgeries. Doctors will first expand the skin and later insert a synthetic plate that'll protect his brain, follow the natural curve of his skull and make his head more round than flat.

Matthew now wears a plastic helmet or Boston Red Sox hat to cover the flat place on his head above his left eye and the scar that runs, right along his hairline, from his left ear to above his right eye.

Yet, he's all boy.

His maternal grandmother, Martha Brogley, calls him a "shy little fellow'' who's a crackerjack chess player who loves to read, play soccer, watch "Spider-Man'' and collect Pokemon cards.

He also thinks about his mortality. Once, before one of his recent surgeries, he asked his mom, "Am I going to die?''

But those tough conversations didn't arise Sunday.

When Malone flew into Chesterfield, Va., where Matthew's grandmother lives, Matthew and his grandmother stood beside a chain-link fence, with a batch of homemade molasses cookies in a bag.

Matthew's favorite.

Matthew will return Thursday. And there, at the Chesterfield County Airport, beside the chain-link fence, will be Martha Brogley.

With another batch of molasses cookies.

She'll share them with Matthew. And of course, with the volunteer pilot from Angel Flight.

That's her way of saying thanks. For everything.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com