Able Flight‘s newest pilots will receive their wings at a pinning ceremony at EAA AirVenture.
This year’s class includes two pilots who are quadriplegics, one who is a paraplegic, one who has a spinal condition and two who have lost one or more limbs. Two of the new pilots are wounded veterans and another is a veteran who was disabled while in service.
From mid-May to early July, the student pilots flew as often as twice a day at Able Flight’s joint training program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In between flights they attended classes, and as a group accumulated over 260 hours of instruction in two specially-adapted Sky Arrow 600 LSAs and an adapted Flight Design CTLS.
Three of the new pilots will be honored as the recipients of the AOPA/Able Flight, Bombardier/Able Flight, and Shell Aviation/Able Flight scholarships.
Now in its seventh year of providing full-ride flight training scholarships and mentoring for people with physical disabilities, Able Flight has 40 licensed pilots.
And in the fifth year of partnering with Purdue University’s Department of Aviation Technology, to date Able Flight has a 100% success rate with student pilots who have trained at the university.