Flight Training - October 2012 - 28

The student considers. “Ninety,” he offers. The instructor nods. “Time to get that scheduled.” This particular group is toughing out an intense, five-week accelerated program. They hope to become sport pilots—but first they have to endure a rigorous schedule, flying two or more times per day, spending weeks away from home. And they have to do all of this while coping with physical disabilities. The six are training in a unique partnership between Purdue and Able Flight, a nonprofit organization that challenges disabled persons by teaching them to fly (see "Challenges and Changing Lives," page 29). Three students are flying tandem two-seater Sky Arrow 600s equipped with hand controls for rudders and brakes. The other three students don’t require hand controls and are training in a side-by-side FK-9.
THE FLYING BUG. All but one of the

been injured in a car accident. “They just told me that my life is 20-percent shorter because I’m a paraplegic,” he recalls. “I needed to make my list. The first thing on my mind—I wonder if I could fly still.” Scott has no control of any muscle lower than his chest. He needs assistance to enter and exit the Sky Arrow; after he’s positioned in the front seat, he must balance himself on his elbows and shift his weight back and forth while manipulating the hand controls. He flies as early in the day as possible, and sometimes needs a break in the middle of the day before he can fly again. But there’s no hesitation, no suggestion that he won’t finish. “I want to be an advocate for this program on the West Coast,” Scott says. “My goal is to purchase an aircraft that is equipped and be able to introduce people” to flying.
A LOVE AFFAIR. A sport pilot certificate is the goal at the end of the weeks-long program, but nobody wants to stop there. Matt Sponaugle of Elkins, West Virginia, says he’d like to get a private certificate and perhaps an instrument rating. “Wherever it takes me, I’m not sure yet,” he says. “This is an excellent starting point.”

students say they have wanted to fly since they were very young. Some, like Steve Scott, had even managed to log some time. A few years ago Scott was lying in a hospital bed, reflecting on his life. He’d

Like Scott, Sponaugle has always been interested in airplanes. A skiing accident at age 13 put him in a wheelchair, but he recalls that about a year after the accident he took a sightseeing flight over the beaches of Nags Head in North Carolina. “They let me control the airplane for one turn and straight for awhile,” he says. “I fell in love with flying.” Wesley Major, the lone student who hasn’t had a lifelong interest in flying, is nonetheless hooked. “I soloed Monday,” says Major, who recently graduated from the University of Delaware. “It was exhilarating.” A motorcycle accident at age 19 put Major in a wheelchair. Now 24, he credits Sean O’Donnell with encouraging him to apply for the program. O’Donnell got a sport pilot certificate in 2007 through Able Flight, and he has been Major’s friend and mentor, helping him through the transition after the accident. (O’Donnell also loaned his Sky Arrow to the Purdue program, and Major has been flying it.) Major has found the flight training “intimidating, because I had no prior aeronautical knowledge, so I thought I was behind the learning curve there.” Nonetheless, “they do

MATT SPONAUGLE (left) with CFI Boaz Allyn-Feuer (below left); Steve Scott (below); CFI Edwin Richardson (left) with Tyrell Rhodes (below right); Jason Jernigan (left) with CFI Justin Lowe (far right).

MATT SPONAUGLE
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA "I'M NOT SURE WHERE [FLYING] WILL TAKE ME, BUT I'M WILLING TO GO AS FAR AS IT WILL TAKE ME."

STEVE SCOTT
POWAY, CALIFORNIA "MY LAST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, ALL I DID WAS WORK, GO TO THE AIRPORT, TAKE A LESSON, HANG AROUND."

28 /

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Flight Training - October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - October 2012