AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2023 - 30

NEWS /
Cirrus teams with Able Flight
Providing scholarships for disabled pilots
ABLE FLIGHT AND CIRRUS AIRCRAFT are
working together to develop scholarship
funds for the nonprofit's program that
provides flight and aviation career training
scholarships to people with physical
disabilities, including wounded veterans.
Cirrus Aircraft committed to sponsoring
a flight training scholarship for a
student pilot for three years starting in
2023. A member of the Able Flight Class
of 2023 was honored as the initial designee
for that scholarship at a ceremony at
EAA AirVenture.
Patrick Sniffen, Cirrus Aircraft's executive
director of marketing, pinned pilot
wings on Melvin Du of Colorado, the first
recipient of the Cirrus Aircraft and Able
Flight Scholarship.
" We are delighted to support Able
Flight with their mission to offer people
with disability a chance to learn to fly or
enter an aviation career through training.
Able Flight's mission to make aviation
accessible to all meshes well with Cirrus'
vision to make aviation personal and easy to
access, " said Sniffen. Able Flight Executive
Director Charles Stites said, " We welcome
Cirrus Aircraft's support of our unique mission.
Their generous sponsorship will help
make it possible for a deserving scholarship
recipient to overcome their physical challenges
and become a licensed pilot, or to
receive training allowing them to have a
career in aviation. "
Able Flight is a national aviation nonprofit
providing flight and aviation career
training scholarships for people with disabilities
and is the only one of its kind in the
United States. Able Flight was founded in
2006, and as of July 2023 has awarded more
than 115 scholarships.
ableflight.org
Cirrus Aircraft's executive director, Patrick
Sniffen, congratulates Able Flight pilot Melvin
Du during EAA AirVenture.
FLOWN WEST /
Aloha, Jimmy
This pilot's trip around the sun has ended
BY JILL W. TALLMAN
JIMMY BUFFETT, the singer/songwriter who was well known in the aviation
community for his love of seaplanes, died September 1 at his home in Sag Harbor
on New York's Long Island. He was 76.
Born December 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Buffett was a hugely
successful musician whose upbeat tunes blended folk, country, and Caribbean
music. His world travels and experiences flavored his lyrics, including the song
Jamaica Mistaica, in which he described Jamaican police shooting at his airplane
after mistaking him for a smuggler. His Stearman appears in the music video " Trip
Around the Sun, " which he recorded with Martina McBride.
Buffett earned a private pilot certificate with single-engine land and sea
ratings in a Lake Renegade at age 39. He earned a commercial pilot certificate
with multiengine land and sea ratings, and an instrument rating. He held type
30
AOPA PILOT / November 2023
ratings for the Cessna Citation 500 series, the
Dassault Falcon 50 and 900, and the Grumman
Albatross. He owned a restored Grumman
Albatross that is currently on display at the
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant in
Orlando, Florida; a Cessna Caravan on floats;
and a 1939 Grumman Goose.
Buffett kept his airplanes at Palm Beach
International Airport in Florida. In December
2009 a departure procedure was named after
him. The BUFIT One Departure is used for
aircraft departing to the south. Its waypoints
include JIMEY, BUFIT, PYRUT (pirate),
FINNS, and UTLEY (for Michael Utley,
Buffett's longtime keyboard player).
Buffett had been diagnosed with Merkel
cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. He
continued to perform during treatment; a
surprise appearance in July at a Rhode Island
restaurant was his final public performance.
jill.tallman@aopa.org
U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY CHIEF MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST MICHAEL W. PENDERGRASS
http://www.ableflight.org
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2023

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