Able Flight announces 2022 scholarship recipients
Able Flight, a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities learn to fly, is looking to add six new sport pilots to its roster of success stories in 2022.
The “class of 2022,” as Able Flight calls them, will travel to Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, in late May. They will train daily for six to seven weeks with Purdue CFIs using specially adapted Sky Arrow light sport aircraft. Before they arrive at Purdue, they will have completed a four-month online ground school class donated by Sporty’s Pilot Shop, supplemented with live remote instruction from Purdue flight instructors.
Andy Burnett of Florida and Austin “Chance” Field are military veterans. Burnett was wounded in combat while serving as an infantry platoon medic in Afghanistan. Field served in the U.S. Navy and worked at an FBO. He was paralyzed in a motor vehicle accident.
Ryan Chen of California suffered an injury in a snowboarding accident. He is cofounder of a consumer products company. Stephanie Cibello of Pennsylvania has been an emergency medical technician. She uses a wheelchair because of a birth defect affecting her right leg.
Nathaniel Miller of Arizona is working on becoming a licensed architect. He became a quadriplegic after a diving accident. Chris Murad of Georgia graduated from Georgia Tech with an aerospace engineering degree. He was shot during a robbery at his place of employment and paralyzed.
Able Flight traditionally brings its sport pilots to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to celebrate their success during a special wings pinning ceremony. This year’s ceremony is set to take place on July 26.
