Able Flight pilots to receive wings at AirVenture

All six pilots use wheelchairs on account of accidents, illness, or combat injury. They are scholarship recipients who earned their sport pilot certificates through a program sponsored by the nonprofit Able Flight.

It’s the twelfth year in which Able Flight has worked in conjunction with Purdue University’s flight department to train people with disabilities to fly specially equipped light sport aircraft. The pilots traveled to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where they trained daily for six weeks with Purdue flight instructors. They logged nearly 240 hours in the specially adapted Sky Arrow 600 LSA, working with instructors Derek Wright, Kaito Richmond, Amalia Yoanides, Steven Stoyko, Ronny Farfan, and Cameron Sansone, as well as Chief Instructor Lucero Duran.

Able Flight celebrates its new pilots each year at AirVenture. This year’s new pilots are Andy Burnette, Ryan Chen, Stephanie Cibello, Austin “Chance” Field, Nathaniel Miller, and Chris Murad. The ceremony will take place July 26 at 10 a.m. Central time at the Theater in the Woods.