MAL ZACKERY OF GEORGIA EARNS LICENSE

Less than two years after becoming paralyzed, Mallory "Mal" Zackery of Georgia has become Able Flight's 12th scholarship recipient to earn a pilot certificate.  With support from the TBM Owners Pilots Association Foundation, the 29 year-old trained in an adapted Sky Arrow 600 LSA with Matt Hansen of Hansen Air Group in Kennesaw, Georgia.

In October of 2007, Mal was a district manager for a chain of  stores and was making a night deposit when he was shot by a robber. The 2003 graduate of Mercer University was treated first in Alabama, and then at Shepherd Center  near his Atlanta-area home. In his scholarship application  essay, he wrote: "I heard of the Able Flight Scholarships when I was an inpatient at Shepherd Center, at a time when I was both physically and mentally down. It was as if a world of possibilities opened up to me.

"Before hearing of the program, I thought, along with everything else in my life, my dream of flying was gone. Now a fire is burning inside of me, a desire to rise again...learning how to fly an airplane will prove to me, and others, that this is not the end, that I don't have to be simply that 'person in a wheelchair'. That I can continue to live and learn, to grow and mature. Most importantly, I believe that the Able Flight Scholarship will help me on my way to becoming fully self-confident and self-reliant."

Mal has now achieved that goal, and it came after months of study and hard work, and not without some excitement that made local and national news. Near the end of his training Mal was on a practice checkride with volunteer instructor Mike Davidson when a mechanical problem caused the plane to lose all power and Davidson performed a perfect emergency landing on  busy Highway 41 north of Atlanta. Even though there wasn't a scratch on people, plane or anything on the ground, for many student pilots that experience may have altered their outlook. But Mal was soon back in the air, and less than a month later, is now the  proud owner of a newly-minted pilot's license.

Able Flight congratulates Mal on his success, and wants to thank Matt Hansen for  teaching him to fly, and the TBMOPA Foundation for sharing their belief in the power of aviation to change lives.