Nine new Able Flight pilots were honored at a special ceremony at EAA AirVenture on Tuesday, July 23rd. They were joined on stage by their flight instructors from both Purdue University and Southern Illinois University along with sponsors whose generous gifts make the program possible. The nine scholarship recipients trained at Purdue and SIU from late May into July. Seven of the nine new pilots attended the ceremony, including Andrew Daigneau, Jake Robinson, Omar Duran, Natallia Mirashnichenka, Jordan Sprague, Tyler Pugeda and Jake Simmons. Also honored but unable to attend were Ian Azeredo and Tim Riney, Jr.
Pinning their Able Flight Wings were Patrick Sniffen of Cirrus Aircraft (pinning Jake Robinson), Martin Ingram of Muncie Aviation, along with Andrew’s father Judd Daigneau (pinning Andrew Daigneau), Zach Reising of the Blue Seven Scholarship (pinning Tyler Pugeda), Ryan Kelly representing the Mark Hogan Scholarship (pinning Jake Simmons), James Decker of ForeFlight (pinning Natallia Mirahnickenka), and Adam Kisielewski (pinning Omar Duran).
In recognition of his generous support, during the ceremony Zach Reising was honored as an honorary Able Flight pilot, with his wings pinned by his mother and father, Melissa and Jeff Reising. Two of this year’s flight instructors were recognized for their outstanding efforts as Able Flight’s Flight Instructors of the Year. They were David Nelson of SIU and Bobby O’Connor of Purdue.
The Able Flight Volunteer of the Year award (named for supporter Bob Seidel) was presented by Bill Perrone of founding sponsor Perrone Aerospace to Clayton Smeltz, a pilot and engineer who uses a wheelchair. Based on his history of designing adapted controls for his own Cirrus Vision Jet, Smeltz was asked to create adapted controls for the Vashon Ranger LSA so that two of the aircraft could be used at SIU. He was honored for his exceptional work in designing, prototyping, testing and manufacturing the unique controls.
To read more about the ceremony and to see a gallery of images from the event, check out AOPA’s coverage here. And to see Aero News Network’s video of the ceremony visit here. The section on Able Flight begins at the 2:38 mark.