Able Flight

Changing Lives Though The Challenge and Freedom of Flight

A Record Number Of Scholarships For 2019

With ten new flight training scholarships just awarded, Able Flight has now reached the milestone of awarding over 100 scholarships since it was founded. This year’s Able Flight class includes an Army Lt. Colonel wounded in combat, four other veterans disabled due to accidents, and two women. One of the veterans is a former Army helicopter pilot who is now paralyzed and will be returning to flying with his Able Flight Scholarship.

Receiving awards are Lt. Colonel Daniel Gade (US Army-retired) of Virginia, Leslie Irby and Ignacio Montoya of Georgia, Will Bucher of North Carolina, Steven Martinez and Samuel Mahoney of Wisconsin, T’angelo Magee of New Jersey, Anthony Radetic of Alabama, Joseph Moncalieri of Massachusetts, and Emily Hupe of California who is returning to train this year after illness forced a delay in 2018.

Able Flight’s Charles Stites said, “2019 is a year of milestones for our program with the largest number of scholarships in a single year, and we are excited to have awarded more than 100 total scholarships since the program was founded. This has only been possible due to the continuous support we have received from sponsors in the aviation community, and from donors both inside and outside of aviation.”

2019 also marks the tenth consecutive year of Able Flight’s partnership with Purdue University, and the third year of its partnership with The Ohio State University. With flight school beginning in mid-May, the students have already begun their studies with online courses donated by Sporty’s Pilot Shop.

Graduates of the “Class of 2019” will be guests of honor when they receive their Able Flight Wings on stage at EAA AirVenture in July, just weeks after becoming licensed pilots.

2018 Able Flight Pilots Get Their Wings!

Front row (L-R) Asher Kirschbaum, Julia Velasquez, Rob Shardy Kory Puderbaugh, Staff Sgt. Robert Bartlett. Back row (L-R) Andrew Geers, Josh Fisher, Andrea Hayek, Austin Decker, Christina Gorsky.

As they came on stage at EAA AirVenture to receive their pilot’s wings, the Able Flight Class of 2018 clearly represented our mission of enabling people with a variety of physical disabilities to become licensed pilots. From a young man who was born without hands or feet, to two pilots who are deaf, to a man paralyzed in an accident, and to a wounded veteran, this year’s new aviators may not be typical of the pilot population as a whole, but they are typical of the more than 65 people who have earned a pilot certificate through Able Flight.

On July 24th at a special ceremony at AirVenture’s Theater In The Woods, Kory Purderbaugh, Julia Velasquez, Asher Kirschbaum, Rob Shardy and Staff Sgt. Robert Bartlett were honored for their hard work and success in becoming licensed pilots. Puderbaugh, Kirschbaum and Velasquez trained at Purdue University, and Shardy and Bartlett trained at The Ohio State University. On hand for the ceremony were family, friends and Able Flight sponsors, and pinning pilot wings were Jason Miller of Foreflight, John Herman of Tempest Plus, Michael Brown and Jonathan Stoy of Shell Aviation, Daniel Bachmann of Embraer, and Aviation Hall of Fame member Patty Wagstaff who did the honors for Lockheed Martin.

 

Designated as recipients of named scholarships for 2018 were:

Kory Puderbaugh: Tempest Plus

Asher Kirschbaum: Embraer

Julia Velasquez: ForeFlight

Rob Shardy: Shell Aviation

Staff Sgt. Robert Bartlett: Lockheed Martin

Special guests included a number of the flight instructors who taught this year’s student pilots, including Josh Fisher of OSU, and Christina Gorsky, Austin Decker, Andrea Hayek and Andrew Geers of Purdue. During the ceremony, Geers was named the Able Flight 2018 Flight Instructor of the Year, and selected as co-recipients of the Seidel Award honoring their volunteer service were Brian Stirm and Lucero Duran of Purdue University.

Able Flight thanks EAA for making the venue available for the ceremony.

Class of 2017 To Get Their Wings!

The Able Flight Class of 2017 will be honored in a special ceremony at EAA AirVenture on Tuesday, July 25th at 10am at Theater In The Woods. Eight new students trained at both Purdue University and Ohio State University beginning in mid-May, and after nearly two months of hard work in the airplanes and the classroom, they began taking checkrides just a few weeks ago.

This year’s pilots include a veteran wounded in combat, several pilots who were paralyzed due to accidents, a young woman who is a diabetic, and a young man who is deaf.  2017 pilots are Melissa Allensworth of California, Benedict Jones of Indiana, Kunho Kim of Massachusetts, Captain Ferris Butler U.S. Army (retired) of Maryland, Chris Corsi and Brice Lott of North Carolina, Kathryn Brenner of Illinois and Zackary Kukorlo of Washington.

Six of the pilots will also be honored individually as recipients of scholarships provided by Bombardier, ForeFlight, Lockheed Martin, Jet Aviation, Shell Aviation and Tempest.