Able Flight

Changing Lives Though The Challenge and Freedom of Flight

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.

 

2017 Flight Training Underway

 

(L-R) Brice Lott, Josh Fisher, Luke Shutway and Chris Corsi

Ever since they were awarded scholarships, the Able Flight “Class of 2017” had been waiting for training to begin. Months of anticipation culminated in the arrival of Brice Lott and Chris Corsi at The Ohio State University on May 15th, and a week later, Melissa Allensworth, Benedict Jones, Kunho Kim, Zackary Kurkalo, Ferris Butler, and Kathryn Brenner arrived at Purdue. After meeting their instructors and getting settled in their dorm rooms, daily flight and ground school lessons were quickly underway.

 

(L-R) Lucero Duran, Wesley Major and Molly Van Scoy

Even with less than desirable weather throughout the Midwest in the first two weeks, instructors had the students up flying as often as twice a day, and time spent not in the air was time spent in the classroom. Instructing for Able Flight at OSU this year are Luke Shutway and Josh Fisher, with Joe Schwerdtfeger serving as supervising instructor, and Rob Mendez as student ambassador.

 

At Purdue, Lucero Duran returns as lead instructor with Justin Beam, Allison Hoffman, Sean O’Brien, Chris Konecnik, Nick Liberman, Rob Banta and Molly Van Scoy as instructors. Wesley Major is the onsite program coordinator at Purdue for the fifth consecutive year. With the expansion of training to The Ohio State University, this is the largest group of students and instructors and support personnel in the history of Able Flight, and the logistical challenges reflect the size of the project.

A few numbers to consider:

Students traveled from eight states
Eight dorm rooms
Eleven instructors
Five airplanes (four were ferried from three states)
Two onsite program coordinators
Three maintenance staff
Over 1100 gallons of Swift Fuels and avgas  will be used (Swift Fuels at Purdue and avgas at OSU)
Hundreds of classroom and individual pre and post flight hours

Announcing Our 2017 Scholarship Awards

 

This year’s class will train at Able Flight’s programs at Purdue University and Ohio State University, and includes a U.S. Army captain wounded in combat, a young woman with diabetes, a young man who is deaf, and five people who use wheelchairs due to paralysis caused by injuries.

Receiving full flight training scholarships are Brice Lott and Chris Corsi of North Carolina, Melissa Allensworth of California, Zackery Kukorlo of Washington, Kathryn Brenner of Illinois, Kunho Kim of Massachusetts, Benedict Jones of Indiana and Captain Ferris Butler (U.S. Army-retired) of Colorado. Receiving a “Flight Training Challenge” Scholarship is Steven Martinez of Wisconsin.

Able Flight’s Charles Stites said, “For years, our 2017 scholarship recipients have faced living with physical disabilities that present daily challenges, and now, they will face the challenge of becoming a licensed pilot. During their training they’ll learn what it means when we say our program is intensive and demanding. And when they are successful, they will have earned the privilege to share the wonder of flight.”

This is the eighth consecutive year of Able Flight’s partnership with Purdue, and the first year of its expansion to Ohio State University. Graduates of the “Class of 2017” will be guests of honor when they receive their Able Flight Wings on stage at EAA AirVenture, just weeks after becoming licensed pilots.