Able Flight, Sport Pilot Flight Training For Disabled - Success Stories!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- www.mountvernon... - Able Flight, Sport Pilot Flight Training For Disabled - Success Stories! The Sky Arrow from Hansen Air Group has often been used to train Able Flight Scholarship students.
No, this article is not about an established flight school operation. Nor is it about a university training program, or some government flight training facility. I'm simply impressed that Charles Stites and his Able Flight nonprofit organization have brought so many new pilots into the fold. For this alone, he deserves applause.
Add that he exclusively helps persons with disabilities and you have something noteworthy. Here's a contrast... At the AOPA Summit, a group of leaders will meet to discuss ways to reverse the depressing 70% drop-out rate of flight school students.
On the other side of the compass, "Able Flight achieves a very impressive completion rate of at least 72% for recipients of its full scholarships," revealed Stites, who founded the organization in 2006. Able Flight didn't set up shop to be a major flight school.
Yet hear this: "We've awarded a total of 30 scholarships as of September, 2011, and 24 are full scholarships that can lead to a license. Of those 14 are already licensed pilots, three are in training, three are yet to begin, and only four have dropped out."
How does Able Flight do it? "It's not that their training is easier," explained Charles. "If anything, it's more physically demanding for a paraplegic or a person who has lost a limb. Our students never get a break meeting the same Sport Pilot Practical Test Standards that all applicants must complete." To some extent, the Able Flight advantage is matter of personnel management. "Able Flight student pilots know they are being matched with good flight instructors at schools that care about their success."
In addition, Able Flight has assembled a cadre of people students can ask for extra assistance. "In short, each student is backed by people who want them to succeed. Now, is that so hard?" Evidently it is hard or we would not have a 70% drop-out rate at conventional flight schools. I'd say the AOPA roundtable attendees have their work cut out for them.
They could do worse than to study the success story known as Able Flight. Kudos to Charles, his financial and other backers, but most of the credit stays with instructors who care and highly motivated students, who repeatedly prove that someone with sufficient determination can accomplish almost anything.
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This is so cool! A fear that I had about learning to fly is lifted. I'm not a candidate for this program, I have a physical issue that I thought could pose a problem. Now I know that is not the case. Thank you
Great explanation! I am an amputee, right leg, since birth. I do not trust the movement in my right hip and this would be a great way for me to compensate. Thanks for sharing!!
why not switch throttle and rudder? turn the stick for rudder, back and forth for throttle. that seems a bit more intuitive.
I am just guessing but it takes a good bit more effort to move the rudder side to side than to adjust the throttle settings so moving the stick fore and aft gives you more rudder authority. I agree that the opposite arrangement would be more intuitive but far less effective. I'm not a pilot but I stayed at a crappy hotel last night.
I have a minor case of cerebral palsy should I just go with a sport license I do not know if you fail the physical can you still get the sport license
Is this adaptive setup available from a manufacturer or did you have them make it custom for that aircraft? Can I buy it and have it integrated into a kit plane I want to build? Is there a commonly available kit to add hand brakes to a kit plane or is it up to the ingenuity of the builder? Lots of questions. Sorry. I'm a left BKA amputee and see it as a real obstacle. Cant work brakes, or rudder on some kit planes that use the top of the foot for rudder such as the Long EZ. I'm just looking into flying right now as a future activity. People have to have future aspirations, something some in the handicapped community lose track of.
How Much $$