Sun, Apr 25, 2010
Two Winners Will Participate In Purdue's Flight Training
Program
Heather Schultz and Chris Spaur may be separated
by thousands of miles, and their physical challenges may be very
different, but the young woman from New Jersey and the young man
from California have a lot in common. Both have a passion for
becoming pilots, and both will travel to Indiana this summer to
take part in the first Able Flight-Purdue University flight
training program.
Heather Schultz
In early June, Heather and Chris will arrive in West Lafayette
where they'll train with Purdue flight instructors while living in
an accessible dorm just a few minutes from the university airport.
Not only will the two have the opportunity to learn to fly at one
of the nation's premier university aviation programs, but the
partnership will allow the Purdue Department of Aviation Technology
to experience training students with physical disabilities, and to
do so in an adapted Light Sport Aircraft. Heather and Chris will
learn in a Sky Arrow 600 LSA provided by Philly Sport Pilot, a
flight school operated by Able Flight pilot Sean O'Donnell.
One of three children in an athletic
and adventurous family, Heather was used to the challenges of
soccer, softball and skiing when she sustained a C5 spinal cord
injury in 2006. Since then, the young woman whose "smile lights up
a room" has faced more than three years of intensive physical
therapy, defying the predictions of doctors who had told her she
wouldn't walk again. Heather's training is made possible through
her selection as the 2010 recipient of the "Jet Aviation
Scholarship".
Chris Spaur
Chris is a 19 year-old college freshman, and with just a casual
look, you might not notice the effects of muscular dystrophy. He's
one of triplets, shares the condition with a sister, and with his
scholarship, he's soon to share something else with several family
members. Both Chris' mother and his uncle are pilots, and though he
has dreamed of joining them, up until now, that's all it has been,
a dream. Now, thanks to his selection as the recipient of Able
Flight's "Bombardier Scholarship" for 2010, he will follow in the
family tradition and become a pilot.
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