Able Flight’s Class of 2015 to get their wings at AirVenture

Six new Able Flight pilots will receive their wings at a pinning ceremony Tuesday, July 21, during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Special guests will include Aviation Hall of Fame inductee Patty Wagstaff, Able Flight pilot Jessica Cox and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Mark Baker.

The Able Flight Class of 2015 includes a pilot who was born without hands or feet and earned his ATP rating through Able Flight, two pilots who are quadriplegics, one who is a paraplegic, one who is deaf, and another who is a wounded veteran.

Able Flight’s 2015 pilots are Scot Abrams of New York, Stephen Carrier of Louisiana, Randy Green of Idaho, Sgt. Adam Kisielewski of Maryland, John Robinson of North Carolina and Raymart Tinio of California.

Able Flight pilots at Purdue University: (L-R) Stephen Carrier, Scot Abrams, John Robinson and Raymart Tinio

From mid-May to early July, Abrams, Carrier, Robinson and Tinio learned to fly at Able Flight’s joint training program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In between flights, they attended classes and as a group accumulated 181 hours of flight instruction in two specially-adapted Sky Arrow 600 LSAs and an adapted Flight Design CTLS.

Green earned his ATP rating and Kisielewski earned his Private Pilot certificate at different locations earlier in the year.

Each of the six pilots will also be honored individually as recipients of scholarships provided by AOPA, Bombardier, ForeFlight, Jet Aviation, Shell Aviation and Tempest.

Now in its eighth year of providing full-ride flight training scholarships and mentoring for people with physical disabilities, Able Flight has 45 licensed pilots, including several who have earned multiple pilot certificates. In its sixth year of partnering with Purdue University’s Department of Aviation Technology, to date, Able Flight has a 100% success rate with student pilots who have trained at the university.