An Aerial “Get Well” For Ailing Aviator

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When the Oregon Aero SkyDancer wrote “Get Well Alan” in white smoke across the blue sky above Oshkosh last week, it wasn’t only to express the company’s wishes to the crowds at EAA AirVenture. Alan Henley, the lead pilot for the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, who was spending the show in a hospital bed instead of performing in the airshow as planned, was able to share in the moment. “Our original intent was to capture it in photos and video to send to [Alan and his family] to cheer them up. But the way everything came together was incredible!” said Steve Oliver, of the skywriting team. At the time of the skywriting, Henley’s wife, Jennifer, was with him in his hospital room, and they were able to watch the skywriting in real time from a computer that had arrived just an hour earlier. “At that moment, everyone on the grounds, in addition to the aerobatic community, was thinking of Alan and wishing him well,” Oliver said. Henley is recuperating from an accidental fall at his home that left him paralyzed, and he will require extensive rehabilitation.

A foundation has been established to help Henley and his family defray his medical expenses. Click here for more information.

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