Able Flight Fulfills Dreams
Long before Sean O’Donnell was paralyzed in an accident, his dreams soared far above the wheelchair that is now a part of his life. Last Monday, the first stage of that dream came true when he became the proud holder of a sport pilot certificate. “I’ve been doing the paralyzed thing for 12 years, and I’ve been doing the flying thing for a month,” he said moments after being honored at EAA AirVenture as one of the first scholarship holders in Able Flight to complete Sport Pilot training. O’Donnell did his training at Wittman Field in Oshkosh and his successful completion was timed for inclusion in the show. O’Donnell, an engineer who runs a distance-education department for a college in Pennsylvania, said flight has been his dream since he was a kid, but financial concerns, his accident and getting on with life kept him from pursuing it until recently.
Long before Sean O'Donnell was paralyzed in an accident, his dreams soared far above the wheelchair that is now a part of his life. Last Monday, the first stage of that dream came true when he became the proud holder of a sport pilot certificate. "I've been doing the paralyzed thing for 12 years, and I've been doing the flying thing for a month," he said moments after being honored at EAA AirVenture as one of the first scholarship holders in Able Flight to complete Sport Pilot training. O'Donnell did his training at Wittman Field in Oshkosh and his successful completion was timed for inclusion in the show. O'Donnell, an engineer who runs a distance-education department for a college in Pennsylvania, said flight has been his dream since he was a kid, but financial concerns, his accident and getting on with life kept him from pursuing it until recently.
He said he came across Able Flight while he was researching hand controls for aircraft. "Once I found them it was a no-brainer," he said. With 27 hours under his belt, O'Donnell said he plans to get his private certificate and buy an airplane. Able Flight currently has six scholarship holders. Half of the scholarships are reserved for disabled veterans. O'Donnell took his training in a Sky Arrow, an Italian-made pusher that features integrated hand controls as an option. There's a control stick on the right that handles pitch and roll and the left control combines rudder and throttle. The odd configuration takes some getting used to, he said, but it also offers the advantage of allowing him three axis control without letting go of the throttle.
