Chris Spaur And Heather Schultz Were "Immersed" In Aviation At Purdue University

Two new Able Flight pilots will get their wings in a ceremony at EAA AirVenture. Family, friends and special guests will be there to honor the two pilots who took part in a special Purdue University/Able Flight joint training project this summer. During June and July, Chris Spaur of California and Heather Schultz of New Jersey "lived aviation full time" in an intensive program at the Purdue University Airport where they were taught by university instructors while living in university housing.

Heather Schultz

Heather sustained a C5 spinal cord injury in a diving accident in 2006. Since then, she has faced more than three years of intensive physical therapy and has defied the predictions of doctors who had told her she would never walk again. Heather's training was made possible through her selection as the 2010 recipient of the "Jet Aviation Scholarship".

Chris is a 20 year-old with muscular dystrophy. He's one of triplets, and shares the condition with a sister. He comes from a family with a tradition of flying as both his mother and his uncle are pilots. Chris was selected by Able Flight as the recipient of Able Flight's "Bombardier Scholarship" for 2010.

Chris Spaur

The unique collaboration between Purdue University's Department of Aviation Technology and Able Flight offered the scholarship recipients the opportunity to learn to fly in a university setting, and provided the university the opportunity to  expand their outreach to flight students with physical disabilities, and to be exposed to Sport Pilot training in Light Sport Aircraft.

Special guests at the ceremony will include representatives of Purdue's Department of Aviation Technology, Bombardier and Jet Aviation, and Able Flight pilots Jessica Cox and Sean O'Donnell. Jessica's remarkable and inspiring story of learning to fly using only her feet is well known in the aviation community, and Sean was the second AF pilot to earn a license, and is the founder of Philly Sport Pilot, a flight school that provides training to students with and without disabilities.

The ceremony will be held at 1030 on Wednesday, July 28th in AeroShell Square.

FMI: www.ableflight.org, www.eaa.org