Creating Equality in the Skies
The FAA’s cooperation with the Able Flight program has enabled scores of persons with disabilities to explore their love of flying.
By Jim Tise, FAA
When controllers at the FAA’s Lafayette (Ind.) Tower begin their day’s work, they’re not only providing safe and efficient air traffic control to student pilots from nearby Purdue University, but also contributing to a program that provides equitable flight training for students with disabilities.
Since 2007, the Able Flight Program has been providing scholarships to students with disabilities. Through Able Flight, some 70 students with disabilities have earned their sport pilot licenses over the past 10 years.
“We offer people with disabilities a unique way to challenge themselves through training,” said Charles Stites, founder and executive director of Able Flight. “Through the program they gain greater self-confidence and self-reliance.”
“It’s an honor to partner with an organization that’s mission is to offer the gift of flight to aviators through a unique experience,” said Stephanie Brown, Purdue University’s Aviation Safety manager. “It’s one I personally love to be a part of.”
Lafayette Tower controllers are a perfect fit for the program because 90 percent of the airport’s traffic is student pilots flying in Purdue’s renowned aerospace program. “They have to be more attentive to the pilots’ needs because [student pilots] tend to make a lot more mistakes,” explained Chad Fehr, the tower manager. “Student pilots are more prone to do an action you wouldn’t expect.” As a result, Fehr views his controllers’ responsibilities as “more a mentoring role,” coaching the students as they learn to fly.
“We’ve had a wonderful working relationship with the folks in the tower at Lafayette,” Stites noted regarding the FAA’s assistance to his program over the last10 years.
“I had a lot of interaction with the controllers,” recalled Curtis Stanley, who went through the Able Flight program in 2014. He remembers his flight instructor making special requests from the controllers, such as practicing aborted and hold-short landings. “They’re used to a lot of student pilots, so … they were all patient and very helpful. It was just fantastic,” he said.
Stanley says he owes his current success to Able Flight and, subsequently, the FAA. While serving as an information systems technician in the U.S. Navy in 2000, he was in a motorcycle accident that cost him his left arm and his military career. He wanted to pursue his lifelong dream of flying and trained to be a pilot. But “it was too expensive and nobody wanted to train a one-armed guy,” he said. By the time he chanced upon Able Flight in 2014, he was delivering pizzas and auto parts for a living.
Stanley earned his sport pilot certificate that year, but Able Flight offered him another opportunity beyond learning to fly: a career training scholarship. “I didn’t think I’d be hired to fly commercial,” he said. Through Able Flight he trained to be a dispatcher, a person who performs flight planning for airlines. “I’m a puzzle guy. I like to figure out puzzles, answers, and solutions. That was my ideal job right there.”
His education landed him a job as a flight dispatcher for two airlines before the FAA came calling. Mentored by two FAA aviation safety inspectors, Bob Jurasek and the late Mike Desmond, Stanley landed an aviation safety inspector’s job at the St. Louis Flight Standards District Office.
“Mike gave me some great advice on how to do my job safer and better,” said Stanley. “That’s exactly how I thought the FAA should be.” The disability that Stanley thought would end his aviation dreams was nothing more than an afterthought to the FAA inspectors. “They just ignored it. What mattered to them is that can I do the job,” he added.
Fehr was unfamiliar with the Able Flight program when he transferred to Lafayette Tower. “I know disabled people can do a lot of amazing things, but I had never heard of them learning to fly,” admitted Fehr. “It’s really something neat.”
Adding students with disabilities to the flight mix in Lafayette airspace adds another layer of preparedness for the controllers. Fehr arranged a pre-training orientation meeting with Purdue University, Able Flight, pilot instructors, students, and controller Byron Figueras, representing the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Brown appreciates the benefits of having the controllers and pilots on the same page before training even begins. “Having open communication with the tower makes it less intimidating,” she said.
“I tried to make sure [the students] could put a face to the voices so they wouldn’t be intimidated by controllers,” said Fehr. “We talk about our roles and responsibilities and what they can expect from the tower and what the tower expects of them. We talk about some of the hazards. We learn a little about each other. It really is a very personal thing. They get to know a little about who they’re talking to,” he added.
Fehr recalled telling one student the Lafayette Tower was proud to help out with Able Flight operations. “I don’t think he had ever heard that statement. It told him the tower was honored to be part of this program. He was taken back by that,” said Fehr.
Accommodating students with hearing disabilities requires the most coordination. Lafayette Tower controllers use a light gun to communicate with the student pilots, and the tower performs test runs with the pilots and their instructor to make sure the light gun signals can be seen while the plane was banking.
Controllers also must take care to weave the students’ slower sport aircraft into the traffic flow. “We kind of have to make a big hole for them to keep them safe,” said Fehr. “From our controllers here who work with student pilots every day, they did really well with adapting to it,” he said. “They’re used to that kind of learning environment.”
Another participant of the Able Flight program, Leslie Irby began taking flying lessons at age 16 as part of the Aviation Career Enrichment program based near Atlanta, Ga. “Ever since then I’ve had this love of aviation,” said Irby. “I wanted to be a pilot. It’s very peaceful and freeing for me. That was where the start of my love of aviation came from,” she added.
But a car accident in 2013 cost her the use of her legs, though not her dreams. “I’m not a dweller,” she explained. “Whatever happens clearly happens for a reason. I’m not the type of person to harp on the negative.”
Irby successfully completed the program in June 2019. She met with Lafayette Tower controllers before training began.
“They said, ‘This is who we are; we’re here for you. We’ll be patient for you all as you go through this process.’ And they were,” said Irby.
Irby recently completed her “SODA” flight, a “special authorization to fly” granted by the FAA to a person who might not normally be allowed to pilot an aircraft because of certain physical or mental conditions. She has purchased a special set of hand controls approved by the FAA. When she has saved enough money, she plans to go for her private pilot’s license.
“Able Flight is always going to have a special place in my heart,” said Irby. “It made me into the pilot I am today.”
Stanley says his experience with Able Flight was life changing. “All of a sudden I’ve got a career again in my favorite occupation: aviation.” He encouraged anybody with the slightest interest in aviation and a disability consider Able Flight.
“I have to say those students are really an inspiration…to overcome those challenges when they come out to fly,” said Fehr. “I think it makes you reflect within yourself. I think it’s outstanding our agency and facility was able to accommodate and help them. It’s really a testament to our air traffic system that we have controllers and a system that makes room for them.”
