Sadly one of the scholars is ill, but happily a replacement has been found for the big day on Thursday. I have just been updating
Reach for the Islands - main page to add his biography.
It is so much "what it is all about" that I share it with you, in the hope that you will want to go to the website and contribute.
I have always wanted to fly as I used to attend the local airfield and clean the aircraft as a kid in return for flights.
At the age of 16 I was accepted into the Parachute Regiment and passed the entrance test at the top of my class gaining medals for running and completing the tasks in the quickest time.
Two weeks after joining my unit I was run over by a lorry while on a bike and rushed into Gloucester Hospital, I spent four months being transferred between different units having my leg re-built and lots of skin grafts.
After all this time it failed and I made the decision to have it amputated. Making this decision at the age of 19 was a big deal for me.
I thought my life was over and felt really down knowing that I would never do the things I wanted in life until I met a previous scholar who is a paraplegic and flies a microlight. My spirits were slightly lifted knowing that there was something I could do. I applied to FSD and missed out on the first application as I applied too late; on the second attempt I was successful.
After a gruelling selection at Cranwell I spent two months at Goodwood Aerodrome and gained my National Private Pilots Licence with no restrictions.
This is where my life changed and I knew that with the right attitude, commitment and self confidence I could achieve anything now.
After I returned home I bought a cheap microlight and learnt to fly on this and gained my NPPL-M (National Private Pilot Licence - Microlight) This was just a conversion.
Now you will not keep me on the ground; as soon as the sun shines I am there. Flying has now given me so much confidence and self belief. I love the free feeling of just throttling back at 2000FT and being free. When I am up there nothing else matters its just me and the sky......lonely but safe and peaceful.
Now I share the same feeling as many other pilots, the sense of freedom.
I can only thank FSD and its sponsors in giving us this opportunity to be free once again and believe in ourselves. This has changed the lives of many people.
Reach for the Islands - main page