A man who was paralysed in a motorbike accident six years ago has been awarded a scholarship to allow him to learn the basics of flying.
Andy Braybrook, who suffered a C7 complete spinal cord injury and has been using a wheelchair since the accident, was awarded the scholarship by the disabled flying charity Aerobility.
Aerobility is a UK Charity which changes lives by providing anyone, with any disability, access to the magic and wonder of flight and they award these scholarships to enable anyone with a disability to learn to fly.
Andy, 35, said: “The emotions and feelings I get from flying are something I haven’t experienced since riding a motorbike.
“The scholarship has given me something to study toward and look forward to each week and proven that my fear of not being able to fly the plane was completely unnecessary.
“As soon as I saw the scholarship advertised, I knew that a door was now open to me which would not have been, had I not been disabled and not known about Aerobility.”
When Andy first became paralysed six years ago, aged 29, he found his new “limited lifestyle” hard to adapt to.
Since flying with Aerobility, he has been flying at its base at Tatenhill Airfield in Staffordshire with deputy chief flying instructor Andreas Bakolis.
Mike Miller-Smith, CEO at Aerobility said: “We offer scholarships to ensure anyone can fly with Aerobility. We know how participating in aviation changes lives and we want as many people as possible to experience that.
“We can only do this because of the generosity of our donors and supporters so we thank them very much indeed for making this possible for Andy.”
Anyone with any disability can sign up for an Aerobility scholarship.
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