10 January 2023
A 35-year-old man who was paralysed in a motorcycle accident six years ago is learning to fly after being awarded a scholarship by the disabled flying charity Aerobility.
Andy Braybrook, from Grantham, suffered a complete spinal cord injury and has been using a wheelchair since the accident.
Andy was paralysed in a motorbike accident, at the age of 29, and found his new ‘limited lifestyle’ very difficult to adapt to.
After being awarded the scholarship, Andy stated that he was “Ecstatic!” and that “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.”
Andy has been flying from Aerobility’s base at Tatenhill Airfield in Staffordshire with Deputy Chief Flying Instructor, Andreas Bakolis.
“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,” added Andy.
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.
