We have organized flights on the sport plane YAK-52 for the pursuit-plane pilot who has been in the wheelchair for the last 20 years. Aerobatic maneuvers and septuple overloads. Oleg Prokhorov had long not dreamt of finding himself where his heart and his memories belong.
Sport pilots helped to make the intention reality as a birthday present for Oleg. The preparations were long, as everything had to be thoroughly thought over. A spinal injury always implies a range of particularities. How to place the parachute and to fix the legs. How to make the person comfortable in the cabin and comfortably place him back on the ground.
I heard a phrase on the airfield: There are no “former” pilots! And right away had a chance to get convinced in this, just by seeing how the flight plan and the particularities of the communication were discussed. I have not spotted any difference between the people in the pilot’s overalls and the person who was sitting a bit lower than the rest. They have risen to the same altitude. They possess one sky. One for all!
The emotions and feelings, almost forgotten, have been discussed long after. Everyone rushed to know how it was. Though just a glance in the eyes of Oleg was sufficient to understand.
Unfortunately, as they say in Odessa: “Good deeds do not pass without being punished”. The very next day the flights of the sport club were banned without any reason or explanation given. The flights of the instructor who had been coaching our flight were suspended. What is rehabilitation for? Are disabled people not the same people? Or are the skies a private territory? Sometimes it hurts to realize that if someone wants to help another person there will always be an official who will “cut the bird’s wings”.
To my opinion, the action of the flight club is an example of the courage and solidarity. Despite the penalties they have undergone, those people are proud of what they have achieved. Ordinary people have once again done much more than the officials who should normally bear this responsibility.
Odessa has always been ahead in our country. None of the other cities in Ukraine can boast a similar number of the rehabilitation actions. But it looks like we can win one more first prize – for counteractions against rehabilitation of people with limited physical abilities. The only consolation is that this is not the position of the city’s administration, but of a single clerk.
Video of the event can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4dm5mTKPDw
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