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A Day in the Sky for Young People with Special Needs August 9, 2008 Saturday August 9th was a very special day in San Jose, CA. Take Flight For Kids is an event put on by volunteers that take kids with disabilities, special needs and critical illnesses flying in private aircraft...FOR FREE! Nothing can be more empowering to a disabled child than to be able to soar through the sky. Take Flight for Kids is an event showing these children that they can accomplish a task that may seem impossible. The goal is to show that the sky can literally be the limit for these children. There was also a large celebration-of-life and assistive technology & accessible activities festival with dozens of vendors and nonprofits. In total, there were 29 pilots, 177 flights, 233 volunteers, 124 participating agencies and 500 people flying! The For Pits' Sake pit bulls participated this year to help lift spirits and elevate what's possible by showing that despite overwhelming obstacles it is possible to succeed.
Cheyenne, Dakota & Tahoe were kept very busy at our kissing booth!
Click HERE to watch San Francisco CBS Channel 5 coverage of event
Unwilling to be bound Emerging from a Cessna that had finished flying over Silicon Valley's treetops and tilt-ups, 16-year-old Ryan Brown's first-ever jaunt in a small plane made him give an excited little jump when asked if it was fun. "It sure was," shouted the soon-to-be 10th-grader at San Jose's Del Mar High. According to his mom, Moira Brown, Ryan suffers from autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Noting that the pilot allowed him to briefly operate the controls, the teen added, "The best thing about it was learning to fly." The stated goal of the festival, which provided free, 20-minute, small-plane rides to about 150 disabled or critically ill youngsters and their parents, is to show them that "the sky is literally the limit to reaching out and overriding their perceived limitations." A number of other organizations participated in the event - from the Bill Wilson Center and Guide Dogs for the Blind to San Jose Break Dancers and Spina Bifida Association of the Bay Area. Some set up booths to provide information about their services or activities. The affair also featured free food, clowns, face painters and other entertainment. Flight festivals have been held since 2005 in Watsonville and Hayward. But "this is the biggest event that we've done," said Lisa Bickford, a newly hired Yahoo program manager who co-founded the flights with her live-in partner, Dean McCully, a Cisco Systems engineer. The pair got interested in trying to do something for special-needs children because McCully has an autistic nephew. The idea of taking the youngsters up in a plane and letting them operate it for a few moments seemed a perfect way to do that. "There is something about the wonders of flying that is special," she said. Given that the copter costs about $500 an hour to operate, Malachowsky, who piloted it, figured the event set him back a few thousand dollars. But he insisted it was worth it. "You should hear the sound of these children and their caregivers," when they are airborne, he said. "It's really exciting. It's infectious." The opportunity to get his hands on one of the single-engine plane's controls was an unexpected and invigorating treat for 7-year-old Brandon Lara of San Jose, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "The pilot let me drive a little bit," he blurted with wide-eyed exuberance, adding that he would love to try it again sometime. But the ride was a rather tummy-churning experience for his mom, Erica Lara. When her son took the controls under the pilot's supervision, "the plane went down really fast," she said, not terribly upset. "It made me a little queasy." Nausea sometimes can be a problem on these flights, according to one of the pilots, 74-year-old Russ Todd of Cupertino, who flew his passengers to Anderson Reservoir and back in a four-seat Cessna 172. He has been an enthusiastic volunteer pilot since the festivals began. And experience has given him a standard, comical quip to any child or parent who suddenly seems to be getting nauseated inside his plane. As a courtesy to the other passengers, "I always say, 'If you're going to throw up, then do it down your shirt.'"
“ The best thing about it was learning to fly.” — Ryan Brown, 16
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Mission accomplished for the organizers of "Take Flight for Kids," hosted Saturday at San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport by the Valley Medical Center Foundation.
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