Dozens of special needs children took flight Saturday at Brown’s Field in the South Bay.
Volunteer pilots with Challenge Air took the children on 25-minute flights around the county.
“Aviation has been very special to me over the years…so it’s great to give back,” Abraham Talerman a volunteer pilot for Challenge Air. “Their Parents can actually sit in the back of the plane and actually see how their children with some pretty severe disabilities can fly in real airplanes. And they get a chance to fly the airplanes here today.”
Talerman, who has been flying since he was 17, has been flying for the Challenger for 10 years and has taken 189 children on flights nationally.
‘Fly Day’ events are designed to change the perception of special needs children by providing an unforgettable exciting experience.
“Some of the children are nervous but we work with them and their faces light up,” Talerman said. “I had a child who came about 10 years ago, one of my first actually, and she was the cutest little girl I’ve ever seen, and she hadn’t spoken for three years. And up on our flight, just as we take off, she’s looking out the window and she’s pointing out ‘the cars, the cars, the houses’ and she’s talking. I look back at her father and say ‘how you doing back there?’ and he’s crying…There was no rhyme of reason to it. She just started talking.”
The event is offered at no cost to kids and young adults seven to 21 years old.
