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News
Dowling College Enables Physically Challenged Aviators
From top: Martin Holley, Dean of Dowling\'s School of Aviation, Able To Aviation Founder James Kaler, and Ron Lindenfeld, a Dowling adjunct lecturer and certified instrument ground instructor, in one of Dowling\'s flight simulators.
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Physically challenged individuals can now work toward reaching their dreams of flying through a new partnership between Dowling College's School of Aviation and Able To Aviation, a non-profit organization.
Able To Aviation students can use a wheelchair-accessible, state-of-the-art Frasca flight simulator at Dowling's School of Aviation free of charge. Dowling's flight instructors, including Ron Lindenfeld, an adjunct lecturer and certified instrument ground instructor, and a victim of a spinal cord injury, will volunteer to assist training students.
"I went from going eight miles a minute to sitting on my butt," says James Kaler, a former jet pilot who founded Able To Aviation after suffering a spinal cord injury. "This program provides access for people with physical disabilities to learn how to fly affordably. This is a way for them to get out of their wheelchair and feel normal."
Kaler is now director of operations and was formerly the chief pilot at North American Air Charter, based at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma. For more information on Able To Aviation, contact Jim Kaler at jimk@naac.com.
About Dowling College
Dowling College is an independent, coeducational college that serves more than 6,500 students at
its historic Rudolph Campus on the banks of the Connetquot River in Oakdale, NY, and the 105-acre
Brookhaven Campus in eastern Long Island and a business center located near the Nassau-Suffolk
border in Melville. Dowling offers Bachelor′s, Master′s, and Doctoral degrees in several
disciplines through its four schools: Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Education.
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