Pilot For A Day

Mike Pesina Reporting

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Story Created: Nov 19, 2009 at 7:20 PM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 19, 2009 at 7:20 PM CDT

The first blind patient from Driscoll Children's Hospital has now joined the ranks of Pilot For A Day, at the Naval Air Station-Kingsville. Little five year old Jacobo Fernandez from Corpus Christi, lost his eyesite while still an infant due to retinoblastoma. But his love for aviation didn't let his lack of vision stop him from participating in the Naval Station's pilot training program. It's a program that trains Navy and Marine Pilots which includes hands on training with the latest flight simulators. Nothing was changed to accomodate Jacobo, except for the fact that instructors had to do a lot more speaking since the new young recruit had to feel his way through. The young Jacobo is a kindergaten student at Garcia Elementary and attends regular classes. While it takes several special teachers to prepare his daily lessons in brail, he did'nt let that slow him down whan it came time to get behind the controls in the simulator. Lt. Becky Murphy, an instructor pilot at the Naval Base in Kingsville, tells 3-News that there was a pure sense of joy about Jacobo and he was polite, a gentleman shaking everybody's hand and just awesome.

 

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Paul said on Friday, Nov 20 at 6:28 AM

There should be more opportunities like this for the children at Driscoll. Thank you U.S. Navy for stepping up and helping Jacobo.

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