Dreams of Flight: Teens-in-Flight teaches terminally ill 16-year-old to fly

Executive Director Ric Lehman said he hopes more people donate so that Teens-in-Flight can keep giving Austin Booth lessons.

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Teens-in-Flight’s mission is to help as many kids become pilots as it can, Executive Director Ric Lehman said.

So when someone anonymously donated $500 for 16-year-old Austin Booth to take a few lessons, Teens-in-Flight’s staff members were ready to do what they could to help.

Austin is terminally ill. He has heart and lung failure, among other illnesses, and doctors didn’t expect him to live long past birth.

“He got dealt a bad hand,” Lehman said, “and we’re going to make the best of it that we can.”

I had no idea what I was doing. I couldn't even see over the dashboard. I still can't." — Austin Booth

For Austin, living with his illnesses is normal, he said. He can still run and play football with his friends, he said, even if he has to take more breaks than them. 

"It's not that bad," he said. "It's just like everyday life as a normal kid. [I] can do, like, the same stuff and everything."

But he said he'd rather play video games anyway — especially flight simulator games. Austin said he loves everything related to planes and flying. He said he first became interested in planes when he was 10 and flying back from Missouri. 

"I saw the cockpit and everything," he said. "It was pretty cool."

He had his first lesson two years ago when he was 13, also at Teens-in-Flight, when a statewide biker club called The Punishers paid for him to take lessons. 

“I had no idea what I was doing. I couldn't even see over the dashboard,” he said.

Now, after a few years and lessons, he said, he can see over the dashboard better and he feels like he knows what he's doing more. He said he likes to look down from the pilots seat.

"I like looking down and seeing how small everything is," he said. "We flew over the beach and I was trying to find sharks." 

Austin said he loves everything about being in the air and taking lessons.

"I thought was pretty cool that someone helped me do [this]," he said.

Angelina Booth, Austin Booth’s mother, said she would never have been able to afford these lessons for her son on her own. 

She raised Austin on her own. For the longest time, she said, it was just her, Austin, and Austin’s older sister.

She drives Austin to Palm Coast from Keystone Heights, outside Gainesville, for these lessons, she said, but it’s worth it. He’s had 24 surgeries already, she said, and was on a feeding tube from 3 months old until he was 6.

“The doctor literally tells him that he's a miracle every time he sees him every six months,” she said.

Austin has already spent several days in March in the air at Teens-in-Flight, learning to fly a plane. 

His final pre-paid lesson is on Thursday, March 23. He likes taking off the most, Angelina Booth said.

Will Patin, Austin’s flight instructor at Teens-in-Flight, said Austin has taken to lessons quite well. At their second lesson on March 16, Patin said, they encountered more turbulence than expected, but it didn’t bother the 16-year-old.

In fact, Austin said it was fun.

"The turbulence was pretty bad but it was pretty fun," he said with a laugh. "It threw us up in the air."

Patin said he doesn’t teach Austin differently than he does his other students. The only difference is that for Austin, Patin tries to be more flexible and focus on the teen's experience, since they don’t have to worry about Austin passing a test.

The fact that Austin just wants to fly is amazing, Patin said.

To teach anyone to be able to fly is awesome. But to teach Austin … I can't say that I've necessarily ever been a part of something that's so special to an individual. — Will Patin, Teens-in-Flight flight instructor

“To teach anyone to be able to fly is awesome,” Patin said. “But to teach Austin … I can't say that I've necessarily ever been a part of something that's so special to an individual.”

Even if he was not ill, Austin would have been a candidate for Teens-In-Flight’s scholarship programs, Lehman said.

Scholarships are given on a case-by-case basis, he said, usually to candidates who could not afford the classes on their own. 

Learning to fly isn’t just a great experience, Lehman said. It also teaches kids life skills, like personal accountability, problem solving and attention to detail.

Lehman said he was impressed with Austin’s ability to stay positive.

With any child you want to make sure they fulfill their dreams. ... I didn't know that Austin would be able to fill to fulfill his." —Angelina Booth

“I’m not sure I know any other kid who would have as good an outlook as Austin has with his situation,” he said.

Lehman said Teens-in-Flight staff members hope more people donate so the 16-year-old can continue receiving lessons. Classes are normally $185 per lesson, but $150 at-cost. Lehman said that if 15 people donate $10, Teens-in-Flight would be able to give Austin another lesson.

“Austin’s got some serious bragging rights now,” Lehman said. “We’ll take donations of any kind to get him up in the air.”

In the meantime, Austin is accomplishing what many people don’t get a chance to do: fly a plane and live their dreams.

“With any child, you want to make sure they fulfill their dreams,” Angelina Booth said. “I didn't know that Austin would be able to fulfill his.”

 

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