WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — Taking to the skies again is a dream come true for Allen Reckowsky. He's a local resident fighting frontal lobe dementia.
On Monday, he returned to the cockpit thanks to Purdue Aviation and Creasy Springs Health Campus. Reckowsky's daughter said he used to enjoy flying when he had his license.
"He actually got his license when I was in junior high," said Diana Evans. "That was forty-some years ago. And then he flew for probably, fifteen years."
After arriving at Creasy Springs, one of the workers, Linsey Condo, learned about his previous hobby.
"He had just got to our campus and I was doing his assessment," said Condo. "I was asking what his hobbies were, she was telling me how he loved to fly planes."
Condo got in contact with the family and organized a flight through Purdue Aviation. She says making moments like this happen is a great passion of hers.
"You could see the joy when he had the controllers in his hands," said Condo. 'You could see the joy that it brought to him. It brought back so many memories."
"They worked really hard organizing this," said Evans. "This was a really neat, neat thing to have happen. To bring those great memories back? It was really important for us to see that."
It took several reschedules to get this moment to happen due to weather. Allen was all smiles the entire time.
You can watch Allen's moments in the sky above.
