Paolo Pocobelli started to fall in love with aviation in his early childhood. During the years at high school he gained his first wings, becoming a private pilot in 1991. That was also the time when his passion for aerobatic flight and the airshows business became stronger and stronger. In 1993 he started to jump as a skydiver and a skydiving videographer at the weekends. It was during a sunny June Sunday in 1994 that he had a skydiving accident.

He calls it “a bad day in the office”. Definitely was a bad day, since he broke two vertebrae and a femur. The femur’s fracture was annoying, but the vertebrae definitely changed his mood. At least for a while. Paolo suffered a spinal cord injury that made him paraplegic. He came to Cranfield recently to fly with FITA and renew his JAR PPL FCL. Just before he drove back to Italy we had a quick chat to him about disabled aviation focusing on the issue of hand controls.

He is setting up Ali Pertutti (Wings for all) in Italy so hopfully many Italians with disabilities can follow and emulate what Paolo has achieved. We are very proud to know Paolo and look forward to crossing the airways with him.