Air Force pilot returns to flying with 'C-Leg'
Above-the-knee amputee uses computerized limb
From Larry Shaughnessy
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When Air Force Lt. Col. Andrew Lourake pilots a C-20 passenger jet for hours Monday, he will become the first above-the-knee amputee to be returned to flying status in the history of the Defense Department.
It will be a short flight for Lourake but a giant step for servicemen and women who have lost limbs but want to continue serving their country.
For more than a year, Lourake has been fighting to get back to active-duty flight status.
"The past 13 months has been to prove that I can do the job," Lourake said.
Lourake lost his left leg after an off-duty motorcycle accident in 1998. He now gets around with the aid of a C-Leg, a high-tech $48,000 prosthesis that uses batteries and a computer chip to better replicate the movements of a real leg.
Before his accident he was assigned to the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, outside Washington, where he piloted planes that carried the vice president, members of Congress and other dignitaries.
After Monday's flight he will return to his old job with the 89th, which means he will soon be piloting planes carrying some of the federal government's top officials.
Aside from his flight training, Lourake has also been involved in counseling sessions with Iraq war veterans who have also lost limbs.
"I tell them what life is going to be like," Lourake said. "Life's pretty normal."
Several amputee veterans from the Iraq war are working to return to active duty. Lourake's success could make their efforts easier. But Lourake said it's not a matter of special treatment.
"If they relax the standards for amputees, then they have to relax the standards for everybody else," he said. "I don't want that."
Aside from his training in flight simulators, Lourake had to prove to Air Force officials that he could get out of a burning plane fast enough to help passengers.
In the first drill, he got out of a plane faster than the training pilot and the flight surgeon he was competing against. Both of them have two legs.
He also proved that he could operate the rudder and brake pedals of the twin-engine C-20 Gulfstream jet with his artificial leg.
Monday's flight comes six years to the day after he last piloted a plane. He was injured in a motocross crash on October 31, 1998.
Afterward, a ceremony marking Lourake's achievement will take place that is expected to include Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Secretary of the Air Force James Roche.
The C-Leg that Lourake will be wearing as he returns to the pilot's seat is the state of the art of artificial legs. Its computer chip makes 50 calculations a second to make sure the leg is in the proper position for the wearer.
It can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks, including walking, running, golfing or even piloting a jet. The wearer can switch from the program for one activity to another by simply tapping it on the ground three times.
Lourake was the first Defense Department employee to be fitted with the C-Leg. But it is now the standard prosthesis for veterans who are above-the-knee amputees.
