Blue Angels Give Blind Man A Once-In-A-Lifetime Experience

A young man is flying high this evening thanks to the generosity of the Blue Angels.

Paul Buck suited up for a ride of a lifetime Friday morning.

“I really don't know how to put into words what it was like,” Buck said.

The Blue Angels invited him to be a guest rider in their No. 7 fighter jet.

Paul has been a Blue Angels fan since he was a little boy. He's been to their shows.

“It was when I was little, I actually went with Make a Wish in Wichita,” he said.

And he was there when four of the fighter jets touched down and took off in Bartlesville in December.

He could hear them and feel them.

“It's so loud overhead and then they're gone,” he said.

But he couldn't see them in action because Paul lost his eyesight after beating cancer.

“I got retinoblastoma,” he said. “I had one eye taken out when I was 9 months and one when I was four.”

So since Paul won't be able to watch the Blue Angels show in Fort Worth this weekend, the Blue Angels let him experience a flight in an F/A 18 Hornet first hand.

A dream come true for a 21-year-old Sedan, Kansas boy who's never let anything hold him back.

“I'll never get to do anything like this again in my life,” he said. “That's for sure. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”  

Blue Angels slot pilot, Lieutenant Andy Talbott, grew up and graduated high school in Sedan. Talbott is a good friend to Paul and his family. Talbott helped make Paul's flight possible.