FLYING Magazine

Paralyzed Pilot Goes Beyond His Limits

Grant Korgan rediscovers freedom in backcountry skies after a life-changing injury.

Grant Korgan

Monday, June 15, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Grant Korgan flying a Carbon Cub FX-3 [Credit Grant Corgan]

Key Takeaways:

Grant Korgan, despite being paralyzed from the waist down in a 2010 snowmobiling accident, persevered to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot, earning multiple instructor ratings.
He co-founded AOA Jets and The Moment Foundation with his wife, Shawna, using aviation for humanitarian missions, hero flights for veterans, and animal rescues.
Korgan reconnected with his love for wild places through backcountry flying in a Carbon Cub FX-3, finding profound freedom and the ability to explore nature on his own terms.

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The Sierra Nevada has a way of telling the truth. Up high, the air is thin, the consequences are real, and the horizon keeps daring you to go one ridge farther.

It’s the kind of country that makes a Carbon Cub FX-3 feel less like a machine and more like a key that unlocks backcountry places most people only ever see from a trailhead sign or satellite map. To me, it opens the door to something even bigger—a return to the wild places that shaped my life long before aviation became my calling.

Grant Korgan

Grant Korgan is an adventurer and pilot who rebuilt his life after a spinal cord injury. His remarkable expedition to the South Pole was documented in the award-winning film, The Push, and further shared in his memoir, Two Feet Back. He uses aviation as a platform to help others through the Moment Foundation (www.momentfoundation.org or follow @MomentFoundation).