‘I trusted the process’: Pilot who survived 2023 Banner plane crash at North Perry Airport talks about his recovery – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

PEMBROKE PINES, FL. (WSVN) – More than a year after he was pulled from a small plane at North Perry Airport, a commercial pilot is speaking out about his remarkable recovery.

Speaking to 7News on Friday, Assem Ashat said flying airplanes was something he wanted to do since he was a child.

“I have always wanted to be a pilot since I was 5 years old. I was the boy who stayed on the balconies and waved to every plane that passed by,” he said.

Ashat achieved this goal. He became an experienced banner pilot. He had accumulated over 1,000 flight hours when his yellow Piper PA-25 Pawnee crashed at Pembroke Pines Airport on May 25, 2023.

“This accident was caused by mechanical problems,” he said.

Ashat was maneuvering the plane to capture the banner when one of the plane’s rudders failed.

“So I lost my rudder and pushed the nose down and before I knew it I was trying to avoid the buildings and before I knew it I was crashing. Then the plane went into a spin,” he said.

The Piper plunged into the air from a height of approximately 250 to 300 feet.

Ashat said he was conscious but something was definitely wrong.

“I say it [first responders]”I can’t feel my legs, my legs are numb.” I don’t feel anything; “I can’t move my legs,” he said. “They told me, ‘You’re not going anymore.'”

Ashat learned that he had suffered a spinal cord injury. He underwent nine hours of back surgery and another operation on his neck and collarbone.

Then came the hard work: seven to eight months of physical therapy, sometimes three to four hours a day.

“Most of it [that] It hurt me that as a man I could no longer take care of it. That was the main thing, and [that I] “I won’t be able to fly anymore,” he said.

Doctors told Ashat that it would be a miracle if he ever walked again. But Ashat believes in miracles, so he worked hard.

“I trusted the process. I moved on, my homework is: [my therapist] For example, would give me five sets of ten rounds each. I would do hundreds of sets and thousands of reps,” he said.

Ashat has become stronger, beat the odds and can walk again. He said he was in better shape now than before the crash, adding he wanted to encourage others to never give up.

“Listen to what the doctors tell you, the physiotherapists. Try not to get depressed,” he said. “I know it’s hard, I know it’s hard, but you could do better. So if I could help one person, that would be a great achievement for me.”

Ashat said he took to the skies a few weeks ago and couldn’t wait to fly a plane again.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration continue to investigate the crash. It will probably take a few more months until the analysis is completed.

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