Paraplegic pilot flies around the world!
Sometimes it is just great to read an inspiring story about an individual with the motivation and drive to overcome the hurdles that life (and authorities) put in their way.
Congratulations Tim!
Paraplegic pilot defies sceptics in world flight
BY LAURA PEEK
A FORMER flying instructor who became a paraplegic when his RAF jet crashed has become the first British disabled pilot to fly around the world.
Tim Ellison, 42, was told he would never fly again after his Harrier jump jet crashed in 1992. But he astonished his doctors and former colleagues by setting out to prove that he could still fly as well as ever.
He learnt to fly again by using his thighs to operate the aircraft rudder and brakes.
Mr Ellison landed in Britain yesterday, ending a 30,000-mile journey around the world which took him on the historic London-to-Sydney centenary air race.
He and his co-pilot Mark Wilkinson came second out of a field of 33, beaten by a twin-engined Piper Aerostar with a £1 million refit. It had a four-man team from Hong Kong sponsored by Cathay Pacific.
Mr Ellison and Mr Wilkinson were flying a 20-year-old Beech Bonanza single-engine aircraft. They flew for 28 days and visited 27 airports.
“The trip wasn’t an ordeal at all,” Mr Ellison said last night. “I’m really proud to have done this because it shows what disabled guys can achieve.”
“It’s up there with everything that I did in my military flying career. Flying can be a dangerous way of travelling and you have to be very careful. Fortunately I have had some good training in my RAF career which allowed me to cater for that.”
His most precarious moment came when he left Singapore and hit a tropical storm, he said. “It’s a massive achievement. I never thought I’d be flying around the world eight years ago when I was in my hospital bed,” he said.
Mr Ellison suffered leg and spinal injuries when his Harrier GR3’s engine failed as he hovered 100ft over RAF Wittering in 1992 while on a training exercise. It left him no time to eject.
He spent a year in hospital and was told by doctors that he would never fly again.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also told him that as a paraplegic he would never be able to hold a professional pilot’s licence. But Mr Ellison travelled to America where it is possible for disabled people to hold professional flying licences. There, he became the first paraplegic in the world to gain a Federal Aviation Authority airline transport pilot’s licence.
On his return to Britain he co-formed the British Disabled Flying Club to provide opportunities for disabled people and the following year he became the first European paraplegic pilot to gain a commercial pilot’s licence.
The campaign to prove that disabled pilots could fly ended in victory last year when the CAA finally granted British disabled pilots the same rights as in America. For the first time a disabled pilot can gain a professional licence to go on to a career in commercial aviation.
The London-to-Sydney centenary race was held to celebrate the Great Air race of 1919, when the Australian Government offered £10,000 for the first flight from England to Australia.
Then the winners were Sir Ross Smith and his brother Sir Keith, two pioneer Australian aviators who covered the distance in a Vickers Vimy in just under 28 days, a very similar time to today’s pilots.