"Blind, disabled 'should be able to fly'"

[mattpilot]

looks like we've gone mad :eek:


"THE physically and mentally disabled may no longer be barred from becoming pilots or air traffic controllers."

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5173820%5E21302,00.html


i wonder how long this will last. :cool:

[Delta Whiskey]

I'd have no problem with working alongside a one legged ATCO, but I'd have a long hard think about mental disability (OK you have to be crazy to work our hours but still there is a limit!!)

[WorkingHard]

""THE physically and mentally disabled " Don't some of the decision makers fall into this category already?

[RENURPP]

Reference the flight attendant representatives comments.

Isn't there already a height requirement in some companies??

[DutchRoll]

Unsurprisingly, the headline is a bit misleading and sensationalist.

Somehow I don't think it's time to hit the panic button just yet, nor do I think we're about to see an influx of pilots who can only focus 6 inches in front of themselves or who have a history of paranoid schizophrenia (though I think I may have already flown with a few who slipped through the cracks).

[Blue Hauler]

The trouble with appointing mentally disabled persons as 'sharp-end' operators is that they quickly get promoted to upper level management depriving us normal types of promotion by due process!

[CitizenXX]

Blue Hauler,

They'll recruit them from former AN management !

[gaunty]

And we pay these d!ckheads, surely they have better things to do with their time, like working out how to further obfuscate our already byzantine CARs.:rolleyes:

I thinkwe have just had a full moon, maybe thats the reason.

[THREEGREENS]

My old flying instructor had a saying:
"We will teach anyone to fly barring the blind, the handicapped and the broke - and we'll give the blind and the handicapped a bl**dy good go"!

Says it all really doesn't it?;)

[Icarus2001]

I like peter's last comment...

"Without [enforceable medical standards] you would not be able to guarantee the safety of flights because you couldn't guarantee that pilots were safe to carry out their jobs."

So you can guarantee that now?

[Pimp Daddy]

This will be mainly so there are more available applicants capable of passing QF's psych tests.

[Arm out the window]

You could probably have a think about who you're insulting with your topic title there, mattpilot.
There's a fair number of disabled pilots out there already, eg the extremely motivated Aussie woman who designed a system for flying a lightie successfully without the use of your legs, who would probably have a few words to say in the bar about it!

[Hugh Jarse]

Or the deaf pilots that are getting around (apart from those that don't use their radios).

I remember a delegation of deaf pilots came out from the States or Canada a couple of years ago and flew all over Oz. I came across them in Canberra one day.

Why should we have all the fun??? :D

[JULIET WHISKEY]

Working in ATC with Terretts Syndrome ..........

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Qantas 8 deecend niner thousand... fff**** fff**** ff**** KK****....

Ahhhh Qantas 8 say again sir????????

[mattpilot]

arm out the window:

It aint my title - the author of the article made the title - hence the " ".


you wrote: "... lightie successfully without the use of your legs"

I'm pretty sure anybody can fly any aircraft successfully without the use of my legs :D

hehe sorry, just jokin' around. I get your point, though. I know of a flight school that specializes in training handicapped people in gliders. They made some special steering system which eliminates the need for certain body parts (e.g. legs). I'm sure you've heard of this too. Anyhow, i have no problem with people who can "demonstrate satisfactory ability" to control an aircraft, but i hardly see how blind people, or deaf, or mentally ill, can do that, without endangering the lives of fellow pilots in the air, or by endangering the lives of the people on the ground.

The problem i have with deaf pilots is, that though it is legal to fly without radio communication in most parts of the world, they are "endangering" the lives of fellow pilots who are currently doing patterns at the same airport.


I have a feeling you, and a few others, will probably not agree with me, but thats okay :)

[steamchicken]

..what would Douglas Bader have said, Matt?

[mattpilot]

dont know him but i have a feeling he was/is a deaf pilot. :)

listen, i know many dont agree with me on the issue of deaf pilots, but i also know that many others do. Difference of opinion, thats all.

[Luke SkyToddler]

I was involved with training a chap with no legs to fly back at NZTG a few years ago ... he had a special crutch type gadget that used to clamp onto the rudder pedals and I must say he did a bloody good job, I would say right up with the top few percent of fully able-bodied pilots in terms of the raw handling skills he displayed.

There's also a kiwi guy that flies Dash 8s for BACE in the UK who's only got one arm.

I know one guy who would appear to have at least a mild mental handicap who regularly kicks everyone's ass down at the local motocross club. I can't see a problem with letting anyone short of paranoid delusionals have a crack at flight training, anyway ... so many of them will surprise you with what they can achieve. If they can't cut it then I'm sure the testing officers concerned will keep them out of the system.

[JULIET WHISKEY]

The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm............

[gravy]

I once flew a twin with a bung leg, following a skiing incident involving p!ss, poon, semi-nudity and a staunch tree. I couldn't walk properly but I could fly the a/c just fine, as I recall. had to steer in both directions by moving the good leg back and forth between both the rudder pedals.

true, I had a re-think the next day but then again, I was sober by then.

but seriously whats the hassle about handicaps, man? i regularly fly with invalids in the front seat

[mattpilot]

@gravy

I take it that question is directed towards me?

"but seriously whats the hassle about handicaps, man?"


You people are misunderstanding. As i said in my earlier post, i have no problem with people who are handicapped as long as they can demonstrate to the examiner that they can fly the plane.

[Hugh Jarse]

Also forgot to mention I did an instructor rating for a guy who's arm had been blown off (Army demolition or somesuch). He flew just fine, and a nice technique to boot.....

Rather than broadly exclude everyone with disabilities, people should be assessed individually on merit IMHO.:cool:

[Arm out the window]

Just a question there Jarse; did he have a prosthetic arm that he could make move with shoulder action or something?
Bloody good effort; I guess it would depend on how much of his real arm was left as to how much movement he had.
Anyway, good on him. I'd like to think I would be as gutsy in the circumstances.

[Hugh Jarse]

I never got a good look at his arm, but he did have a prosthesis which had a "claw" like pair of tongs (for want of better words) which allowed him to manipulate all the controls. We did all the work in Cessnas.

Just one example example of his dexterity is that he was able to wind the mixture control for fine adjustment as well as pull it out to shut down the engine, in the same timeframe and with the same proficiency as an "able bodied" person.

He demonstrated excellent control over the aeroplane and I could see no reason why such a situation should exclude him from holding a licence, as he was in no way less proficient than any other trainee.