Disabled Flying

[Unixman]

Right: before we start this is not a medical question but rather one of practicalities which is why I am posting here rather than the medical forum!

I am an above-knee amputee (right leg) which means I have very restricted movement below the knee - especially when I am sitting.

A couple or so years ago I took one of these taster flights in a Cessna 152 from Shobdon and thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I was in the air I had little problem in controlling the aircraft - effectively by not using the rudder. The aircraft was turned by banking and pulling back. Whether or not this is normal I know not but the instructor seemed happy!

The problem came following landing and it was simple: I couldn't use the toe brakes to steer!

There must be amputee pilots out there who can help me if I wanted to take flying up!

Any ideas ?

[VFR Transit]

Unixman

Have you tried - Welcome to the BDFA

They are a great bunch and would be in a better position to help with regards to offering the advice and support of what you need.

Depending on your location, you more than welcome to come flying with me also, just to fuel that spirt of your more.

Take care and good luck.

VFR

[jez d]

Hi Unixman

There are indeed plenty of amputee pilots in the UK.

There are also plenty of organisations with access to aircraft with hand controls.

Three that spring to mind:

APT based at Old Sarum - www.disabledflying.org

The British Disabled Flying Association based at Lasham(?) - www.bdfa.net

Freedom in the Air based at Cranfield - www.freedomintheair.org

Hope this helps

Regards, jez

[mad_jock]

They have a rudder hand link thing which seems to do the job nicely.

I don't think you will have much problems after you speak to the right persons. Links above

[Unixman]

Cheers all

[Pilot DAR]

I'd like to suggest you seek out an Ercoupe. Most of them have no rudder pedals. You'll wonder how you manage a crosswind, but they're just fine at this, and otherwise very pleasing to fly.

[martinprice]

There's an above-knee amputee in the US who flies a Pitts.

Amputee Pitts Pilot

[Bramble 44]

You can certainly fly using a hand controller.Many do.

Have a look at the scholarships available here (Flying Scholarships for the Disabled):-

Welcome to FSD, providing scholarships to enable disabled people to learn to fly

Email me if I can help further.

Alan

[EDMJ]

The Italian Sky Arrow has hand operated brakes, and I've heard of at least one disabled pilot flying one of these.

[Agaricus bisporus]

It may be an "obvious" point, but Douglas Bader was a double amputee - one above, one below the knee, and he flew Spitfires quite successfully in combat, despite their being a fairly squirrely taildragger with pretty brutal peformance.

You can do it.

[astir 8]

It was however mentioned in "Reach for the Sky" that Bader couldn't work the toe brakes on the Harvard when he went back to flying but that the Spitfire (and Hurricane) were ok because the main brake actuation is by hand and with the differential linked to the main rudder pedal operation.

[ChrisVJ]

Amazing report on TV here a little while ago about a young lady born without arms who has obtained her PPL. (I think in Florida.)

With respect and not to minimise your disability, you hardly have a problem. Go for it.

[Genghis the Engineer]

For purely recreational flying, you might find it worth looking in the direction of microlights - the microlight community in general, and the BMAA in particular (but also some other organisations particularly APT) have a lot of experience of modifying aeroplanes then teaching disabled pilots to fly.

Historically the Shadow, Snowbird and Balerit are best known for their disabled modification - mostly concentrating upon lower lim amputees or disabilities, although there are certainly mods existing for varous flexwings, for the Thruster: and that's just the ones I know about. The community is also well aware that there's no such thing as a standard disability and that you need to treat each pilot/aeroplane/disability combination as a one-off and deal accordingly.

If you're new to flying, you may well be nervous of microlights as not real aeroplanes or fully safe - put that out of your mind, they're just a bit smaller than the normal run of flying school machines, but no less safe or capable in most cases, and often potentialy much more fun.


If you get onto the BMAA for a chat, I'm not sure who it is at the moment but they should have a disabled rep who can help you out, but also talk to the Tech Office who should be able to come up with a list of existing disabled mods which may be adaptable to your particular needs, and they should also be able to tell you which flying schools / instructors have experience of training disabled pilots.

On the whole however, I really don't think you have any insurmountable problems - just get on with it, solve the few extra problems you have that the rest of us don't, and enjoy that whilst in the air - nobody knows anything about you but your aircraft type.

G

[StillStanding]

Ercoupe possibilities

The Ercoupe is often used to enable disabled pilots to fly, by virtue of some models having the rudders linked to the ailerons, and hence no need for pedals.

If you really need inspiration, Jesssica Cox in the US showed it is also possible without arms:

Head In the Clouds | Right Footed

There is also Kim Blackseth, a paraplegic in California, who adapted one, flying basically with shoulder movement and extensions to the yoke and throttle.

YouTube - Ercoupe Flying Movie - First Flight

In the UK, disabled pilot R. Nesbitt-Dufort was the joint winner of the 1989 King's Cup Air Race at Leicester in Ercoupe G-ARHF.

[Unixman]

Thanks again to any and everyone! Much appreciated. I really don't mind what kind of flying that I do; microlight, light aircraft, glider, the Concorde that is outside my office window (hint there as to for whom & where I work! ) ........

[Whopity]

I used to fly with a one legged pilot who applied full rudder trim in the direction of the missing leg and neutralised the rudder with the one leg he had. I tested a disabled pilot who had one leg much stronger than the other and recommended she try a similar technique.

I know a one legged flying instructor, and have conducted a PPL test on a paraplegic who had no feel from the chest down; he used a removable manual rudder control attached to the right hand seat rudder pedal.

British Aerospace Flying Club at Filton do a lot of work with disabled pilots, if you need any advice. Talk to their CFI.

[Unixman]

I will indeed hoof it around the airfield!

[cats_five]

There is also Walking on Air - gliding using a hand rudder:

Walking On Air

Although they are based in Scotland, it gives an idea what can be achieved. I second getting in touch with the BDFA. I believe there is also a glider at Lasham with a hand rudder.

[Crash one]

Many years ago at Portmoak a glider was modified to accomodate a Thalidomide disabled female, no legs, very short arms. The instructor said "Ill do the spoilers for you" got the reply "Who's flying this bl**dy aircraft, me or you?"

[tggzzz]

I believe there is also a glider at Lasham with a hand rudder.

Pointers to disabled gliding facilities are at Welcome to the British Gliding Association