Disabled Passngers
 

I'd like to take a friend flying as a passenger in a Cessna 152. They have Multiple Sclerosis and are wheelchair bound.

Does anyone know of any legal reason that they would not be allowed to be a passenger of mine. Of course, I understand that assisting them into the right hand seat may not be the easiest. Nor would they find it straightforward running from a blazing wreck, but they drive a car, and the same applies.

Can anyone lend me their insight or experience on the above?

No legal reason.

You do not usually run from a wreck - speaking from experience. Car and aircraft.

You might want to work out any particular safety brief - but really, it is no different to taking someone for a ride in your car, should you crash it! (Except that the ANO requires you to give a safety brief before every flight whereas the Road Traffic Act doesn''t before every journey.)

For instance, you might want to tell them - I will probably be first out the aircraft so as I can go and get help. So you might feel you have been left on your own.

Whereas, the usual I say to someone with full mobility is: get out the aircraft, forget about me, and just get well away from it and get professional help from 999.

I’ve never come across any legal reason to prevent disabled people being flown. You are in command and if you are happy that the flight is safe, along with all the usual caveats of flight legality like 90-day rule, assorted meteorological minima etc., you are good to go.

Starlight Day at Popham involves flying lots of kids, some of them very disabled. Admittedly these are children and for the most part I can over power them if they suddenly decide to have a go on the controls without asking me first.
Hint: If you get tired of fighting them, there’s always the trimmer….

I took another friend flying. He offered to unscrew his prosthetic leg if it was fouling the rudder pedals. I seem to recall he just took the shoe off the end, which gave a bit more room.

I’m sure your Pax will thoroughly enjoy their flight.

Thanks for your words xrayalpha. Good point about the wreck as well.

And thank you Whiskey Kilo Wanderer. You may well not represent the voice of the ANO, but I'm buoyed up by your views.

I am sure your friend already knows his/her abilities & limitations and has a fair idea how these will apply to a light aircraft with doors both sides. The safety brief is just a legal formality.

Go fly, have fun, give them a special experience.

We do the Bader Braves thing at our place and there are kids with all sorts of disabilities that we shovel into the a/c for a flight. The disabled need a bit of grin time more than the rest of us so get him in there and get flying.

At Shenington Gliding Club we fly disabled passengers quite frequently; if the lower limbs are liable to come loose - flop around, it is a good idea to strap them down carefully.

But we also have facilities - two gliders specially adapted to enable paraplegics to learn to fly and to fly solo....and the clubhouse is also fully accessible.

Occasionally one has to call on some sturdy chaps to help with boarding and dis-embarking. But most solo paraplegics manage incredibly well, having worked out ways of gaining access. Don't have to worry about leaping out and running away from a crashed glider, it isn't likely to burst into flames...

Give them a shot of the controls when your up in the cruise and trimmed out.

Not every disability you can safely get up there.

You need to have a chat with them first and make sure they are not subject to grand mal sezures and can keep there limbs still. MS your OK with.

Would be an interesting exercise in a PA-28 :)

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It's not a problem :)

I have carried disabled pax a few times and always put them in the back (PA28), the thought being that in the event of an incident the two pax in the front can exit and get the disabled person out a lot quicker rather than having to climb over them if they were RHS.

J.

My former partner has MS and no control of her lower limbs. My concern would be that her legs get caught up in the pedals so a little bondage would be in order. I am sure that she will enjoy the experience though so would not rule it out.

Cerebral Palsy can be problematic
 

My nephew with CP makes spasmodic movements with his arms and legs and can't be in a cockpit with controls within reach.

As long as the passenger can keep limbs away from the controls, or they can be disconnected if not, there's not much problem.

At our glider club, we regularly give rides to disabled people and have a hoist and sling to get them in and out of the glider. Many of them enjoy having a go on the controls after release from the towplane.