No interest in controls for disabled pilots?

Some weeks ago, I posted a message here about a EASA-certified modification kit to allow disabled pilots to fly the Pegase without using the rudder pedals.
AFAIK, this is the only certified aftermarket device of this kind
This kit has been ordered and delivered to 10 clubs or or individuals in France and elsewhere in Europe.
This message was read by about 100 people only; an there was no answers .
Should I think that there is no interest in the rest of the world for the disablded pilots to fly single seat gliders? Or perhaps the Pegase is not a good choice out of France?
(NB : this devellopment is totally non profit, and I have no financial interest in additional production!)

SH has a Discus 2T and Duo-Discus with certified hand controls.

On Wednesday, 4 June 2014 19:13:41 UTC-4, Kevin Christner wrote:
SH has a Discus 2T and Duo-Discus with certified hand controls.

ASK-21 has an option for hand controls front and rear.

Grob 103 had some kits out for hand controls. My club has one that we received and STC for controls in both seats of a G-103T, waiting for regulatory go-ahead to install in a second Grob 103 Acro.

Krosno/Peregrine had hand controls.

Perkoz has option for hand controls in the front seat.

It's nice that the Pegase has an option for hand controls. I only knew about the Discus for single-seat ships. However, still need to train in a two-seater with hand controls before they can fly a single ship, if you have one with hand controls.

-John Brake
Freedom's Wings Canada
www.freedomswings.ca

We are very interested in the hand controls...but we also need the big white thing that they connect to.

Cookie
FWI International


On Wednesday, June 4, 2014 5:20:35 PM UTC-4, Beynes_Pilot wrote:
Some weeks ago, I posted a message here about a EASA-certified modification kit to allow disabled pilots to fly the Pegase without using the rudder pedals.

AFAIK, this is the only certified aftermarket device of this kind

This kit has been ordered and delivered to 10 clubs or or individuals in France and elsewhere in Europe.

This message was read by about 100 people only; an there was no answers .

Should I think that there is no interest in the rest of the world for the disablded pilots to fly single seat gliders? Or perhaps the Pegase is not a good choice out of France?

(NB : this devellopment is totally non profit, and I have no financial interest in additional production!)

In the absence of other responses, FWIW (I am not an expert but
have heard a bit):

There is definitely some interest in disability aids, but imho not
enough.

Some UK clubs have 2-seaters with hand rudder controls. At least
one 1-armed pilot/instructor flies. At least one paraplegic
pilot/instructor flies too.

The BGA approved some modifications, pre-EASA. I don’t know
what the status of such modifications now is.

(I have a passing interest too – due to wearing a caliper and raised
boot on one leg, I cannot fly as PIC on most K21s because I cannot
get my foot into the rudder pedal hoop, and several glider types I
cannot happily fly because I have difficulty in getting full right
rudder. I can just do it in my Lak 17A FES, so am happy with that.)

I wish more clubs had disability-friendly 2-seaters, but most seem
to do little or nothing until a disabled person joins them and then
they take action. One or two have deliberately adopted a policy of
accommodating disabled pilots, and i wish more had done so.

Chris N

I understand that the post is focused on hand controls, and those are of course a great thing to implement, but the issue of adaptation to disabilities in soaring is in fact a much broader and bigger issue.

For example, the disability that is on the rise in the present growing-older/weaker/heavier USA glider pilot population is simply the inability to get into and out of the glider.

I know older rowers who quit sculling because they cannot get into or out of their boats any more. I know some glider pilots who can barely get out of their gliders and it would be a shame if they quit. Has anyone started to use a hoist to get pilots into their gliders?

Has anyone done some simple modifications that make it easier to get in and out of the glider? A sky-hook would come in handy lots of days.

Remember the "ejection seat" developed by DG several years back? It
involved a bladder which was quickly inflated by a CO2 cartridge and
lifts the pilot high enough to simply roll out in an emergency. I don't
see why a less energetic version could not be developed. Something
inflated much more slowly by a battery powered pump run off of the
ship's battery. With something like this, one wouldn't have to wait for
a hoist or crane to be rolled out.

I find I can still get out of my ship by pulling a foot back and getting
a firm plant on the cockpit floor but, eventually, I might have to start
unstrapping my parachute to climb out.

Dan Marotta

On 6/5/2014 7:14 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
I understand that the post is focused on hand controls, and those are of course a great thing to implement, but the issue of adaptation to disabilities in soaring is in fact a much broader and bigger issue.

For example, the disability that is on the rise in the present growing-older/weaker/heavier USA glider pilot population is simply the inability to get into and out of the glider.

I know older rowers who quit sculling because they cannot get into or out of their boats any more. I know some glider pilots who can barely get out of their gliders and it would be a shame if they quit. Has anyone started to use a hoist to get pilots into their gliders?

Has anyone done some simple modifications that make it easier to get in and out of the glider? A sky-hook would come in handy lots of days.

Sounds like something from the movie Wall-e....

On Thursday, 5 June 2014 09:14:26 UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
Has anyone done some simple modifications that make it easier to get in and out of the glider? A sky-hook would come in handy lots of days.

My club, York Soaring Association has the founding chapter of Freedom's Wings Canada, started by Charles Petersen after meeting Ray Temchus in Florida with Freedom's Wings International.

One of our members, Martin Sanderse, modified an electric golf cart to have a manual hoist (500lb capacity) that can use either a hoyer-type sling or the Sure Hands lifting device. With this cart, we can lift a person out of the wheel chair and safely place him/her into our glider (2 with hand controls), then reverse the process after the flight. We have done this hundreds of times.

We have also trained pilots with physical disabilities, including the first paraplegic glider instructor in Canada.

-John Brake
Freedom's Wings Canada - Toronto @ York Soaring

These folks could make something http://www.atlinc.com/inflatables.html

On Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:37:22 AM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Remember the "ejection seat" developed by DG several years back? It

involved a bladder which was quickly inflated by a CO2 cartridge and

lifts the pilot high enough to simply roll out in an emergency. I don't

see why a less energetic version could not be developed. Something

inflated much more slowly by a battery powered pump run off of the

ship's battery. With something like this, one wouldn't have to wait for

a hoist or crane to be rolled out.



I find I can still get out of my ship by pulling a foot back and getting

a firm plant on the cockpit floor but, eventually, I might have to start

unstrapping my parachute to climb out.



Dan Marotta



On 6/5/2014 7:14 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:

I understand that the post is focused on hand controls, and those are of course a great thing to implement, but the issue of adaptation to disabilities in soaring is in fact a much broader and bigger issue.



For example, the disability that is on the rise in the present growing-older/weaker/heavier USA glider pilot population is simply the inability to get into and out of the glider.



I know older rowers who quit sculling because they cannot get into or out of their boats any more. I know some glider pilots who can barely get out of their gliders and it would be a shame if they quit. Has anyone started to use a hoist to get pilots into their gliders?



Has anyone done some simple modifications that make it easier to get in and out of the glider? A sky-hook would come in handy lots of days.