During August 2011, FITA club member embarked on a UK tour to promote the development of the new “Freedom Control”, due to be launch in 2012.
The controls allow disabled people with lower limb disabilities to control the plane with just their hands. Article from from November 2011 issue of LOOP available online! http://bit.ly/voQQhJ:
You can watch videos from the epic 5 day tour on the following page or just day 1 and 4 from the videos below: http://
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A disabled pilot challenged himself to complete a 2,000 mile flight around Britain to raise awareness about a not-for-profit organisation that teaches people with disabilities to fly. Londoner Gautam Lewis, who is reliant on crutches after contracting polio as a three-year-old in India, departed from the Freedom in the Air (FITA) base at Cranfield Airport on 17th August 2011
His five-day Freedom Flight Tour called at various airports in England, Wales and Scotland. Destinations on the tour included Blackpool, Carlisle, Islay, Edinburgh, Lands End before touching back down at Cranfield.
He spent up to four hours a day in the cockpit of his Cessna 172 plane, using Union Aviation hand controls. The tour is to promote the newly designed ‘freedom control‘ developed in partnership with Cranfield University school of Aerospace Engineering. The new ‘freedom control’ will Continue reading ‘FITA TV |Freedom Flight | freedom control UK promo 2011′
Disabled flying school Freedom in the Air (FITA) with support from Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation has invited 20 people aged between nine and 19 to learn how to pilot a plane. The young people all have some form of disability and are cared for by Friends of Bright Eyes (FOBE), a Luton based charity focusing on the needs of children with disabilities from the Muslim Community.
Within Britain there are over 6 million full time carers, but the work of this forgotten army goes unpaid. Yasmin has been dedicated to gifting many lives with unconditional love and support. Looking after her stepdaughter who suffers from muscular dystrophy took up a lot of time and energy, but Yasmin’s support and commitment to care for those less fortunate did not stop there. In search for other children who have disabilities, with a vision to set up a centre which provides respite care. Yasmin launched Friends of Bright Eyes as a voluntary charity. With minimal funds it was very difficult to keep the charity operating. A wife, mother and full time carer, Yasmin never looked back, always went that extra mile to help and 14 years later the charity which Yasmin started at home, now accommodates for over 50 children a week.
The hugely popular Freedom Wings days are designed to give youngsters with disabilities what is very often their first experience of flight in a light aircraft. Just to see the expressions on the children’s faces is evidence enough of the enjoyment and satisfaction they get from this new experience and their pleasure also guarantees a happy day for the whole family. We try, when possible, to ensure that brothers and sisters and parents get the opportunity to fly together at these events when their involvement is instrumental in siblings also having this exciting opportunity, Freedom is definitely “key”.
Freedom Wings hosted at Cranfield Airport EGTC July 2011. Freedom in the Air is a flying school for disabled people. We have hand controls for those with lower limb disabilities. Cranfield aiport is located in central England, UK, within easy reach of London and the North of England.
Courtesy of ITV Anglia
Courtesy of British Forces Broadcasting Service
Twenty youngsters from The Forces Children’s Trust (FCT) will had the chance of a lifetime to experience the freedom of flight, when they attend the “Freedom Wings” day.
From our recent Freedom Wings day with the Forces Children’s Trust on July 23rd 2011 from Cranfield Airport, EGTC.
On 11 June 2011, Freedom in the Air (FITA) held its first skydive Freedom Freefall day. Supporters from across the country joined us at Peterborough Sibson airfield drop zone to take part in this amazing challenge and raise money for FITA.
Monies raised will go towards our Freedom Wings project. Freedom Wings is a wonderful opportunity to introduce disadvantaged or disabled youngsters to the freedom experienced in the air. A day in a light aircraft, safely taking control of the plane for a short time is a life-changing experience and enables young people to feel that they can reach for the skies and achieve virtually anything. Flying is one of the few activities where disabled people can participate to the same degree as an able-bodied person.
On SATURDAY 23rd JULY 2011 Freedom in the Air (FITA) hosted an ‘Introduction to Aviation’ day beginning from Cranfield Airport, UK. Twenty youngsters from The Forces Children’s Trust (FCT) had the chance of a lifetime to experience the freedom of flight, in the hope that it may expand their horizons when they attended the “Freedom Wings” day. FCT is a charity devoted to helping children whose father or mother has died, or has been seriously injured, whilst serving as a member of the British Armed Forces.
Lars Anderson is already a glider pilot from Denmark. He could not find any flying school with hand controls near his home or indeed anywhere in Denmark. He scoured the internet to find the union control for C172 at Freedom in the Air. He come for 1 week during June 2011, got his medical flight test out the way, flew 7 hrs including navigation around Luton Class D controlled airspace, which is remarkable for someone who has never flown in an aeroplane with an engine. Here is his story. He will return in the spring of 2012 to complete his PPL.
This feature-length documentary looks at the history of the most complex machine ever built. For 30 years, NASA’s space shuttle carried humans to and from space, launched amazing observatories, and eventually constructed the next stop on the road to space exploration.
More than one billion people worldwide experience some form of disability, the United Nations and the World Bank said in a report that calls for the elimination of barriers that often force the people with disabilities to “the margins of society.” The World Report on Disability, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, with contributions from over 380 experts, urges governments to “to step up efforts to enable access to mainstream services and to invest in specialized programmes to unlock the vast potential of people with disabilities.”
The World report on disability, mandated by the World Health Assembly and jointly published by WHO and the World Bank, summarizes the best available scientific evidence on disability and makes recommendations for action in support of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). About 80% of people with disabilities worldwide live in low-income countries. People with disabilities are often among the most socially and economically disadvantaged and their rights are denied in many countries. Despite the enormity of the problem, scientific information on disability is lacking. There is no agreement on definitions and little internationally comparable information on the incidence, distribution and trends of disability.
The World report on disability addresses the need for better research and data on disability. It will include the first update of WHO’s disability prevalence estimates for more than thirty years. The World report on disability also explores current evidence about disability, including on discrimination and barriers, identifies needs and provides an analysis of what works to improve the lives of people with disabilities in the areas of health, rehabilitation, support services, information, infrastructure, transportation, education and employment.
The WHO Director-General and a Vice President of the World Bank launched the World report on disability on 9 June 2011 at the United Nations headquarters, New York, in the presence of high-level representatives from Member States, celebrities with disabilities, together with representatives of disabled people’s organizations, professional groups and non-governmental organizations. This will be followed by a half day technical session on how to implement the recommendations of the World report on disability.
To promote the World report on disability and its messages, four short Continue reading ‘WHO | World Bank | Report on disability’
