A recent article in Pilot Magazine highlighted headaches that some women experience who are not so tall, and unable to reach the rudder pedals in light aeroplanes. We wrote to their airmail section editor informing them that perhaps hand controls that pilots with lower limb disabilities use could be a solutions for those that are of limited height.
It was a great surprise to see Laurent Martin waiting for us at the flying club last Friday. He’s now finished his engineering course at Cranfield and to celebrate he came flying with me and Anthony. In the video, we are flying the C172 using the Union Aviation hand controller.
During his year at the University, he’s been working on developing hand controls for disabled pilots. This is his individual project for his Aerospace Vehicle Design Masters Degree. He took the project over from last years students. The controller he’s designed is for use in the PA28 and the C172. The design has evolved from 2 earlier prototypes.
I am reading with great interest his thesis – I am learning so much. A very big thank you to the professors at Cranfield University, the team of instructors and of course the 3 students for sharing their knowledge and skills to help disabled aviators.
Some interesting points were raised from looking at existing devices and from research carried out. Here is a brief list of guidelines that were adopted and followed for the current design.
· Design with the maximum common parts between both Cessna and Piper aircraft
· Design an easy to fit device by getting rid of bolts
· Use only pins and clips to assemble the device
· Make the hand portable rudder control in two parts for transportation and fitting ease
· Avoid complex machining tasks to maintain low manufacturing cost
· Keep the number of parts as low as possible (for complexity and its consequences)
· Try to have the hand control in a fix position in the aircraft, not down on the knees of the pilot
· Design an ergonomic handle
· Keep the price as low as possible in production and selling
· Keep the weight as low as possible for comfort issues during transportation of the device
· Make the device impossible to fit in an incorrect way for logical safety reasons
· Be reliable and maintainable without any engineering competences and any specific tools
The team at Cranfield University have prototyped their designs of hand controllers for the PA28 and the C172 for pilots with lower limb disabilities. I took one of the designers flying in the C172 so that he could experience, how the Union Aviation hand controller works. Along with the Union, the Vision air and the Blackwood are approved for the PA28 in the UK. This video shows installation, taxi, and a few touch and go’s with a crosswind from the right before going for a local flight around Bedfordshire.
click below image for a larger view of the Union controller. To see how the Vision air controller works for the PA28, follow this link….Vision Air hand control – PA28
Antony and I met during Sept 2007 at Cranfield. We both got our PPL at around the same time and this was our second flight together. The first time we flew was in a Cessna 150, and this trip is in the PA28. We flew to Enstone, a quirky little airfield to the NW of Oxford. We were shown around the aerodrome by Paul Fowler ( AKA Skipper ) who runs Enstone Flying Club. He is a big supporter and fan of people with disabilities getting airborn. They have several PA28 Warriors, and he has agreed to install my set of the Vision Air hand controller to one of their aeroplanes.
We are very happy to announce that we have our own set of the Vision Air hand control for the PA28.
Here we see a series of images for a set of hand controls for the Piper PA28 variant aeroplane. The hand control is being designed by students from Cranfield University for pilots with lower limb disabilities. We hope to test the unit for the C172 shortly after testing this set.
We shall be testing the control on a simulator which has been built for this purpose with the Head of the Flight Operations Department at Cranfield University who used to be a former RAF test pilot. Our wish and passion is to help make flying easier for pilots with lower limb disabilities in the UK and Europe.
This plane trip is dedicated to our patron Suzi Duncan..flying from Cranfield – Leicester – Cranfield
On Sunday 3rd August, I went for a local VFR flight to Fenland, flying over Connington, then back to Cranfield. It was a great flight. Being on my own and enjoying the freedom of flight.
Once parked and back at Terry’s club house, I met with Symeon. He is an Aeronautical engineer with the Greek Airforce and has been at Cranfield University studying MSc Aeronautical Engineering. He is one of the student who has dedicated their final project to designing and making a hand control for pilots with lower limb disabilities. Trem is the other student who is working on a system for the PS28, whilst Symeon is working on a system for the C172. Both students are now in the manufacturing stage and both designed are scheduled for testing at the end of August. Here is a short slide show of the design for C172. In this show you can see us with the Union which i use for the C172. Symeon’s idea is an evolution from that design. Later in the week, we will upload a sneak view of what Trem has been developing.
One women in aviation who i deeply admire is called Suzi Duncan. She lives in Melbourne, Australia and is herself a pilot with lower limb disability. She is also a flying instructor and an inventor. She designed the Vision air hand control which helps pilots with lower limb disabilities to operate the rudder and ground steering of a PA28. We have become friends and she has helped me and mentors me with my flying. She helped set up Wheelies with Wings in Australia, visit their site…
It was a year ago that i started to research all things hand control related for pilots who have lower limb disability. It was also the same time that i started to form a friendship with Suzi Duncan who is a great inspiration for me and we have many things in common. Suzi worked on the development of the vision air hand control with Gippsland Aviation, down under in Melbourne. Continue reading ‘MSc Aerospace Vehicle Design / Air-to-Air refuelling’
When i woke this morning, I hadn’t expected that i would be doing some flying. Days that are this full of surprise are magical. Through my home window in West London, i could see the sun beaming through the high clouds. With my morning coffee , I called Cranfield having checked the TAFS and METARS on the web to book G-ECGC.
Continue reading ‘Local VFR flight: Cranfield to Oxford: C172/G-ECGC’
The last few times i flew G- ECGE have not been so great. i have been trying to master how a different set of hand controls are used on a type of aeroplane that i did not learn on. When i say not great, i had to get used to taxiing, and knowing how the steering works on the Cessna 172, with the differential breaking. Fine tuning the landing was also took a few hrs to get right. Continue reading ‘Flying with friends : kelly’
I had the pleasure today of doing several new things in Aviation today!
1) Install a portable hand control for use in Cessna 172 and 177 Continue reading ‘Union Hand Control : The first installation test – Success!’
After weeks of anticipation – the hand controls have finally arrived. I had a good chat with the CAA today and i shall report back after we have flown with them, and how they differ with the vision air controls.
