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://www.freedomintheair.org/category/film/

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This movie is from day 1 of 4: routing Manston, DCT DVR DCT ING DCT LA DCT ABB DCT Caen (France)

Route: Lands End – Plymouth – Exeter – BIA NDB – CPT DME – Cranfield.

day 1 Cranfield to Edinburgh | day 2 – sector 1 Edinburgh to Islay
day 2 – sector 2 Islay to Blackpool | Day 3 – Blackpool to Lands End

FITA is committed to opening horizons for people with disabilities so that they can fly higher socially, physically and professionally.

Here you may download the current STC’s and Aeroplane flight manual supplement (AFM) for approved hand controls for disabled pilots.

Union Aviation portable hand rudder controller: C172 STC UK | C152 EASA – UK STC | C152 UK AFM | C172 USA STC part 1 & part 2 | C150 USA STC

Blackwood: PA28 UK STC | PA28 USA STC

Vision Air: PA28 UK STC

Freedom tour of Britian is to raise awareness about the new “Freedom control” that will enable those with lower linb disabilites to fly aeroplanes without the need for their feet. The hand controls have been developed in partnership with Cranfield University.

This video is from day two of four, Sector one – Edinburgh to Islay in Scotland. To watch the film from day one, please follow this link:

FITA is committed to opening horizons for people with disabilities so that they can fly higher socially, physically and professionally.  Flying aeroplanes makes you feel alive and gives you a sense of freedom, of being liberated from disability with nothing to hold you back.

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 enable people with lower limb disabilities more opportunities and greater inclusion in general aviation. The new ‘freedom control’  have been designed to give more choice in what aircraft can be flown across the Piper and Cessna range, such as the PA28, Cherokee, Archer to the C152, C172.

Gautam set up FITA in October 2007, one month after receiving his private pilot licence.

He said: “I thought maybe I should do something positive about supporting disabled people, help them learn new skills and push them to a new level of confidence.

“It’s trying to show what we can do regardless of disability.”

Although the Freedom Flight UK Tour, 2011, is not a fundraising event, Gautam wants to spread the word about the launch of the new ‘freedom control’  during the Paralypmic which will be held in the UK during 2012.

Many flying schools up and down the UK have shown great interest in the new controls and the units will be certified in 31 EU countries and in America.

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