An amputee's wonderful solution...

[pierre smith]

....to assist in rudder use.

Last year I had the privilege of giving some transition training to a great guy who had lost his left leg some years ago, above the knee, and has some difficulty applying left rudder. While building his own 7A, he came up with several great mods to his airplane.

The first was a pair of centrally mounted brake levers that can be pulled back together or "twisted" to apply more brake on either side. They feed into the passenger brakes, then to the pilot brakes.
[IMG][/IMG]







Secondly, he made a bellcrank system that links the two rudder pedals through an ingenious mod so that when the right pedal is pulled back by his right foot, it causes the left pedal to go forward.
[IMG][/IMG]

The right pedal stirrup:
[IMG][/IMG]

He told me that he'd gladly share with anyone needing to modify their airplane. I shot these pictures this morning during a visit.

Regards,

[10TJ]

Pierre, sent you a PM

Tim James

[Mike S]

Reminds me of what we used to do for "cutting breaks" on sand rails.

[pierre smith]

....I had a VW sand rail quite a while ago........back when the earth was cooling, I think

BTW, He also modded his left step. He needed to place his right foot on the step first and then lift himself and place his left foot on the same step, but Van's is too short. Van gave him the step vendors' phone number and ten days later he had a step with a 10" extension.

Regards,

[PCHunt]

I had the wonderful opportunity to teach an amputee to fly. He was a Vietnam vet who had lost one leg just below the hip.

He showed up at the FBO wanting to learn to fly, and I happened to be fortunate enough to be there when he needed an instructor. This was back in Autumn, 1973. I gotta say, he basically taught himself how to operate the plane while I kept him out of trouble! His first solo was in a Piper Cherokee with a center brake handle, which limited him to that type of plane.

He wasn't happy with that restriction, and came back to fly Cessna 150's, and taught himself to use the differential brakes, and got his private license with no restrictions! All this with an amputation just below the hip!

To this day, Mr. Ed Joseph, a black American soldier, has been a constant inspiration to me in my daily life.

I wish I could re-connect with him to let him know what a positive effect he had on my life !

[pierre smith]

......and reading your story gave me goosebumps. I also trained another gent last spring in his -9A. It wasn't until the last hour that I found out he had a prosthesis on the left, below the knee.

The determination and moxy of these guys is truly inspiring.

Thanks,