Paraplegic Persons
too should be able to enjoy the thrill of Flying. Here in Belgium, I've been
working for nearly 4 years to obtain this goal. On the first of July 2005 I
received my full ULM Pilot License & so I became the first Belgian
paraplegic pilot.
In 2000 I obtained my PPL (Private Pilot License) In August 2001 I had a severe car
accident leaving me paraplegic (Paralysing my lower limbs) Although I'll
spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, I never would even think about giving up my wings. And so this story started.
As I was the first
Belgian Paraplegic Person asking for an ULM-license I had to figure out
some things first. I
was very lucky to find the Belgian Aeronautic Authorities with a very open
mind concerning this subject.
Once the Belgian CAA told me that it was "not impossible" to fly again, I
started the 3D design of a new Paraplegic Adaptation of the FK9 Mark III.
Once finished, I mailed a 3D animation video of it to the constructor FK
Leichtflugzeuge GmbH in Speyer. After seeing this video, Peter Funk (CEO &
designer of the FK9) was very interested and agreed to build me a prototype
of it. Thus the "FK9 Paraplegic" was born & now can be bought by any lower
limb disabled pilot as an extra variant of the FK9 Ultralight. On July the 30th 2004
I became the proud owner of the first FK9 Paraplegic as it was delivered
in
Baisy-Thy by Peter
Funk himself!
In
October 2004 I received my ULM Student Pilot License with
just ONE operational restriction: Limited to the OO-E57 only (having
paraplegic controls). On October the 27th 2004 I was SOLO
after a total of 9 hours of flight on the OO-E57. On the 1st of July
2005 I passed all theoretical and practical tests in flight and I obtained my
full ULM license. It took me about 4 years to regain my wings, but it was
worth the effort.
In September 2005 I also
passed my Passenger Check. Now I also can fly with passengers to let them
enjoy the thrills of flight too!
This Site was last updated on March the 5th 2009
- This site was designed
to be viewed in Internet
Explorer only !
If
you have installed the
Flash Player Plug in, above you can see an FK9
Paraplegic slide show
"Once
a man has tasted the joy of flight he starts walking Earth with
his eyes
skyward,
as there he has been and there he longs to be again."
(Leonardo da Vinci)
