High Flight!

By Michelle Amerie

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air.
Up, up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never Lark, nor even Eagle flew –
And while with silent lifting mind, I’ve trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
? John Gillespie Magee, Jr.


Increasingly, a world full of adventure is becoming accessible to people with disabilities. Tandem parachuting, horseback riding, mountain climbing, and scuba diving are just some examples of available opportunities – and I have had the good fortune to sample them all.

So, when the opportunity arose to taste something completely new – airplane gliding as an accessible sport – I nearly left the ground without the benefit of the plane to take me aloft. I could hardly wait!

To me, each breakthrough in “extreme access” represents sensation – a fresh chance at feeling new, alive and invigorated by unfamiliar challenges. Sometimes it is the arduous nature of the sport itself; more often it is the psychological aspect, the spiritual awakening required to take on something completely different.

And to me, and most others with disabilities, soaring is exactly that – something completely different!

Ray Temchus, president of New Jersey’s Freedom Wings International, was a pilot before an accident caused him to become quadriplegic. Determined to continue breaking the bonds of terra firma, Ray founded Freedom Wings as a non-profit organization, run by and for people with physical disabilities.

“Even as a pilot before my accident, I always wanted to learn to soar,” says Ray. “The adapted sailplane has made it possible for me to continue flying.”

What is soaring?

Soaring is the adventure into the world of silent flight. Sailplanes, or gliders, are special aircraft that have no engines. Sailplanes are towed into the sky by a regular airplane and then released for a quiet glide back to the airport; or, when conditions permit, sailplane pilots challenge gravity by using natural currents in the air. An introductory flight generally lasts 20 minutes. An instructional flight, during which pilot and student are working to gain altitude by riding rising thermal currents, may last for as long as two hours.

Freedom Wings International sailplanes can be partially disassembled for easy transport. And, last summer, that’s exactly what happened. Ray Temchus, working with Canadian flight enthusiast Charles Peterson, brought a Grob Twin II 103 Acro sailplane with adapted hand controls to the host airfield of York Soaring – located in Arthur, Ontario.

There were five of us with disabilities assembled on the airfield that beautiful August morning. Five of us – but we were each very different – and not all of us automatically felt that we had the “right stuff.”

Susan Czajkowskyj, for example, had thoughts other than the joy of soaring skyward. She was quite aware, for example, of a condition that she shares with countless others – a fear of heights! Most others, however, would not be in line to go soaring in a motorless airplane!

The anxiety Susan was experiencing over being cooped up in a confining cockpit, without the familiar security of her wheelchair, did not particularly help matters. Somehow, the fact that soaring has a remarkable record of safety associated with it did not provide adequate comfort in the face of potential turbulence or imagined difficulties achieving the desired soft landing.

So, as each person’s turn came up, Susan “graciously” wheeled aside, allowing each of the other participants to go before her. A few eyebrows were raised, however, when Susan’s generosity was extended to letting others take off on their second flight – before she had experienced her first!

Nonetheless, she celebrated the euphoria of each of us as we returned from aloft, her curiosity and anticipatory excitement building continuously. “So, how was it? What was it like? Was it scary to be up there?” she would ask, as if half-hoping that one of us might offer a graceful “way out.” But the answers were always the same. “It was incredible.” “I felt so free!” “Wow, I never thought I would be able to do something like that – I actually took the controls!” “I haven’t even handled a car with hand controls – yet there I was, flying with them!”

It was inevitable. The time had come for Susan to take her place at the front of the line. She was up next – quite literally! It took some coaxing and a little more reassurance before Susan would allow the York Soaring team to assist her into the plane. Once safely installed in the cockpit of the glider, and before she even knew it – whoosh! – she and Ray were airborne.

The sailplane would be towed by a motorized airplane to 3,000 feet before the line would be released. For all of us gazing skyward from the ground, we could practically hear it… a quick snap as the glider broke free from its tether. “Oh, there it is… they’ve released!” Each of us felt we were somehow up there with Susan – each of us now so newly acquainted with flight was filled with hope that Susan, too, would share in the magic.

People with disabilities know full well the challenges of gravity. For us, that particular law of physics is one of which we could stand a little less. But now we had each tasted freedom in the air… and we wished for Susan the same sensation that we had just enjoyed so thoroughly – soaring weightlessly, defying gravity – riding the currents!

In addition, each of us with disabilities has, in varying degrees, benefited from fairly high-tech solutions to enable us in our daily activities – whether practical, recreational or vocational. Imagine, then, the novelty of a simple piece of blue yarn, attached to a little air hole on the front of the dome-shaped Plexiglas window, to indicate our flight path!

I had the sense that we were each looking through Susan’s eyes at the little piece of blue yarn as it flickered to indicate whether she was flying straight – or not. No need for engines or propellers – or high-tech instrument panels with lots of gauges and dials. Nope, in this world, a simple piece of blue yarn is all that is needed to tell you what’s up – and what isn’t!

How quickly my own recent memory of soaring merged with my empathetic journey with Susan. Was she breathing more easily, as I had? Tasting cooler, fresher air? Was she feeling at one with the glider? Did she feel as free as I did as my midair dance brought me in line with the energizing gift of thermal clouds? Was she feeling the openhearted exhilaration of facing an unobstructed sky? Was she?

Well, it was to be a good long flight before anyone of us would have the answer for sure. It was 35 minutes before her plane made its graceful return to the airstrip.

As the sailplane gently made its way back to the airport, everyone was aware of the force of exuberant energy bursting from the plane. It was as if the plane itself had taken on the aura of Susan’s joy. Such energy! And such a testimony to the sense of freedom that people with disabilities in particular can now access.

Through her cheek-to-cheek smile, Susan somehow found the words to express the fact that there is no question she’d do it again.

She may well have her chance.

The opportunity is back this summer! Together with instructors and volunteers, people with disabilities can experience the art of soaring. This is your invitation from Freedom’s Wings International and York Soaring to experience the adventure of a lifetime, as we did – to experience the world of silent flight.

(Michelle Amerie is a freelance writer living in Toronto.)


COME GLIDE WITH US

This year’s accessible gliding event will be held from June 8 to June 21, 2003. Reservations can be made by contacting Chris Hodnett at KW Access-Ability, (519) 885-6640, e-mail: kwaa@kwa.on.ca; or Kevin Rogers at the Canadian Paraplegic Association, (416) 422-5644, ext. 213, e-mail: rogersk@rogers.com. A map to the airfield is available on the York Soaring website, www.yorksoaring.com.

Charles Petersen, Chair of Youth Flight Canada, reports that progress of this wonderful sport in Canada is well underway! A coalition now exists between the Canadian Paraplegic Association (Ontario), KW Access-Ability, Youth Flight Canada and York Soaring. The coalition, by a Memorandum of Understanding, is creating Freedom’s Wings Canada. Further, the coalition has plans to acquire and operate its own glider on a full-season basis! The intention is to acquire one of the first production models of the Peregrine. This glider offers superior flying characteristics as well as easier access to passengers and pilots with disabilities. The manufacturer, Barry Aviation, is even examining sip-and-puff controls to enable control of the aircraft. This would be a worldwide first!