Dan I will give you three examples.
1. Dylan is 17 years old. He is confined to a wheel chair due to spinal bifida. He only weights about 140 pounds and has strong arms. He pulls his chair to the back edge of the wing, maneuvers from sitting in the chair to sitting on the wing, then scoots his butt along the wingwalk. The he turns so his back is to the fuselage, puts his upper arms on the window sill and hoists his body up onto the window sill using the strength in his arms. Once seated on the sill, he lowers himself into the seat, then pulls his legs in. All this takes about 30 seconds! 2. Eddie is 50 and 220 pounds. He walks with crutches so his upper body is pretty strong. He has one good leg. With his good leg, he is able to crawl on three limbs (two hands and a leg) up the wing walk. He then sits on the window sill and "gently" falls backward into the seat. Then he pulls his legs in. 3. Jessica is 23 and built like a gymnast. She has no arms. She can walk up the wingwalk and step in the plane. Her problem is the seatbelts. Before she sits down, she hooks up the belts and shoulder straps VERY LOOSE. The she slithers down into the straps. Once seated she pulls everything tight (with her feet...she does everything with her feet including control the airplane). Hope that helps a little. Glen From: Dan Caliendo Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 6:34 PM To: Glen Davis Subject: Re: [ercoupe-flyin] pictures of N3103H Glen, Nice looking plane and thanks for helping the handicapped. I am a paraplegic in the midst of purchasing an Ercoupe. Have you learned any tricks for getting paraplegics in and out of the plane? I'm thinking of having a paraladder (http://www.paraladder.com/) made to 18" wide and use it on the wing (with something to protect the wing). In my own hanger I have a winch that I use on a strip of barn door track. Works great; but limits me to leaving and arriving at my own hanger. Dan On Jan 25, 2008, at 11:39 AM, Glen Davis wrote: Gang I bought N3103H in 2005 from a Lady in Arizona (an A+P by the way!). My friend Lynn Nelson and I flew her back from Arizona to Florida together. She was in very nice shape, painted white with a red stripe. In early 2007 I had her repainted black and white and had a new interior installed. All along I was using her to each people with handicaps to fly. In March of 2007 she suffered a very hard landing at the hands of a student. He was not hurt but she was very badly damaged. I bought a replacement fuselage as it was more economical that fixing the old one (at least when you are paying an A+P by the hour). Engine was overhauled and a new prop was purchased. Lots of improvements were implemented during the 9 month rebuild process. That's nine months full time by the A+P! I hope to fly her for the first time next week. It's very exciting. I have loaded about 190 images on a website of the plane prior to the paint job, after the paint job, immediately after the damage and during the rebuild. They are not labeled or in any real order yet but if you have nothing to do, take a look. The link to the pictures is: http://glendavis.smugmug.com/gallery/4225916#P-1-20 Glen Glen Davis 917 297 1111 www.ishootpictures.com www.ercoupepilot.com Glen Glen Davis 917 297 1111 www.ishootpictures.com www.ercoupepilot.com
