A HAND-CONTROLLED PIPER CUB - the Light Aircraft Association

PUrsuing
the dream
Permit IFR
a h a n d - c o n t ro l l e d P i p e r C u b
Arthur with fiancée
Rebecca and the other
love of his life, his Cub!
Despite the fact that he
lives in Worcestershire
and the aircraft is currently
based at Turweston, Arthur
has flown over 35 hours
this year.
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pursuing the dream
m
Arthur Williams has found a
passion for life in aviation after
a road accident robbed him
of his service career. Here he
recounts how, with the help of
understanding individuals and
organisations, he learned to fly,
bought a Cub and converted it
to hand control.
or those of us who have the privilege to fly, we will fully
understand the sense of freedom it gives us. It’s a common
cliché but we really do slip the surly confines of this earth and
there isn’t much that can equal that feeling.
However, for me and other disabled pilots, those earthly
bonds are even stronger; I am confined to a wheelchair and have been
since a car crash eight years ago. In those early post-crash days I would
never have dared to dream that I’d become a qualified pilot who owns
a vintage aeroplane but, with the help of a few good people and the
cooperation of positive thinking organisations, it has become a reality.
This is the story of how that has happened.
At 20 years of age I was a young Royal Marines commando and had
the world at my feet. I’d achieved the Green Beret and all my hard work
had paid off; I was looking forward to a life serving amongst Britain’s
military elite. But 2007 taught me that life doesn’t always go as planned.
On my way back to camp one Monday morning, the car I was traveling
in rolled off the road and I broke my back in several places, severing my
F
spinal cord. I was in a pretty bad shape and it was definitely game over
as far as a career in the Marines was concerned.
I spent about six months in hospital recovering physically; mentally
took much longer though, it seemed an impossibly cruel hand to be
dealt. But flying helped me enormously, as I will explain.
With my future plans in tatters I needed to get myself back on track
and I had the urge to get back into work as soon as possible. For me
this was crucial, I felt I needed to look after myself and hopefully, if I
was fortunate, one day support a family. I also felt that in the situation I
faced, work was by far the best medicine. What my new career would
be, however,was a blank. I was given loads of suggestions by wellmeaning people but nothing that really struck a chord. Finally I thought
back to what I loved when growing up as boy – aeroplanes – and started
researching disabled flying. I was surprised to discover the number of
disabled aviators that have made names for themselves over the
years, including of course WWII fighter pilot Douglas Bader, and
›
Wiley Post who, although he had lost the sight in one eye, was the
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pursuing the dream
first person to fly solo around the world (in a
Lockheed Vega in 1933).
Although enthused by such trailblazers,
before I started taking my first tentative steps
into the world of aviation I was very sceptical
as to the response I might receive. Almost
fearful that I would be shunned, I thought I’d be
confronted with indifference and little interest in
helping me earn my wings.
How wrong could I have been! Enter
stage right the first organisation to help
me, Aerobility. They are currently based at
Blackbushe airport in Hampshire and I am
today a proud ambassador for them, although
when I went for my trial lesson in January 2009
they were based at Lasham. The team down
there were so helpful they instantly quashed
any doubt I had about becoming a pilot. From
the moment I sat in an aeroplane cockpit and
placed my hands on the controls, I simply
couldn’t get enough of it. I was so thrilled I’d
found something that fired my imagination, I
desperately wanted to get stuck in and take
it as far as I could. It was an instant sense of
“I’ve cracked it!” I had something to focus my
energy on, something that if I had the aptitude
for, not only would it help me recover mentally
and emotionally but flying is something even
only a lucky few able-bodied people have the
opportunity to do. “I might not be a able to
walk, but who cares? I can fly!”
Armed with new knowledge that there
was a career in aviation should I so wish, I
started honing in on what exactly I wanted to
get out of this. I knew it would not be feasible
for the major airlines to modify their fleets
for the sake of one pilot, and twin engine
operations are tricky due to the control inputs
required should you have an engine failure on
take-off. But I didn’t care. I’d spray crops and
sleep under the wing for the rest of my life if it
meant I could retire and
sit in the corner of a pub
and spin tales about a
life in the cockpit. I just
had to fly as much as
possible.
So I went for it; after
nine hours I’d soloed,
and after nine months I’d
gained my PPL. Looking
back to the first few hours
in my logbook I must
say that I particularly
enjoyed approaching an
aeroplane on my own,
knowing that I relied upon
no one else to prepare
it for flight, fuel it, carry
out the preflight checks
and conduct a safe flight.
For most pilots this is, I’m
sure, a liberating feeling
and one that I particularly appreciate. The
hours that followed saw
me chasing every possible opportunity that
arose with flying, the result being that to date
I have enjoyed a very wide range of flying,
and I must emphasise to all GA pilots out
there just how much fun there is to be had by
pursuing opportunities.
It’s also worth mentioning at this point that as
well as pursuing my pilots licence I was heavily
involved in sport, and in the build up
to the London 2012 Paralympic Games I
landed myself a job
with Channel 4 as a
presenter, which I still
do for a living today.
Fortunately I’ve also
had the good fortune
to integrate my passion
for flight and military
history into my line
of work. Some of you
may have watched my
documentary on the
Mosquito, for which I
travelled to the States
and was fortunate to
get a ride in KA114, the
only flying example in
the world! I have also
made a mini-series
called Flying To The
Ends Of The Earth which
had me flying in Nepal,
Papua New Guinea, Australia and Canada with
a wide range of pilots and aircraft, exploring
the work they do and how remote and isolated
communities rely on aviation for their everyday
life and survival. The series is planned to air
“From the moment
I sat in an aeroplane
cockpit and placed
my hands on the
controls, I simply
couldn’t get
enough of it”
Apart from the hand
controls, the old handswung 65hp engine was
replaced with an electric
start O-200.
(Right) Ready to roll. Note water ballast
on rear seat to compensate for flying
the J3 solo from the front, and Arthur’s
collapsible wheelchair carried in the back.
He needs no assistance to get in and out of
the Cub so is able to be totally independent
when he goes flying.
(Above) The Cub in all its glory. With the help of understanding
individuals and organisations, Arthur has been able to fulfil his
dream to enjoy the sky.
Arthur works for Channel 4 TV and you may recall his Mosquito
documentary. He has recently completed a mini-series Flying To
The Ends Of The Earth which will be screened later this year.
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pursuing the dream
later this year and will be available on my
website www.arthur-williams.co.uk, as is my
previous work.
My new job meant that, for the time being
at least, I could ease off the pressure I’d put
on myself to build a career and really enjoy
the hours I spent aloft, and this in turn has
changed the direction my flying will go in the
foreseeable future. So rather than aiming to
progress to complex types, I started looking at
flying vintage aeroplanes and taildraggers as
my next challenge.
time for a taildragger
That brings us nicely onto the latest chapter
with my flying, and I met the next great doer
in my life, brilliant engineer and BA pilot, Matt
Pettit. I was, correctly as it turned out, led to
understood that he was one of the best men
to help me in my quest of taming the
taildragger. The problem I had come up
against with flying taildraggers was that I didn’t
have access to any with modified controls. I
did my research and discovered that there
are some out there, a Cap 232 for example,
but unfortunately all the aircraft I could find
were privately owned and I didn’t think it would
be appropriate for me to make unsolicited
approaches towards individuals.
I think as pilots we want to constantly
expand our horizons and make our aviating
as colourful and diverse as possible. With that
in mind I thought I’d explore the possibilities
of having an aeroplane modified with hand
rudder controls. If I could do this it would mean
another type in my logbook as P1 while also
giving other disabled pilots the opportunity to
fly something other than the usual aero club
tricycle-geared bug-smashers.
Matt and I agreed that the best type to
have a go at was the Piper J3 Cub, the key
drivers being that it’s a very simple aeroplane,
there are lots of them out there and they are,
relatively speaking, cheap to operate. I also
love the charisma, vintage charm and beauty
of the thing.
Coming to the conclusion that the work we
needed to do would be substantial, we knew
that it would be a longshot at best to find a Cub
syndicate that would be prepared to let us do
the modifications. So after a while weighing up
all the responsibilities owning and operating
your own aeroplane entailed, I decided to take
the plunge and buy my own!
Gulp. Now this was risky because although
we were pretty confident the modifications were
achievable, we couldn’t be 100% sure until we
had the approvals. But there was only one way
we were going to find out, and I was prepared
to do whatever it took to make it happen. So,
with an aircraft acquired, we could finally get
stuck into figuring out how it might work. This is
where Matt’s knowledge and experience came
into its own. From this point, things get a bit
techy, but stay with me… The best solution we
came up with was to have me fly the aeroplane
from the front seat (the J3 is normally flown
from the rear), we could then remove the front
How it works
Most of the elements of the modification to the
control systems are shown here. The control
stick against the fuselage side moves forward
to make a right rudder input and backwards
for left rudder control input. The brake lever
operates the left-hand wheel brake while on
the top is a motorbike-style throttle control
which twists anti-clockwise to increase power.
The purple cord is a small bungee that is
used to hold the brake on when at the hold
carrying out power check with the
normal throttle (it is too awkward to twist the
hand throttle and hold the brake on at the
same time).
The central control stick is the standard
Cub fit other than it too has a brake lever
(unfortunately only the clamp is visible)
which operates the right-hand main gear
wheel brake.
On the floor just behind the firewall you
can see that the usual rudder pedals have
been removed and a single cable makes the
rudder system a single loop. The cable does
not attach to the rudder stick on the left-hand
side, instead it passes between the stick and
the fuselage side. The stick is welded to a
cross-tube that crosses the fuselage just in
front of the seat and then has a lever coming
up that is connected to the cable on the righthand side. This is so that the system meets
the requirement for the rudder stick to push
forward for right and back for left (it would be
the wrong way round if the cable connected
to the actual stick).
seat rudder pedals and replace them with a
couple of pulleys. This effectively ‘looped’ the
rudder control cables and provided me with
both left and right deflection from one control,
a hand control ‘stick’ mounted from a secure
point on the left-hand side of the cockpit, rather
than two controls. For right rudder the control is
moved forward and for left rudder it is moved
backwards.
This being a tailwheel aeroplane I had
to be able to operate the rudder and
throttle simultaneously, so on the top of the
rudder control stick we have mounted a
motorcycle style twist grip which is tied into
the conventional throttle control circuit. Thus
with my left hand I have full control of the
rudder and throttle together. The final control
modifications were to install brake levers to
the control column (for the right wheel) and
hand control (for the left wheel) for differential
braking on the ground.
We also upgraded a lot of the aircraft’s
systems whilst we were at it too, replacing
the rather sluggish 65hp hand-start engine
with a Continental O-200, which I can safely
start from inside the cockpit. Matt also built a
new instrument panel, fitted disk brakes and
replaced a lot of the hardware. G-BDEY had
been given a new lease of life and looked
amazing!
All this work took around 18 months but at the
end of it I had an aircraft I could get myself into
and out of unaided – plus dismantle and install
my wheelchair in the back, and I could fly dual
or solo, adding ballast when solo to counteract
the fact that I was flying from the front seat. All
we had to do now was see if it all worked; air
testing was looming on the horizon!
We put the little Cub through its paces,
testing every edge of the envelope and
ensuring beyond all doubt that the hand
controls installed were safe and intuitive to use.
Thankfully all the testing went really well and
the modifications were signed off in full on the
29 December 2014. As far as we are aware, it’s
the only Piper Cub modified for this purpose in
the world.
The good news is that it all worked as
expected. I had flown in the Cub for two
or three hours before we did any of the
modifications, just to make sure I liked it and
could get in and out unaided. I completed my
tailwheel conversion as weather permitted in
the first four months of this year, going solo
after five hours; as of the middle of June I have
already recorded 35 hours and I am loving
every minute of it.
Remember how I said at the beginning that
throughout my flying I’ve dealt with people
who couldn’t help enough. Well the LAA has
been one of those groups; they’ve supported
our proposals in the same way they go
about supporting any other member of the
Association, not with any preferential treatment
and not with any less. For that I take my hat off
to them and say thank you.
It must also be said that without the help and
positive attitude of my good friend Matt Pettit
this would not have been possible, so I extend
a hearty thank you to him also.
If, back in 2007, you’d of said to me that this
is where I’d be today, I would have said you
were delusional. But we’ve cracked it and I’m
happy to report that I have now started the next
exciting chapter of my life – as a Cub pilot, a
true stick and rudder aviator. I can’t wait to get
out and about over the coming months.
Never give up! ■
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