ATI really flying blind

[DanFlasar at aol.com]

Great story!!!
     I imagine that you depended much more on your  inner sense of spatial 
orientation since visual cues
are missing for you.  And in turth - being in a cloud bank or in  darkness, 
a pilot has to depend entirely on
instruments but there must be an association between inner orientation and  
instruments.
Thanks for writing this up!
 
 
Dan
 
 
 
In a message dated 6/23/2010 8:48:51 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
freespirit52 at charter.net writes:

written June  2010
Really Flying Blind
By


Alan Paganelli

Yes, I  really did learn to fly. I can also prove every dime I spent 
on flying  lessons. I kept every receipt for each hour I paid for and 
every entry in  my log book is signed by John Dunn and his CFI 
certification license  number making it perfectly legal. I had close 
to 40 hours or about enough  for a private pilot's license. We even 
discussed going to court but  decided that it would be a waste of good 
money. I'd be crazy to fly with  any body other than a pilot. So 
technically, I'm flying under his license  so in the end we would be 
going to court to argue over a piece of paper.  Somebody else wanted 
me to give the information to the Guinness world book  of records as 
the first totally blind man to learn to fly but I don't care  about 
that. I did it because it was what I wanted to do and not for  
anything else and was willing to put my money where my mouth is.  
Anyway, here's my story.

Back in the mid 70's I was playing at a  local restaurant. They 
swapped out musicians from time to time and we all  came to know each 
other pretty well. At one time or another, we all played  at all of 
the local establishments. One night I had a night off and went  to 
listen to a new musician at one of the places I regularly worked at.  
They had a woman playing and she was pretty good. When she took a  
break we sat and visited talking about the job. She asked me what 
kind  of music the people liked here and I told her. During our 
conversation she  mentioned that she was tired that night because she 
had just flown into  the local airport shortly before she came to 
work. I knew that the airport  only had small aircraft housed there 
and asked her about it. She said that  she was a pilot. I began asking 
her questions about flying. She said that  her husband knew more about 
the subject than she did and then invited me  to their home to meet 
him and talk about it. I took her up on her offer  and her husband was 
a really great fellow. Come to think of it, some 28  years later give 
or take he still is but I digress here.

As we  discussed flying he put it to me, if I can talk one of the 
certified  flying instructors into it would you be willing to put your 
money down on  the table to find out what it was all about? We 
discussed how much it cost  back then. It was 20 bucks an hour for a 
small two place airplane and  another 10 an hour for the services of 
the C-F-I. I said that I thought  any flying instructor he might talk 
to would surely think he was a mad man  and that they might pull his 
ticket too! Much to my surprise the next  afternoon he called me up 
and told me to be down at the airport in the  morning at 10 A.M. My 
flying lesson was then but if I wanted to get a few  pointers ahead of 
time be there two hours earlier and meet him in the  flight center and 
he would show me around in his plane.

I told my  dad all about it and he too thought we all were out of our 
trees but he  would drive me over. Dad flew in in the Second World War 
and knew about  flying.

We met my friend the next day and he explained all the flight  
controls and their functions to me. Not only do you have to worry  
about left and right, you have to worry about up and down too. An  
aircraft doesn't only operate in two axes, it moves in 3 because an  
aircraft can also roll. So there is pitch and roll in addition to 
left  and right. Many concepts were explained to me by using my hand  
representing an airplane or a toy aircraft. He explained the  
instruments and what they were used fore and it was as clear as mud 
at  midnight on a dark night! He said "don't worry about it now. It'll 
all  come to you as you learn." I began to think he may be in error. 
We had the  left hand side cabin door open for fresh air and a man 
came up to me and  said you must be Alan Paganelli. My name is John 
and I'm going to be your  flying instructor. I remember thinking to 
myself; funny, he doesn't sound  like a mad man.

John took my brand new empty log book and said I'll  make your entries 
for you and sign off on them with my certified flying  instructor's 
number. That makes it all legal and all. That means I will be  making 
a record of it myself for my records. I thought yeah for the  hearing 
to see which of us is nuttier! Is there such a word? I took his  arm 
and called over my shoulder that I would see my dad and friend when  
we got back; hopefully.

John lead me over to a Cessna 1 50 with the  identification number of 
November 6 6 2 1 4. I thought I would be riding  in the right hand 
seat and this would more or less be an introductory  lesson. This is 
this, that's that, we do this to go up and that to go down  etc etc 
etc. No such luck. John led me over to the left hand side of the  
aircraft and to the pilot's door and helped me strap in. The aircraft  
had a shoulder and lap strap much like what one would find in an  
automobile except that the shoulder strap and lap strap are not 
joined  together at the buckle but are independent of each other but 
are pretty  much the same kind of set up. I sat there as he ran around 
to the right  side of the plane and climbed in fastening his own seat 
belt and shoulder  harness. I thought he better make it real good and 
tight. After he was  settled he produced a clip-board and pen and 
began filling out the paper  work as to aircraft identification 
number, date, time, persons onboard and  the like. Wow, we aren't 
fooling around here. This must be in case we die  or crash and burn or 
something. I later found out it was for the billing  of his and the 
aircraft's time but you couldn't have convinced me of it at  the time.

"Okay Alan, I'm ready. What we're going to do is to get out  the 
pre-flight and before starting engines check list and I'm going to  
read each item to you. I did it for you this time but from now on  
you'll be required to do it yourself. I'll assist you the next time 
so  you can learn the correct way to do it for this aircraft. What we 
are  concerned here with now and always is safety safety safety; both 
yours and  mine as well as to those on the ground. As I've said I have 
already did  the preflight and we can proceed to the engine start 
check list. I will  again read every item and you will perform the 
necessary action to  accomplish that task. Are you ready?" He 
described all the things I would  have to do to insure the aircraft 
was ready to fly including making sure  there was fuel in the tanks 
down to making sure there were no rivets  missing from the aircraft's 
skin and that the landing wheels were correct  and proper. I remember 
thinking there is a lot more to this than there  would be in a car. I 
haven't even got the engine turned on yet! I wonder  if there is a key 
to this thing.....

John read every item on his  check-list and made sure I had performed 
each task. We finally came to the  engine start and he says "before 
you turn the key, they actually did have  one surprisingly enough; you 
have to yell clear before you turn the engine  on. This is to make 
sure everybody around the area knows you are about to  start that 
propeller to turning extremely fast and we don't want any  accidents 
or anybody to be hurt. Safety, safety, safety remember that  always." 
I waited a few seconds to let anybody near by look around them  after 
I yelled at the top of my lungs, (cleeeeear!) and hit the key. The  
big giros spun up and began to wine as the radios came on line after  
the big engine roared into life. Now that was really neat and we  
aren't even out of the parking place yet. Now this is cool. John said  
next to me, yeah my face brakes out in a big grin too when I start up  
too because I know it won't be long before I'm flying.

"What I'm  going to do is to tell you a little bit of left or a little 
bit of right.  What I want you to do is when I say a little bit of 
right is to take your  right foot and lightly press on the right 
rudder pedal. When I say a  little bit of left I want you to lightly 
press on the left rudder pedal  with your left foot. The left and 
right rudder pedals are located right in  front of your feet on the 
floor. Make sure when you press one of the  rudder pedals your 
pressing on the pedal and not on it's top because you  would be 
stepping on the brake for that pedal. There will be times when  your 
going to do that to assist in turning but for now don't worry about  
it. I'll help you at first till you get the hang of it and from then  
on you'll do it yourself. When you press on the right pedal the  
aircraft will taxi in that direction and by means of the rudder 
pedals  we can control the direction in which we want the aircraft to 
go. Are you  ready to taxi?" Yep! let's do it. "Okay as you have 
learned we use  check-lists to do everything so we leave nothing out. 
We also do not move  or anything else with out clearance when you're a 
student pilot. Is that  understood?" It is said I. "Then, you're 
cleared to taxi."

John  expertly guided me out of the parking ramp and on to the taxi 
way. I  remember thinking if the sighted only knew this blind fool was 
taxiing  this airplane they'd clear the area for miles around but 
nobody seemed to  notice! We came to the run-up area and John and I 
went through the run-up  checklist. This is to make sure the flight 
controls haven't picked up any  debris or foreign objects and that the 
engine is developing full power for  flight. "Everything looks good 
and you're cleared to runway 2_7." This  does not mean that there are 
twenty seven runways at this airport but  rather the runway is laid 
out east to west on a compass heading of 270  degrees. Of course the 
opposite direction would be zero niner zero on the  exact same runway 
only going the other way. I found out that a pilot has  to be able to 
keep the picture in his mind of what's going on at all  times.

I taxied out of the run-up area and on to runway two seven and  put my 
hands in my lap and made sure my feet were well away from the  rudder 
pedals. John said "what are you doing? You can't fly with your  hands 
in your lap. The pilot always sits in the left hand seat and as far  
as I can see that's you. The pilot does the flying so let's do it."  
You want me to fly the airplane? "That's what your here for isn't it;  
to learn how to fly?" I wasn't even sure it would even work at this  
point in time. "Put your left hand on the control column lightly. (I  
did as was instructed) but was perfectly sure it wouldn't even work.  
Now, place your right hand on the throttle. Your right foot will be 
on  the right rudder pedal because when we are going down the runway 
the  torque of the engine will want to rotate the aircraft in an 
opposite  manner than the prop is turning. In other words, when the 
plane is in the  air if the prop is turning clockwise, the airplane 
wants to rotate counter  clockwise and this needs to be compensated 
for with a little right rudder.  I was as ready as I could be but was 
sure it wouldn't work at all. We  would surely go spinning off into 
space like some crazed egg  beater.

John said I'll call out your speed for you and direct you down  the 
runway. Remember, a little bit of right and a little bit of left. We  
will accelerate out to 50 knots and rotate the aircraft. About 55  
knots the aircraft will leave the ground." I remember thinking the  
hell you say. What was I doing? Blind people don't fly aircraft at  
over fifty miles an hour and they're not even off the ground yet. At  
that rate of speed if I hit those rudders to hard we'll wind up off 
to  the side of the runway into the weeds if we don't take out a few 
of those  runway lights and that's if we're lucky. It could go to hell 
in a hand  cart real damn quick. It's not too late. I can still tell 
John I didn't  have guts enough to try something so foolhardy. This 
was madness to think  I could ever learn to fly and this guy sitting 
next to me is so calm and  collected like he teaches totally blind 
guys how to fly every day. John  interrupted my thoughts which had 
probably only lasted a second or two.  "Okay, push the throttle to the 
firewall and let's go flying pilot. Well  if this guy was a crazy fool 
what the hell maybe he did teach blind guys  every day. Hit the power 
or call it quits! Are you a man or a mouse? Do  you want to live 
forever? I shoved the throttle to the stops and thought  may God favor 
the foolish.

The Cessna 1-50 began accelerating down  the runway at what seemed to 
be breakneck speed. John calmly said a little  bit of left now. Now a 
bit of right. You're looking good. Your speed is  30. 40. 50. Okay now 
rotate! I gently eased back on the controls..... The  aircraft 
actually rotates on its main gear from forward to aft. As it goes  
along the ground in this way poised for flight, as lift exceeds 
weight  the aircraft lifted off the runway into the air. I couldn't 
believe it.  I'll be a dirty name; it actually works. I must have said 
this out loud  because John began to laugh. "I love to see the look on 
students faces as  they take off for the first time. Yours was no 
different and maybe even  more thunder struck than most. Yes, you took 
off all by yourself. My hands  were in my lap and my feet on the deck. 
Your flying man; your flying. I  gave a little whoop of joy. So this 
was what it was all about. It doesn't  matter how small or how large 
the aircraft is the experience is still the  same. You can sit next to 
the pilot a thousand hours through hundreds of  take-offs and never 
even have a clue of what that feels like because there  is no way to 
describe it.

After many more such takeoffs the feeling  never lessened. I've heard 
it said that it's about as close to being a  bird as you'll ever get 
but it's more than that. I have asked men and  women alike their 
thoughts on this subject. I've asked jet jockeys and  small aircraft 
pilots and one astronaut, Sally Ride and they all to a  person agree 
they experienced the same thing. It's like touching the face  of God. 
I know you won't understand that and I don't expect anybody to do  so 
either but it's the best description I have ever heard. I had a guy  
one time try to tell me you experience the same thing in a race car  
and offered to show me. We hit 130 miles in a short time but it 
wasn't  anywhere near the same thing because a car is limited to only 
two axis and  not three.

I have flown many different kinds of aircraft at one time or  another. 
The coolest was an aircraft where there were no sides or nothing  
overhead. The main wing and engine were behind and above you in a  
pusher arrangement. The propeller faces backwards and actually pushes  
the aircraft through the air but it's about as close to riding on a  
broomstick as one can get and fun as hell. Don't drop your sunglasses  
because the next step is three thousand feet below and for God's sake  
don't smile unless you want your teeth full of bugs..... The aircraft  
is named quite appropriately enough, A "Breezy." I flew a L-10-11 Try  
star up from Florida on a return to Chicago one time and the  
passengers in the back never knew that some blind guy flew them the  
last fifteen minutes along the way.

I went on with John for another  40 or so hours and have them all in 
my log book to this day. He went on to  bigger and better things and 
the last time I saw him he was flying for a  major airline. One day I 
asked him why he was willing to try to teach me  how to fly. It surely 
had to be a monumental task. The regular methods of  teaching wouldn't 
work here on a totally blind person. ""Well, I thought  of that it's 
true enough. On the other hand, if I could find ways to make  it clear 
to a blind man it might make it easier to a sighted one as well.  
Everybody would be better off for it and I would be a better pilot 
and  instructor for it."

I had a second instructor after John and learned  much from him too. 
That was back in the 70's. I flew many times since then  and even did 
some flying in sail planes and tossed those around the sky  doing 
aerobatics for the fun of it. Imagine roller coaster hills a  thousand 
feet high and a sudden drop of thousands of feet. Picture your  head 
in the center of a circle. Now imagine your butt making a sideways  
circle from right to left up over your head and back down again wile  
your head appears to stay in the center of that circle. That my  
friends is called a roll and is about as much fun as you can have 
with  your clothes on. Picture yourself being raced up and have your 
head back  in that center circle again. Now imagine your butt going up 
over your head  and stopping there with your butt up and your head 
down and now it feels  like you're falling straight down before it all 
reverses to the way it was  when it started. This is called a wing 
over and is just as much  fun.

I met a guy in Boulder City, Nevada who was a sail plane pilot who  
took me up for a ride in a plane with no engine. That's called a sail  
plane my friends because you seek out thermals that rise. Thermals 
are  warm rising columns of air. These can actually lift an aircraft. 
Sail  plane pilots can stay aloft for quite some time just riding the 
rising air  columns like the eagles do. After a prop plane towed us to 
an altitude of  10,000 feet and turned us lose, he says I usually take 
the tourists over  the Las Vegas strip and let them see the lights. If 
you want, I can do  that for you and try my best to describe what I 
see to you if that's okay.  I told him about my flying and damn that. 
Show me what this baby can  really do! "Well okay then!" and away we 
went. It should have been a 30  minute ride. An hour later we landed 
laughing and having a ball. My dad  and wife were on the ground 
wondering where we were. The half hour had  gone by and we weren't 
back yet. They both looked up in the sky about the  same time as we 
were doing a spin. It looks like the aircraft is doing a  spiral down 
at about a 45 degree angle. Looks scary as hell. They thought  we were 
surely going to buy the farm. Were we in trouble? No way! We were  
having way too much fun!


ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A  special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the  Blind
www.MoBlind.Org

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