Focus Group on General Aviation Accessibility

Earlier this week, five pilots with a variety of physical disabilities joined No Limits Endeavors at EAA AirVenture 2023 to discuss the challenges of and brainstorm solutions to create increased accessibility in aviation for individuals with physical disabilities. Four of the five pilots received their “wings” at the Able Flight pinning ceremony which took place the next day at AirVenture.

The top issues faced by pilots with disabilities that were surfaced include, but are not limited to:

• Limited availability of models of aircraft with adaptive controls

• Often prohibitively high cost of most models of aircraft with adaptive controls

• Ingress and Egress

• Baggage compartments not capable of holding a collapsed wheelchair

• Useful load of aircraft not sufficient for 2 people, a wheelchair, and small amount of baggage

No Limits Endeavors will be sharing this feedback with strategic partner SkyKicker Aviation, who is developing an economical aircraft that will help with all of these challenges. Special thanks go out to Bobby Dove, Melvin Du, Andrew Kurka and Leslie Irby for your time, insight and inspiration!