Start Up into The Skies

This article is being presented to you by the German magazine Paraplegiker.

Paraplegics can fly. Thoughts about freedom, independence and happiness do not belong into the world of dreams anymore. Not only whilst being within an airplane but also with hang gliders, paragliders and parachutes.

 
Petra Kreuz somewhere between
heaven and earth; © Petra Kreuz

Everytime Petra Kreutz gets up into the sky, she is fulfilled with an overwhelming feeling. She detaches from the grounds, enjoys the peace and quietness and the balancing with the winds up there. She salutes birds as if they were some passers-by and drifts along surrounded by bright sunlight and fair breezes.

The 39 year old woman has always been an enthusiastic hang and paraglider, also before she suffered an accident in 2000 that left her paralysed. She had always longed for adventures and the feeling came right back to her when she was still occupied by her one year long stay in a rehabilitation clinic. On the spot she constructed a spring mounted framework with a personal paragliding belt. The device is being supported by two wheels at the back and one on the front end. Since then she again glides towards the skies.

One way to get near the clouds

Rainer Bürger knows the facts when it comes down to flying with a handicap. "Disabled can learn how to hand and paraglide and practice it. The requirement to do so is to prove during training, examination and later in practice that they can handle their flying devices." Bürger is an instructor for hang and paragliding as well as for ultralight flying and represantative for the German Association for Paragliding (Deutscher Hängegleiter Verband - DHV) in the section flying for disabled.

There are no guidelines especially for disabled pilots regarding hang and paragliding. Likewise handicapped do not need a certificate for fitness prepared by a health professional. After all, the essence is not "how one handles complicated technical matters, but rather how one assesses its own capabilities in a responsible manner". If someone is capable of flying depends upon a variety of factors that are concerned with different types of flying. But when a flying device is adjusted to the needs of a handicapped person and when this person is prepared properly, there are "virtually no drawbacks compared to non disabled pilots," explains Bürger.


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