Career : The sky at her feet

Jessica Cox was a perfect baby, except that she had no arms. Shocked and bewildered at the sight of the smooth, rounded shoulders from where her arms should have extended, her parents were dismayed by the doctor’s diagnosis: A bilateral congenital limb deficiency. Twenty five years later, on October 10, 2008, Jessica made history—she earned a certificate to fly light sport aircraft. The first person without arms to have earned the qualification, today she can incredibly fly solo, manoeuvring with just her feet to fly and land her plane.

Born in Tucson, Arizona, USA, Jessica learned the effective use of her feet and legs from an early age. She played with toys with her toes almost as dexterously as other children did with their fingers. She taught herself to eat, dress, brush her hair and write—with her feet. Swimming, gymnastics and ice skating followed. At 13, she discarded her artificial arms. In a sense, they were dehumanising, she explains, I was basically prevented from doing what comes naturally to me. In keeping with her daredevil nature, she earned two black belts in Tae Kwan-Do—her expert legs standing her in good stead. She also gained a degree in psychology from the University of Arizona and established herself as an inspiring motivational speaker.

Keeping keyboard and mouse on the floor, Jessica types 25 words a minute. She has a regular driving licence—which proved crucial to her formal clearance to fly solo—and drives an unmodified car. While she steers the wheel with her right foot, her left foot operates the accelerator and brake pedals. With her feet she also buckles her seat belt, turns on the ignition, adjusts the window and air conditioning controls and uses the turn signal.

In 2005, Jessica was at a speaking engagement when Robin Stoddard, a fighter pilot who represented the nonprofit organisation Wright Flight, asked her if she would like to fly a plane. Though she had suffered from fear of flying since childhood, she couldn’t pass up this offer. But how would she operate the flight controls? Wright Flight commenced her training on the Ercoupe 415C, an aircraft manufactured in the 1940s, and one of the few machines ever to be made and certified as airworthy without rudder pedals. In this all-metal, cleanly designed plane the rudders are linked to the ailerons and elevator and operated by a single control stick (or yoke) for true coordinated flight. With its unique control system, the Ercoupe proved to be the right machine for Jessica to fly using only her feet.

Next, she trained on a scholarship with Able Flight—a North Carolina company that specialises in teaching people with disabilities to fly. Prior to her first solo, a key requirement was a light sport student pilot certificate from a Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) examiner. Jessica was worried that the examiner might lack confidence in her, but a top FAA official ruled that having a disability did not prevent a student from being issued this certificate so long as the candidate had a valid driver’s licence. A driving licence even suffices as a medical certificate for light sport flying. Jessica says that when she finally flew solo for the first time over the city of San Manuel (most of her dual flight training was over ponds and the Arizona desert) she fulfilled her childhood dream of being Superwoman.

Jessica Cox reveals that she did not know the true meaning of determination and persistence until she started flying. It took her three years to do what others could accomplish in six months and it required four Ercoupes, three certified flight instructors and 89 hours of training to earn the title of the first person to be certified to fly an airplane with only her feet. There is also the small matter of successfully overcoming her fear of flying.