Ben Shipps, DPE - Piper j-3 Cub (floats)
From my article for Flying Magazine
While at an Arizona fly-in, the author learns of a seaplane pilot dealing with a similar disability.
During my trip last month to the Copperstate Fly-In in Buckeye, Arizona, I was hanging around my Ercoupe, N26R. A pilot named Bruce saw me, and he said to me, “I know who you are. You are that Ercoupe pilot. Have you ever been down to Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base in Winter Haven, Florida? There is a pilot there without hands who trains people to get their seaplane rating.”
I was stunned—I knew I had to meet this person.
His name was Ben Shipps, and I set out to talk with my newest aviation hero. I finally got him on the phone for a couple of calls. We talked and shared stories about flying with a disability.
Like me, Ben was born with a mysterious medical anomaly that was not discovered in the prenatal scans. His left arm has a palm and finger, and his right arm has a fused elbow with three fingers. His arms have 50 percent functionality compared to the average arm. While Ben does not fly with his feet, his unique way of flying requires more body movement and physical effort than the average pilot.
