Thousands of aviation enthusiasts are in Oshkosh this week for the annual AirVenture celebration. The festival is organized by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It’s the largest festival of its kind, with people flying in from all corners of the world to attend.
That includes Jessica Cox, the world’s first licensed pilot without arms. She’s in Oshkosh this week to share her story and show off her Impossible Airplane — the first plane designed to be operated by feet. Cox joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to share more.
AirVenture runs through July 26. You can find AirVenture tickets and more information here.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Joy Powers: As someone who was born without arms, what are some of the unique ways that you've learned to navigate the world, just in general?
Jessica Cox: It's a little hard for me to explain that, just because I was born this way. So, my navigating the world is all I've ever known. And this has been my normal. I was born into a world engineered for arms and hands. And so, from the onset, I've had to be creative. I've had to persist, persevere, be courageous, overcome stigmas, overcome the label of "you can't do it," which is an ongoing label by the way. And that's all I've ever known, so I don't know how to explain it differently. I do see my brother and sister and everyone else in my life live life through their arms and hands, and it's strange, but I make this immediate connection when I see them perform these tasks and do these things with their arms and hands. I immediately look to my feet, and I don't think any different of it.
JP: When you first became interested in flying, is that how you viewed it? You saw someone flying a plane and you went, "I think I can do this?”
JC: I actually was terrified of flying, quite frankly. I was mortified. It made me very tense going on commercial flights. But flying in a single-engine airplane for the first time, I was 21. And I was sitting there in this plane with Pilot in Command Bill — Bill sitting in the left seat, me sitting in the right seat, looking at this instrument panel, making no connection as to what on earth all of these instruments do. Seeing the yolk — the plane’s steering wheel — I made the connection with driving a car. I had already been driving for a couple years using my right foot on the steering wheel. So I kicked my shoe off and got the chance to feel what it was like to grab ahold of the yoke between my big toe and second toe. And Bill turns to me and says, "How would you like to feel what it's like to fly this thing?" And I never say no to any opportunity, even if I'm mortified and terrified. So I just put my foot up there, and I reached up and just grabbed ahold of the yoke. I immediately made this connection with flying where I was like, "I want to do this! I'm going to figure this out," and I later learned that no one has ever flown with their feet before. No one had ever been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
This would be the first time. And it was just like anything in my life that I've conquered: I was determined to figure it out, with the support of some amazing aviation people in my life. And what started as just a joy ride flight turned into three years, three flight instructors, three different states, flying over the course of three different years, numerous setbacks, numerous hours — beyond most student pilots — to finally be able to be confident to convince not only the Federal Aviation Administration, but also my instructor and people in the aviation world that I am a competent and confident pilot and fit for flying in the skies.
JP: Now, you're going to be a part of the EAA WomenVenture Program because, not only are you the first armless pilot, but being a woman makes you part of a very small group of pilots. Less than 10% of pilots are women. Why did you want to be a part of this event?
Jessica Cox: I am actually very excited about this event, not only because I'll be sharing about what I've been up to, but because I'm going to be among so many rockstar women pilots. I was looking up some of these bios, and I was just floored, because I’m like, “Whoa, how did I not know about these women before?” Other people need to know about them, because they inspire us to become better. They inspire us to rise above the adversity and the labels and the stigma. And these women are just pioneers in conquering all these different aspects of aviation. And I just feel humbled. I feel honored to be on a panel with these women, to learn more about their lives as well, and how they overcame their adversity. And I'm excited to share what I've been up to – building an Impossible Airplane and what that has entailed over the past five years, the barriers that we've faced, how we overcame them, how the aviation community came together to make it happen. And now we're doing things again to inspire the world with the idea that disability does not mean inability.
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