A PILOT LIKE ALL OF US

By Ernest Ribé Barberán

Ernest is an ultralight pilot like all of us... or almost. He demonstrates that a handicap is no reason to avoid the fun of flying.

My name is Ernest Ribe-Barberan, I was born in 1954, a paraplegic since 1981 (wich means I have to use a wheelchair), a journalist by trade, and the only spanish person who can -legally- transfer from the wheelchair to a ULM and fly away.

Until now, the spanish authorities have been very reluctant to give licences to people with severe handicaps and every one who has tried has given up. Some of them are still flying, without papers. Instead of fighting with a burocracy that does not understand anything at all, I decided to go abroad. I tried to get a PPL in United States, but run out of time - I was trying to go from 0 to PPL in four weeks - and money. Then, I discovered that I could go to France, wich is not so far, and no one was going to ask me for a medical licence.

The first place I went to France was to the Nostradamus Club, near Salon de Provence, where I tried the club aircraft with Georges Truchet, the club instructor. I don't remember exactly if it was a Maestro or a Baroudeur, but going in and out of the ULM was really dificult, I had no space for the feet and the whole thing was incorfomtable and dangerous.

Georges was very kind and arranged for me to try the Sky Ranger of one member of the club, and I saw, immediately that this was the model that I needed. Still, I feel some sensation of guilt because I did not buy the Sky Ranger from him, but Salon is too far away from Barcelona to do the instruction that I needed.

I bought it from the spanish importer and had it assemble dand registered near Perpignan, in a small town called Torreilles, where Michael Lopez has a base. I passed my written one year ago and I have my french licence from February, although the time has been awful and I haven't flown much because of wind, turbulence and poor visibility.

The adaptations on the ULM are very simple: we have removed the pedals on the left side and replaced them with a vertical bar that moves forward backward. It is not as instintive as the pedals, but everything goes OK if you built yourself a mental image of taking the handlebar of a bicycle by the right hand side. If you push, the nose goes left, If you pull, it goes right. The throttle is on the same bar, wich allows me to have constant control of the stick, rudder and throttle.

I must confess that I haven't solved yet the problem of carrying the weelchair with me. The idea is to buil a really small, very foldable weelchair that would be no practical for everyday life, but will be enough to move around in a ultralight landing.

Lack of funds has prevented the development of this project and, for the moment, I have been dumping my old wheelchairs on the bases, so I can arrive and move around. Now my idea is pestering the spanish authorities, to see if I can get a spanish licence, although I know it is not going to be easy or cheap.

Contact: Ernest Ribé Barberán

Copyright ã ULM Europe 1997, 1998, all rights reserved worldwide