The Pilot Who Flies Airplanes With Her Feet
- Expat Scribe
- Nov 1, 2021
- 14 min read
Updated: Aug 19, 2023
Jessica Cox, Armless Aviator Extraordinaire
“I challenge you to take off your fake arms and whatever is holding you back from being true to yourself. Instead of fitting into society, add to society.”
Jessica Cox was born with no arms (bilateral congenital limb deficiency) because of a rare birth defect. Yet, she has accomplished extraordinary feats of courage and willpower, like practicing taekwondo, going scuba diving, surfing, and flying a plane.
Arizona-based Cox is a pioneer not just in US aviation history but also in international archives. She holds the Guinness World Records title for being the first pilot (and also the first female one) certified to operate an airplane with only her feet.
She is also a motivational speaker, a disability rights activist, and the first armless black belt in the American Taekwondo Association.
Her latest book, Disarm Your Limits: The Flight Formula to Lift You to Success and Propel You to the Next Horizon, is a product of her mission to motivate the discouraged.
The Hidden Scourge of Pity
Prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism. These concepts are all familiar to us and we recognize them all as negative. But the aspect of pity is alien in the realm of negativity. We do not regard it as a double-edged sword, but it is.
Jessica Cox has discovered this for herself during her lifetime of struggling against its repercussions. She found out that if you pity someone, you may think you are doing them a favor but you are not, even if your sympathy is well-meant.
Her Initial Empowering Discovery
Cox says she grew up with people around her pitying her because of her disability. At the same time, some of them were overprotective of her. That was understandable because, after all, our environment is “built for someone with arms,” as she puts it.
But the undue pity and safeguarding concerns were what drove her to go beyond her limitations.
Good thing she ignored people’s reactions to her because if she had, and also pitied herself, she wouldn’t have been able to achieve her incredible feats. She knew how to thread a needle and write her name with her foot by age three. When she got a bit older, she taught herself to swim, type 25 words per minute, put on contact lenses with her second toe, and won Taekwondo tournaments.
Today, she plays the piano, surfs, scuba dives, pumps her own gas, drives an unmodified car with an unrestricted license, and flies a non-customized plane.
Cox found out that pity prevents progress. “Disadvantages should never be met with pity,” she declares. “A disadvantage is unquestionably a challenge, but within the challenge lies the opportunity for empowerment and growth.”
The Body Knows Itself
When Cox was three years old, doctors fitted her with prosthetics. One would think the technology would save her and bring her life some normalcy.
But she didn’t take to them very well. Despite their benefit of enabling her to carry items, she never connected with them and preferred performing daily activities with her feet. Worse, she spent so much time with after-school therapy practicing how to use them.
The kids at her school were no help, either. They called her unkind names like “Robot Girl” and “Captain Hook.”
Nevertheless, she sacrificed using the prosthetics for 11 years despite being miserable with them. At the same time, she had to endure the jokes, cruel remarks, and unwanted attention from people seeing her with them. As a result, she became lonely and withdrawn.
Why She Cast Off Her Prosthetics
Family and friends didn’t understand that the artificial limbs hampered her in a counterproductive way. They were heavy, inconvenient, and immensely uncomfortable, especially in the hot Arizona climate.
Later, she realized that she used the devices, not for herself, but to please the people around her. Everyone was so happy that she had been given the opportunity to live a normal life with the arrival of the artificial limbs, she didn’t want to disappoint them by shunning the contraptions or being ungrateful.
Cox also discerned that she was trying to hide her difference with the prosthetics to make her life “normal.”
Fortunately, Cox got a chance to redirect that earlier life trajectory. When she was 14 years old and about to enter grade 8, she and her family relocated from their small town to a city. She looked at the move as an opportunity to reboot her life; start anew.
The first thing she did was to ditch the prosthetics. She chose to simply live her life the way she was born. She didn’t tell her parents, but she was convinced earlier on that her “brain was wired to her feet.” They and her doctors made her wear artificial limbs, thinking that was her only option.
But Cox disagreed: “I was born without arms, so using my feet is all I’ve ever known. I can eat with my feet, write with a pencil between my toes, and drive a car.”
So to her, using prosthetics was unnatural. They made her move slower and didn’t give her sensations. She couldn’t tell if the objects she touched were cold or hot.
Fortunately for her, the human body is a stupendous, brilliantly designed machine that can heal and replenish itself. When it lacks something or loses vital components, it automatically makes adjustments.
In Cox’s case, her biological constitution “repurposed” her feet to act as, and take the place of her arms. Cox knew this subconsciously at a very young age but as a child, she didn’t understand it and thus couldn’t communicate it to her parents.
Regardless, Cox said later on that casting off the artificial limbs was one of the most important and transformative decisions she made in her life. It was the day she decided to be herself and be her own advocate. “No one was going to speak up for me if I didn’t learn to speak up for myself,” she determined.
As she progressed through her journey of self-discovery, her voice became louder, enabling her to speak up for those who have yet to find their own.
Her defining moment as a spokesperson for the underrepresented came when she delivered an acceptance speech on the value of education. The Youth Advisory Council of the Metropolitan Education Commission had just given her their Crystal Apple Award, a reward for teens who engage in community service and demonstrate leadership.
It was then that she realized her role in the universe: to champion the rights of people like her around the world.
Reasons She Can Do Amazing Stuff
Apart from the above medical explanation, Cox accomplished more than most people do in their lifetime because of these forces:
Internal—Her innate tendency toward pertinacity and sheer fixity of purpose is a vital part of her personality. We are all capable of dogged determination to some extent, but most of us don’t know this. Once we are aware of it, all we need to do is harness it.
External—The support of loved ones is a tremendous resource. Cox’s parents contributed to her success in a monumental way.
The Importance of Family Support
Cox grew up with a solid sense of self-worth because, from the very beginning, her parents laid out the proper foundation to enable her to do so. She was never told, “You can’t.” Instead, her parents taught her to see challenges as opportunities. So, in every speech, she tells her audience that the first words she eliminated from her vocabulary were “I can’t.”
Cox credits most of her success to her mother Inez’s efforts. She instilled in her the conviction that she can achieve whatever she wants to be. Inez exposed her daughter to lots of activities. With every goal achieved, Cox acquired a new level of confidence.
Cox’s path to self-acceptance is entrenched in her Catholic upbringing. She acknowledged her being different was really a gift when she realized that “these things don’t just happen. It was really a journey in faith.”
Inez also imparted to her daughter Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote: “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.”
At that moment, Cox vowed to herself that she would never grant anyone that consent. That was how she was able to confidently handle the ensuing stares, comments, and bullying resulting from her looking different.
When Social Connections Lead to Self-Disconnection
Instead of fighting her being different, she embraced it. She does not cater to the belief that a human being is not whole if he lacks something that most people have.
The pandemic has taught us the value of social connection—a positive aspect. However, in a different sense, like pity, it can breed negativity. If we try to fit in at the expense of losing our sense of self, that can affect our confidence and how we function in society.
Cox throws down the gauntlet: “It is only when we are true to ourselves that we are able to overcome our challenges and experience the growth that comes with it. I challenge you to take off your fake arms and whatever is holding you back from being true to yourself. Instead of fitting into society, add to society.”
The Daredevil
Cox was the Evil Knievel of her family. Her stubborn streak and determination helped her immensely. She was motivated by other people’s pity and misplaced concern. The more people told her she couldn’t, the more she showed them she could. And she continues to prove detractors wrong every time.
How She Chanced Upon Her Vocation
Cox has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, minor in communications from the University of Arizona. Her triumph over her unique obstacles has made her stronger and an inspiration to multitudes who have heard her speeches. This prompted her to set up her own motivational speaking company.
While discovering her ability to inspire people, she decided to overcome another deterrent to progress—her fear of flying. So she took flight lessons. It takes fully limbed students six months to complete a flight course. It took Cox three exhausting years. She almost gave up, but her instructors did not let her succumb to failure.
The result of her efforts: not only did she become a certified pilot but also one with a world record.
Victorious, she emerged from her first solo flight not only a pilot in command of an Ercoupe airplane but also an aviator in command of her life.
Apart from conquering the skies, Cox also dominated one of the martial arts. She has two black belts in taekwondo, the first of which she earned at 14. The hobby was instrumental in meeting her husband, Patrick Chamberlain, her former instructor. They got married in 2012. Instead of a wedding ring, Cox sports a wedding anklet on her left ankle.
Chamberlain has since supported his wife in her travels, speaking engagements, adventures, and continuous taekwondo training.
Now 40, Cox continues to encourage people to overcome their perceived limitations. Her motivational speeches, codified into the ‘Possible Thinking’ and ‘Achieve’ models, have reached audiences in 23 countries. She has delivered speeches at the Pentagon and the World Economic Forum.
She was featured on CNN and The Ellen Show. She also met former President Obama and Pope Benedict XVI.
A Documented Life
Her life story was featured in the documentary Right Footed, which premiered on the Fuse network as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
The documentary’s slogan is “You don’t need arms to lift people up.” It was aired in more than 80 countries.
Emmy award-winning director Nicholas Spark and crew shadowed Cox over two years from 2011 as she visited Ethiopia and her mom’s native Philippines to cast the spotlight on disability rights.
Her 2013 trip to Ethiopia included visiting one of Handicap International’s development projects on improving access to education for children with disabilities. This move brought nationwide attention to inclusion and access for the alternately abled of all ages.
The filmmakers also documented her wedding preparations and her lobbying senators to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the US.
The CRPD came into force at the United Nations on May 3, 2008. The Convention reaffirms that all people with disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It views individuals with disabilities “not as ‘objects’ of charity, medical treatment, and social protection” but “as ‘subjects’ and active members of society with rights capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent.”
Right Footed was shown in 50 film festivals and broadcast on TV in more than 80 countries. It went on to win 17 awards from 2015 to 2016, including five from the Dove Foundation for family-friendly viewing.
The documentary is linked to the Right Footed Foundation International, which supports programs, such as “Life with Feet” on YouTube and the RFI Flight Program.
The YouTube channel’s goal is to change the perception of amputees. The RFI Flight Program (temporarily suspended during the pandemic) involves Cox taking children with limb difficulties on a once-in-a-lifetime flight.
Cox is grateful for the documentary because it shows alternately abled children and their parents proof that an individual with disabilities can succeed in life.
Kindred Spirits
Cox longed to meet someone just like her. It took years, but she finally met Barbara Guerra, a mother able to take care of her baby even without arms. She went on to be Cox’s mentor.
While traveling in Africa, Cox met Louisa Omondi who had the same disability. Many people in Omondi’s community told her she didn’t deserve to live. She is one of many to whom Cox conveyed her message of hope: “It’s okay to be different.”
Cox is aware that she will not be able to change everyone’s perceptions but this did not prevent her from propagating her disability awareness campaigns.
One of Cox’s mentees is a girl abandoned as an infant at a Siberian orphanage for not having arms. She didn’t think anyone was ever going to date her. So Cox invited her to her wedding.
Cox reasoned that if her mentee could watch her use her foot to throw the bouquet and cut the wedding cake, it may make a significant difference in the kid’s life the way Cox’s perspective changed for the better when she witnessed Guerra change her baby’s diaper with her feet years ago.
How She Got Into Flying
It was a cinch for Cox to learn how to play the piano because her family is musical. But it took her much longer to learn flying. Her fear of heights was linked to her anxiety about losing contact with the ground. This trepidation was resolved when she learned the nuances of flight.
Deciding to take flying lessons was just the beginning. First, she had to find an unconventional instructor willing to accommodate her special needs. Second, she had to secure an aircraft model she can operate without arms and hands.
Flying a plane, like driving a car, requires using both hands and feet. A pilot needs hands to control the yoke, which makes the plane dip up and down and tilt right and left. At the same time, she needs both feet to operate the two pedals of the rudder, which controls the aircraft in turns or crosswinds.
Cars can be modified so people with disabilities can drive, but few aircraft options are available for them to fly.
Still, Cox figured that if there are planes modified for pilots with paralyzed legs and feet that enable them to control the aircraft with just their hands, then there should be at least one that can be flown without needing arms and hands.
Fate connected her with the perfect aircraft: a small, full-metal, single-engine, twin-tail, two-seater. Flying magazine identified it as the 1946 Ercoupe 415c.
According to the Smithsonian magazine, aircraft engineer Fred Weick designed the Ercoupe. He called it “the Model T of the sky.” Weick was the former aeronautics division deputy chief of the National Committee on Aeronautics, now the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The Engineering and Researching Corporation (ERCO), the Ercoupe’s manufacturer, tagged it as “America’s first certified spin-proof plane” and the “world’s safest plane.” ERCO equated its handling to that of a family car.
President of California Aeronautical University Matthew A. Johnston explained the basic controls of a plane in a post on the university website.
We included just the parts that apply to Cox and her Ercoupe to explain how she can fly it without arms:
Yoke—aka the control wheel on fixed-wing airplanes like the Ercoupe. It is the plane’s steering wheel. The yoke lets the pilot move the plane up, down, left, and right.
Throttle—the plane’s engine power control equivalent to a car’s gas pedal.
Rudder pedals—direct the plane to go left or right, control the rotation of the plane’s vertical axis, and act as wheel brakes. The Ercoupe doesn’t have these, leaving Cox’s feet free to manipulate the yoke with her right foot and the throttle with her left.
The Ercoupe maneuvered like a car because its steering mechanism was connected to the yoke/control wheel. This model was suitable for Cox because its simplified controls did not require a rudder. So there’s no need to coordinate the rudder and aileron (which controls balance). The plane does it automatically. This meant she could fly the plane entirely using the yoke and throttle.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a different pilot license category for Ercoupe pilots who had never used a rudder pedal. One can get a federal license to fly Ercoupes with one-third less instruction time.
Cox’s first flight in the Ercoupe was through Wright Flight in 2004. On October 10, 2008, Jessica obtained her Sport Pilot certificate, which qualifies her to operate light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.
Cox got her flight training free, thanks to a scholarship from Able Flight, a flying school in North Carolina that teaches people with disabilities to operate aircraft. She flew solo under the guidance of Parrish Traweek.
There is currently a considerable demand for pilots and aircraft mechanics, but only 6% of all professional pilots are women.
“I want to see more women piloting airplanes,” Cox said in an interview with The Asian Age.
To this end, she has worked with several American organizations to inspire girls and young women to pursue an aviation career.
Apparently, women aren’t the only ones Cox inspires. Engineers from the United Arab Emirates University, Hazem Elshorbagy, Husam Haboush, Reem Almarzouqi, and Yousef Haik, invented an automobile configuration called the “lower extremity vehicle navigation control system” with Cox in mind. The technology lets people drive a vehicle without using the upper limbs.
Takeaways
We all encounter hardships in life, but we should not allow misfortune to derail us from the right path. Cox explains that our staying put on the proper course depends on the choices we make and how we react to our problems.
Most of us may not have the opportunity or wherewithal to achieve the kinds of feats Cox has been able to do, as we are all built differently and have varied personalities. But we are all capable of resilience as long as we never lose hope.
Cox calls upon the words of the Chinese philosopher Yutang: “Hope is like a road in the country. There was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”
✓ Use adversity to your advantage.
Cox declares, “It is only when we make the connection between our disadvantages and the challenges they pose that we are able to realize the growth they can yield. If you can see your challenge as an opportunity, you will walk on the road of hope and pave the way for others to do the same.”
✓ With acceptance comes actualization, then fulfillment.
Given an opportunity to have “normal” arms, would she take it? She replies, “I can tell you today that if given the choice, I wouldn’t want the arms because of the wonderful things I’ve been able to do, and not necessarily things like flying a plane, but touching people’s lives.”
Indeed, if she had arms, would she have met world leaders and the pope? Perhaps, but the single-minded resoluteness to prove herself wouldn’t have been as strong that it would push her beyond her limits. This goes to prove that limitations and scarcity have a vital purpose in our lives.
✓ Act now, while you still have resources and support systems.
Let us not wait for disaster to strike or our faculties to fail before we make our lives better. In this era of global conflict, natural disasters, and pandemics, it is not enough to “be safe.”
Each of us has a story to tell that can one day help another individual (or perhaps entire communities). Cox especially urges people with disabilities to communicate their experiences to others. “Don’t let anyone image your reality for you,” she implores.
Let us follow in Cox’s footsteps and have our voices heard. By doing so, we accept her challenge to “add to society.”
If you would like to comment on this article—or give constructive criticism, make suggestions, share your story, or be a contributor to our blog, please do so using this contact form. We keep our readers’ information private. Thank you in advance for your contribution.
Expat Scribe, the writer of this article, is also the author of the psychological techno-thriller, “The Invisible Cyber Bully: What it’s like to be watched 24/7.”
The novel tackles the surreptitious bullying and illegal surveillance, DNA-extraction, psychological torture of, and experimentation on ordinary citizens by law enforcers, scientific laboratories, various “hidden” associations, and global authorities. Some chapters discuss the garden-variety bully from schools and neighborhoods. The book also features a primer on how to fight cyber bullying.
Sources:
Her YouTube channel: Pilot Jessica Cox on Inside Edition
Her TEDx talk in Tel Aviv: What are your fake arms?
The documentary about her life: Right Footed
The Asian Age: Meet Jessica Cox, the world’s first pilot without arms
Flying magazine: Armless Pilot Jessica Cox Premieres New Film at Oshkosh
NBC News: Disability Activist, Pilot Jessica Cox Shares Story in ‘Right Footed’ Documentary
BBC News: Jessica Cox—Pilot born without arms, on flying with her feet
Humanity & Inclusion: Jessica Cox Arrives in Hard-Hit Philippines
Smithsonian magazine: The Rise and Fall of the Plane “Anyone Could Fly”
New York Times: Fred Weick, 93, Dies in Florida; Was Pioneer in Airplane Design
California Aeronautical University: The Basics of the Cockpit
Google Patents: Lower extremity vehicle navigation control system
Photo and Video Credits:
Jessica and her husband Patrick gave us permission to publish the photos on this blog entry, including those from her website: www.jessicacox.com.
Globe and plane video: Pressmaster
Music accompanying video: Fly Up to the Sky by Julius H.
Ercoupe: Armchair Aviator, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic license
Bouquet: Terje Sollie
Wedding aisle and wedding cake snapshots: Shanda Romans
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