04/09/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

 We have moved to a new web address - please visit http://www.freedomintheair.org -

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17/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

This article on Aviation Without Borders Smiling Wings day was featured in Scotlands Sunday Post, August 10th 2008 - click on image for a large view to read the story.

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17/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

For the past 6 months, this new baby pilot has been doing various nav ex to aerodromes such as Wellsbourne, Gloucester, Oxford, Southend, Leicester and Connington (many times) and lots of local VFR flights out of Cranfield. This flight to Old Sarum would now be testing as the route would cross RAF Benson MATZ (Military Air Traffic Zone), RAF Boscombe Down combined MATZ and routing away from Southampton Control Zone class D airspace to Old Sarum. Old Sarum is tucked neatly between Thruxton, Boscombe Down, Middle Wallop and the historic Cathedral town of Salisbury. The route back took us over Stonehenge, keeping south of danger zone and south of the A303, towards Andover, then back to RAF Benson and home to Cranfield. A brilliant day out!

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11/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

This plane trip is dedicated to our patron Suzi Duncan..flying from Cranfield - Leicester - Cranfield

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10/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Aviation Without Borders (AWB) hosted its fourth ‘Introduction to Aviation Day’ of the year on Tuesday 6th August at White Waltham Aerodrome, situated just off the M4 about 15 miles west of Heathrow. The day is named, for obvious reasons, Smiling Wings day, and was supported by EADS and the West London Aero Club.

Smiling Wings days introduce disadvantaged or disabled youngsters to general aviation. Our guests on the 5th were children from Kids Company, a charity which provides practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people. Read the rest of this entry »

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10/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Yesterday morning, I had one of the most special telephone conversations in my life. I was speaking with Suzi Duncan who is a pilot, instructor, and developed and designed the Vision Air hand control for pilots with lower limb disabilities. I was a little tearful when she told me that she would be Freedom in the Air’s patron. She is a great symbol for aviation and for helping people with disabilities in aviation. Suzi is one of my heroes and i know will inspire and motivate many more pilots to come.

In 1997 Suzi received the “Nancy Bird Award for, the most significant contribution to aviation by a woman of Australasia”. Read the rest of this entry »

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07/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

GET UP STAND UP! A FANTASTIC SUCCESS AT GLASTONBURY LEFTFIELD STAGE

Listed at 16 in the top ‘50 things to do at Glastonbury‘. The guys filled Leftfield and beyond, raising awareness about nuclear weapons with their show of comedy, music and politics. We are glad to be able to help book the music talent for them and now look forward to Peace of Art event on Nov 4th.

Thanks to Geoff and all at Leftfield, to Nick Doody
Marcus Brigstocke
The Paddingtons
Tony Benn
Shazia Mirza
Matt Kirshen
Simon Munnery
The Beat

visit Come Clean which is run by Carol Naughton and an Ambassador for Freedom in the Air. Carol a trained Paediatric Physiotherapist spent years fighting to get the skills and talents of young people with disabilities recognised and to encourage them to get out there and do it for themselves!!

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05/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

The day started with me doing a phone interview with BBC radio Berkshire about Smiling Wings at White Waltham with youngsters from Kids Company . Kids Company is an amazing organisation run by a wonderful person called Camila Batmanghelidjh. She set up Kids Company in order to provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people.

Here is the slideshow from the day – this link is without music
http://www.aviationwithoutborders.org/smile/whitewaltham/index.html

The majority of the children who they care for have with severe emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, resulting from significant experiences of trauma and neglect. Many of them are ‘lone children’ living in chronic deprivation, with limited or no support from the adults in their family.

With the aid of Aviation Without Borders and the West London Aero Club, the kids took off Read the rest of this entry »

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05/08/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

On Sunday 3rd August, I went for a local VFR flight to Fenland, flying over Connington, then back to Cranfield. It was a great flight. Being on my own and enjoying the freedom of flight.

Once parked and back at Terry’s club house, I met with Symeon. He is an Aeronautical engineer with the Greek Airforce and has been at Cranfield University studying MSc Aeronautical Engineering. He is one of the student who has dedicated their final project to designing and making a hand control for pilots with lower limb disabilities. Trem is the other student who is working on a system for the PS28, whilst Symeon is working on a system for the C172. Both students are now in the manufacturing stage and both designed are scheduled for testing at the end of August. Here is a short slide show of the design for C172. In this show you can see us with the Union which i use for the C172. Symeon’s idea is an evolution from that design. Later in the week, we will upload a sneak view of what Trem has been developing.

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27/07/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Freedom in the Air’s final day with carers from Spurgeons and Bedfordshire County Council Rural Communities Charity. In this slideshow, we get to hear from an instructor, senior carers and of course the bubbly and adventurous younger carers.

Young carers are children and young people who are the main carers of a sick or disabled parent or sibling. Estimates of the number of young carers in the UK vary between 15,000 and 50,000. Read the rest of this entry »

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26/07/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Here is a short movie from our recent Freedom Wings days, June 28th and July 24th & 25th with the young carers from Spurgeons. Every carer whom we met during the last few days playing with aeroplanes have a very special and important job to do.

They sacrifice so so much to care for loved one who have a wide range of disabilities.  Spending time with them certainly brightened up our day and we sincerely hope they all had a day to remember. 

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26/07/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

A day spent with new found friend. Carers from Spurgeons and Bed county council team spent the day with us at Cranfield chilling out and enjoying playing aeroplanes. Some of our guests talk over this slideshow so please tune on your speakers or plug in some headphones before pressing play..

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24/07/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

The Rehabilitation Centres For Children in Kolkata is where I once underwent 2 years of corrective surgery to give me a chance to be independent. A few weeks ago, i went back there to make a documentary for Al Jazeera English about my life.

RCFC was established by some amazing people due to the inspiration and back-breaking work of a British nurse, Jane Webb OBE. Jane died a few years back, shortly after fulfilling her dream of becoming an Indian citizen.

RCFC is her legacy to the world and I owe so much to her, her vision and all the doctors, physiotherapists, teachers, calliper makers, surgeons, fundraisers, administrators and volunteers who have given their time either for free or for a pittance to RCFC.

Since getting back to London, I have been chatting to Dr William Bunting who is a surgeon and has spent a lot of time at RCFC. We both have the same meeting of minds as to how we both wish to help them grow and raise funding to. Here is an article he Dr.Bunting wrote:

APPROACH TO ORTHOPAEDIC CARE OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN AROUND KOLKATA.

Rehabilitation Centres for Children (RCFC) was established 35yrs ago,in the southern suburbs of Kolkata by Jane Webb,an English nurse nd has grown in size and scope since then, its facilities are now extended to the children of the rural poor in Orissa,West Bengal and even Bangladesh. Read the rest of this entry »

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