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.
Ben has aviation in his genes. His grandparents started flying Piper Cubs in 1942. His grandmother loved flying, and his grandfather would fly hunters and fishers on seaplane expeditions. His father was a private pilot but stopped when he became a parent.
Ben always thought of the family aviation history as adventures of the past. Yet, even as a child, he drew vivid pictures of airplanes. His love for aviation sparked when Ben was in high school. But still, he thought of aviation as challenging and that there might be a medical reason why he could not pursue it.
Eventually, Ben did go up on a discovery flight. What was supposed to be a quick flight lasted two hours because Ben did not want to come down. After logging three hours of flight training, the first hurdle was the third-class medical. The doctor was not very encouraging, saying that he had about a 10 percent chance of success. Ben persisted.
By the time Ben was in college, he was still very passionate about sports. He was active in college football and had no intention to pursue becoming a commercial pilot. However, after getting his seaplane rating, a job opportunity popped up. He pursued it with his restricted third-class medical rating.
“Those deterrents are just a hill to climb. It will boil down to how much you want it and how big the calling is.”
Ben Shipps
He then earned his commercial pilot certificate and CFI. The next challenge was getting his first-class unrestricted statement of demonstrated ability and medical. This required a very intensive series of demonstrations of what he could do with his limbs. I can only imagine what going through that was like, having someone evaluate your physical limits to either pass or fail your aviation career.
Shortly after succeeding, he got a job flying a Part 135 in Alaska. Ben has been a designated pilot examiner for the past three years, so if you ever need to get a seaplane rating, you know where to go!
I could not let Ben go without asking him for a message of inspiration.
“No matter who you are, disabled or not, there will always be deterrents to accomplishing your dreams of becoming a pilot,” he said. “Those deterrents are just a hill to climb. It will boil down to how much you want it and how big the calling is.”
Ben believes that God put a calling in his heart to do aviation, and he wants to share that passion with others. That resonates with me because God put a similar calling in my heart.
I already have it in my calendar to stop by Ben’s seaplane base before going to this year’s Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo. I am so excited to meet him in person.
If you see me in Florida, ask me how it went.
