photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

From left, McFarlane Aviation employees Kylie Chalender and Joe Cool and pilot Jessica Cox pose with an aircraft throttle on Dec. 14, 2023.

The world’s first licensed pilot without arms is working to build an “impossible airplane” that she can operate more easily with just her feet, and she’s getting help from a Baldwin City aviation parts manufacturer to do it.

Jessica Cox, 40, has been taking to the skies in a 1946 Ercoupe for about 15 years, and she trained and tested to receive her pilot’s license using only her feet. And while she was born without arms, she said she lives her life with the motto that “disability does not mean inability.”

Cox stopped at her manufacturing partner McFarlane Aviation, 684 East 1700 Road in Baldwin City, on Thursday to give a talk about her challenges — and to meet in person with some of the people who are helping her achieve her goals.

From a young age, Cox refused to see her lack of arms as something that should slow her down, she said.

Cox was fitted with prosthetic limbs at the age of 3; they gave her the ability to carry her books at school and play with her baby dolls, and gave her mother hope that Cox would live a normal life. But Cox found that navigating life with her toes and feet made more sense than wearing arms made of bulky plaster and metal that mostly served to make others around her feel more comfortable.

By the time she reached the eighth grade, she put her prosthetic arms in the closet and never looked back, she said.

“I was going to finally be the person God created me to be,” Cox said.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Jessica Cox takes a sip from a can she opened with her toes after encouraging her audience to try and open a can with their own feet on Dec. 14, 2023, at McFarlane Aviation, 684 E 1700 Rd, Baldwin City, Kansas.

Since then, Cox has mastered numerous skills, from getting her black belt in taekwondo to learning to play piano, scuba dive and surf. But her childhood dream was to take to the skies. While as a child she dreamed of one day having superpowers to fly, getting her pilot’s license was a close second.

But when she decided to turn the dream into a reality, she thought to herself: “How on earth was I going to make others feel comfortable knowing there was an armless pilot in the air above them?”

Fortunately, there was a plane that had been used in the past by people who were missing limbs: the Ercoupe. While it’s not designed to be flown entirely with one’s feet, it had been used by war veterans who had lost limbs because of its unique rudder setup, which Cox found could accommodate her needs to a degree. She managed to find an instructor who had access to one of the planes and agreed to train her.

But the plane was still missing a key component to make it possible to fly using solely her feet: a modified throttle that she could operate with her left foot.

Cox’s dominant foot is her right, and she said the right foot always needs to be on the steering controls, because it’s best to put your dominant limb in charge of the plane’s most critical systems. That meant she would have to operate the throttle with her left foot — which was a problem, because the throttle of an Ercoupe is on the right side of the cockpit.

“The Ercoupe has so little space in the cockpit that if I were to bring my left foot here on the throttle, it would hit the side of the airplane,” Cox said.

That’s where Baldwin City’s McFarlane Aviation comes in. The company specializes in manufacturing aftermarket airplane parts, both customer-designed and replacements for original parts that manufacturers no longer carry. Founder and owner Dave McFarlane said that “our vision is to keep our customers in the air,” and when the office got Cox’s call, McFarlane put Cox in contact with engineer Joe Cool to do just that.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Dave McFarlane at a company Christmas party on Dec. 14, 2023.

Cool helped Cox design a throttle that she could more easily control. But it was still on the right side, so she had to fly with her legs crossed so that she could keep her dominant foot on the most important controls. She said the criss-cross posture she used while flying was a great ab workout, but that it wasn’t ideal for long flights.

But now, she has a bigger problem: the Ercoupe plane that she had been flying is now showing its age and has too many mechanical problems to fly anymore.

Refusing to be grounded, she decided she needed a new plane. But this time, instead of patching modifications onto an old plane, she is working to build one from the ground up — one with plenty of leg room that is designed to be flown entirely with her feet.

“It’s called the impossible airplane,” she said. “We have the wings, we have the tail. Now we need the most critical part, the fuselage. And, we need to figure out, once again, the throttle.”

The new plane is based off of an RV-10 airplane kit, but at each step of the build process Cox has been modifying the plane to fit her specific needs. As the plane comes together, she is working again with Cool to create a throttle that will not only be easy for her to use, but will also be installed in the right place.

The new plane will not only be able to fly more than twice as fast as the Ercoupe — a cruising speed of around 200 mph instead of 90 mph — it will also increase her flying range. Before, she could only fly around 50 miles from her Tucson-area airport, but the new plane will extend her range to almost anywhere in the United States, she said.

“I’m excited to land it right outside here in Baldwin City,” Cox said.

While Cox is temporarily grounded, she hasn’t been sitting still. When she isn’t flying, practicing her taekwondo forms or breaking waves on the beach, Cox gives motivational speeches to groups around the globe and has spoken in 28 countries, along with her husband, Patrick, and her service dog, Chewy.

Cox hopes the new plane will be in the air by 2025.

“I haven’t been able to fly for months because the Ercoupe has been down, but I’m very hopeful for the RV-10 build that I can keep not only my (pilot) currency to fly but also to use it as a tool to show the world that disability does not mean inability,” Cox said.

photo by: Chris Conde

Jessica Cox, her husband, Patrick, and service dog Chewy on Dec 14, 2023.