Flying High

Jessica Cox in the cockpit.  (Glen Davis)

Being born without arms has never stopped Jessica Cox from doing anything she sets her mind to. She swims, bikes, surfs, scuba dives, tap dances and has two black belts in tae kwon do. She is also an accomplished and certified pilot.

“I have always approached life from a somewhat different perspective,” she explains. “I have never felt that being born without arms was particularly a challenge, physically. I found it to be more of an emotional and psychological challenge.”

While she developed a natural adaptability to do everything without her arms, the uniqueness of her appearance did create some issues when she was growing up. Cox has never “blended in” and she recognized at a very early age that she was often going to be the centre of attention. Over time, she came to realize that, instead of being plagued by this situation, she could embrace it by viewing it as an opportunity. By already having everyone’s attention, she was able to show others that she could be successful at everything she tried. And she has done just that.

Cox has gone well past the point of coping with, or even just accepting, her physicality. She strives to push—and break through—any potential limits. “I am totally excited by the challenge of doing something new for the first time,” she says with a smile in her voice, “especially if no one else has ever done it with their feet before.”

The challenge of piloting a plane was far more than a matter of mastering the controls and headset for Cox. First, she had to overcome her intense fear of flying. She could have accomplished this as a passenger, perhaps, but Cox has never been one to take a backseat at anything she does. So, she decided to head straight for the cockpit.

Able Flight (www.ableflight.org), a nonprofit organization, provided a scholarship for flight training to get her started. Her search for a flight instructor led her to Parrish Traweek, owner and operator of PC Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Services, in San Manuel, Arizona. Unbeknownst to either of them, they were both at the same air show when Cox made initial contact. “She was talking to me on her cell phone as she approached me, holding the phone in her foot,” he recalls. “I knew at that point that she was, undoubtedly, destined to succeed at anything she tried.”

As time went on, Traweek’s suspicions were confirmed. An excellent student (she had already earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology), Cox knew how to study and easily completed the ground school part of the program. Her “feet on” training necessitated the development and use of a special harness, which was strapped on in the cockpit to afford her more leverage. Comparable to training wheels for a beginner cyclist, it provided her with the confidence she needed until she developed her skills. She was later able to remove the harness.

Traweek learned to admire the young pilot’s tenacity. “She always approached the training with an ‘I can do this attitude,’” he says.

Cox credits her family with instilling this quality in her. “I am most blessed, because my family has always had a positive influence on me,” she explains. “My dad said that he never once shed a tear because of my birth condition. As a result of his acceptance, I have never had a ‘victim mentality.’”

Cox has found that conquering the cockpit has been the most rewarding of all of her accomplishments. “It was the most empowering thing I have ever done,” she says. “It has provided me with a tremendous sense of independence.” And now that she has become a certified pilot, her next airborne endeavour is to become a flight instructor.

Not all of her work is taking place at an altitude of 10,000 feet, however. She is currently a professional motivational speaker. “I am helping others to reinvent challenges,” she says. “I am teaching that challenges are possibilities. So, every time we encounter a new challenge we encounter a new possibility. Since most of us are never short of challenges, we are, therefore, never short of additional possibilities.”

There are few speakers who are more qualified to be motivating others than Cox. Obviously, she’s not guilty of the “do as I say, not as I do” approach.

And Cox has a mantra gleaned from her flying experience that we can all benefit from. “Becoming a pilot was not only another notch on my belt of achievements,” she says. “This became an ‘aha’ moment for me. I realized that we are all the pilots of our lives, and in control of where we go. We can determine if we are going to soar with the eagles or allow ourselves to be grounded!”

To learn more about Cox, visit her website at www.rightfooted.com.

Floyd Allen is an author and educator based in Phoenix, Arizona. He has written for numerous U.S. publications. This is his first piece for Abilities.