Pioneering the Future of Wheelchair-Friendly Flying – As a wheelchair user, I often imagine the destinations I’d fly to explore if I didn’t have the constant concern of my wheelchair being lost or damaged while flying. Air4all think they have the answer with their innovative approach. This would mean mine and your worries would be a thing of the past. Wheelchair users and air travel don’t normally go hand in hand as there are significant barriers for many of us. The horror stories we all read about seem to be getting worse, rather than better. With Air4all’s solution, these horror stories may become a thing of the past. Are we on the brink of a breakthrough in accessible air travel or is there still a long way to go?
Who Are Air4all?
My understanding after some research and visiting their website. Air4all is a company of three people (Nigel Smith – Director of SWS, Paul Priestman – Designer, Chairman of PriestmanGoode and Christoper Wood MBE – Founder of Flying Disabled) and Sunrise Medical. Have teamed up with an idea of how to enable wheelchair users to fly in their wheelchairs on commercial aeroplanes.
Air 4 All is a consortium formed of PriestmanGoode, Flying Disabled, SWS Certification and Sunrise Medical. Each member of the consortium has a personal and professional commitment to bringing dignity in air travel for everyone. Through a combination of industrial design, passenger experience design, aircraft cabin and airport accessibility, aircraft certification and regulation; and wheelchair design and manufacturing, the consortium has been developing the Air 4 All concept since 2019. It has been recognised as the winner of the Fast Company Innovation by Design 2022 Awards in the Accessible Design category, a finalist in the 2022 Crystal Cabin Awards and has featured in media and conferences dedicated to the topic of accessibility across the world.
Source: Progress on Air 4 All: the system that improves accessible air travel – PriestmanGoode
What Is The Concept?
The concept is to enable wheelchair users to be able to fly while remaining in our own wheelchairs. If this becomes a reality, this would be the next massive advancement for disabled people! According to the different websites that I have researched. It claims we would enter the plane in our own wheelchair and manoeuvre into a dedicated wheelchair space. We would then be locked to a floor device similar to the ones found in wheelchair-accessible vehicles, or in other cases, tie downs.
Airlines would not lose any revenue as the space dedicated for a wheelchair user would easily transform from a passenger seat into a wheelchair space.
I’m sceptical due to the issues this gentleman has positioning his chair in such a tight space. Also, the amount of room he has used to get into the correct position is just not available on a plane. I doubt this amount of room will be given. So what if you have a wider chair? Is the space adjustable? I have to say, when he finally got in the correct position, he didn’t look like he was comfortable. What are your thoughts?
This video shows even less space available for manoeuvring and uses a locking pin. So does that mean all new wheelchairs are going to be supplied with this pin needed to lock into the floor of a plane? How will this affect those of us needing a pin to lock into our WAVs? All wheelchairs would need to be crash-tested too.
There are many parts to the Air4All project. Whilst the aircraft space will unlock a huge door that has been until now closed, it will be nothing unless a Power Wheelchair is not certified to fly. Working with Sunrise Medical, together we can explore the challenges around ensuring a Power Wheelchair is fit to fly. Design and certification being the primary test.
Source: Air4all | Sunrise Medical
Toileting
We’ve seen the tiny space wheelchair users are expected to get into but what about if you need the toilet? On my very first flight as a wheelchair user, I had to use the aisle chair to get to the toilet. I couldn’t believe what little space there was. (Check out my First time flying as a wheelchair user blog). There is no way I could have used that by myself, let alone get any wheelchair in there.
Conclusion
As much as this is an amazing idea and I can’t wait for it to become a reality. I think that’s all it can be for now, an idea. After seeing the videos above, my thoughts are that there is still a very long way to go. I have been hearing about wheelchair users flying in their own chairs for many many years now. We don’t seem to be any closer than we were all those years ago.
The space is not practical (IMO), airlines will not lose the space that would be needed to enable wheelchair user on the plane in their own chairs. Toileting will be no easier either. The way things stand right now, I don’t see this happening any time soon.
Would you fly more often if you could fly in your own wheelchair? I know I would. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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About Cazbarr
Cazbarr is a full-time wheelchair user, who was born with a disability called Arthrogryposis. Primarily she blogs about her disability, her experiences holidaying as a full-time wheelchair user, along with honest products & service reviews.
If you would like to work with Cazbarr, just drop her line on the Contact page.
