Who is the
IWA?
IWA?
| Although IWA began in 1972 as just a monthly "fly to lunch" group of four paraplegic aviators from the Southern California area. The Southern California Wheelchair Aviators (SCWA) was started by Bill Blackwood, Ed Hays, Dan Rodewald, and Neil Adler. Over the years it has developed into a worldwide group of disabled and able bodied (A/B) pilots interested in aviation and flying. Members have many different disabilities including... Read More |
International Wheelchair Aviators
Helping Dreams Come True...
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| International Wheelchair Aviators P.O. Box 4140, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 Phone: 951-529-2641 E-mail: IWAviators@aol.com |
A WORLDWIDE ORGANIZATION OF DISABLED AND ABLE BODIED PILOTS |
| ATTENTION: Winter 2007 / Spring 2008 President Mike Smith is taking his 40 ft Trawler through the Panama canal and to Texas. We will be available through e-mails, but it may take a week for a reply. Please be patient. Newsletters will resume in the spring and new members can have the roster of members e-mailed to them. If you would like to receive the updates of our trip via e-mails, send Mike an e-mail at: airattacksmith@aol.com You can read our blog and see pictures at our web site: http://www.thesmithvoyage.com Thank you and Happy Flying! |
| January 15, 2008 Bill Blackwood Our story begins December 7, 1941. A young navy ensign is on the deck of the battleship California on that ill-fated morning when a Japanese dive-bomber starts his attack. First the flack guns start firing, then the 40mm multi barreled anti aircraft guns open up. Lastly the 20mm machine guns start firing. By the time they start, there is no stopping the dive bomber, only eliminating its making another attack. Bill Blackwood saw the bomb release and head towards him. He knew there was no place to run or hide, as it would arrive long before he could achieve any distance. He said his whole life passed before him as the bomb struck not more than five feet from him. As fate would have it, the bomb was a penetrating device that went right through the deck he was standing on, penetrated several more decks and then exploded killing hundreds, but not our young ensign. It was at that point Bill decided the Japanese pilot was doing far better with his airplane than he was with his battleship. So Bill enlisted in Naval aviation to become a fighter pilot. Many years later and after the war, Bill was an accomplished pilot who taught jet fighter tactics to the new and coming heroes. He was out practicing in a Grumman F9F8, which was a swept wing fighter of the Korean War era and state of the art at the time. He decided to do vertical snap rolls to 30,000 feet, and then a hammerhead and snap rolls back down. Unfortunately, the airplane tail slid during the hammerhead and ended up in a flat spin, upside down! There is no recovery from an inverted flat spin in a swept wing jet, so at 10,000 feet Bill hit the ejection seat button. Ejection seats at that time were 40mm cannon shells that blew you through the canopy at 15G’s. But upside down and 4 inches off the seat, the amount of force was unknown, just rest assured it was far greater than 15G’s. Enough to smash the spinal chord and create an instant paraplegic. So it occurs to him: ”Here I am a brand new paraplegic in a parachute at 10,000 feet. This is going to be a very interesting landing”. Problems like wheelchairs were not going to keep Bill out of the skies. At the time, a few licenses had been issued to paraplegics, but they were few and far between. Plus Bill was not satisfied to stop there. He wanted his CFI/CFII back. He also wanted to do it with a multiple STC’d portable hand control. Talk about sending the FAA into fits and convulsions. They however had not tangled with a crusty Navy Commander with Pearl Harbor experience. They were simply outclassed. The end result was the formation of a group of misfits who met once a month and called themselves Southern California Wheelchair Aviators. That was the nucleus, which became IWA and provided inspiration for handicapped pilots around the world that the sky is no limit if you’ll just try hard enough. He will be missed. |
| A Farewell to Bill Blackwood |