Wheelchair-accessible paraglider being developed

From The Deseret News:

DRAPER, Utah — Don Bloswick paced across the grass like a nervous father.

Derek Barney grinned and gripped his wheelchair as he watched the paraglider spiral through the clear, blue sky above the Draper park.

"I'm so excited," said the 23-year-old Orem man, who may one day get to fly in the specially designed wheelchair being tested by paraglide pilots last weekend. "I can't describe it."

Bloswick is just as giddy as Barney, and the University of Utah mechanical engineering professor doesn't even plan to leave the ground.

That's because the wheelchair that he helped create will offer those who can't walk the chance to fly.

Bloswick was approached by Mark Gaskill, the vice president of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, in December about designing a wheelchair for the Able Pilot chapter of the organization. He envisioned a wheelchair that would allow any wheelchair-bound person to independently take up the sport of paragliding.

"I love this sport," said Gaskill, who helped form the Able Pilot chapter of the USHPA last year. "I'm looking forward to getting these guys through the program and into the air. There are a lot of adaptive sports out there, but wheelchair basketball may not appeal to all of the personalities. This is a very social sport."

Bloswick was intrigued by Gaskill's offer and asked a group of senior engineering students if any of them were interested in taking on the challenge — in addition to their regular course work, senior projects and family commitments.

"We came up with the best team," Bloswick said of Chris Graves, Ben Davidson, Bryon Densley and Travis Smith. "It just came together better than I ever expected."

The students, whose diverse backgrounds sped the development of the chair, and Bloswick watched paraglide pilot Ben Gunnuscio test the chair on Saturday and pilot Nick Greece test it twice on Sunday. The engineers and pilots had an interested audience as it was National Hang Gliding and Paragliding Day, which included free public events and a competition.

"I was a little nervous," said Gunnuscio, who offers tandem flights, lessons and clinics for ParaglideUtah.com. "I've never seen anything like it flown before. I wasn't sure how it was going to work. But it was all good. They engineered it so well. It's an amazing piece of machinery."

Gunnuscio spends his days teaching the formerly earth-bound to fly and says there is nothing like watching it transform people.

"This opens up the sport for a whole new group of people," he said. "It's just so awesome to see people's faces after that first flight."

Once Bloswick agreed to oversee the development of a wheelchair capable of flight, Gaskill approached Dr. Dale Hull of Neuroworx for potential pilots.

That's where Derek Barney heard about the program. He was working out in the rehabilitation facility's gymnasium when a friend told him about the program.

An avid hunter, fisherman and general outdoor lover, Barney didn't have to be asked twice when Hull mentioned the program to him last month.

Barney was 21 years old when a fall robbed him of his ability to walk.

"I suffered from substance abuse issues in high school," said Barney. He completed Drug Court in February 2008 and thought he'd defeated his demons.

"But I still thought I could be a social drinker," he said. A fight with his girlfriend led to a night of excessive drinking and he said he climbed onto a ledge where he used one hand to hold onto the building and one hand to text his girlfriend. A police officer tried to coax him inside, but he lost his balance and fell.

After 13 days in a coma, he woke up with damage to the nerve in his right eye, severe shoulder damage and paralysis in his legs.

"Being paralyzed is so much different than I ever imagined," he said. "You can't use your legs to balance. It's hard to balance."

He also has spacicity problems with his legs and back and relies on a device to medicate that.

Despite the damage to his body, he said he's working hard to have not only an independent lifestyle but an active lifestyle.

Before his accident, he loved long boarding, motorcycles and basketball. So when he heard there might be an opportunity to learn to paraglide, he didn't hesitate.

"I didn't even think twice about it," he said smiling at his father, Wayne, who watched the test flights with him. "I have seen (paragliders in the air near Point of the Mountain) and wondered what it was like. I wondered how you got into it. It was always on my list of things to do."

Now the one-of-a-kind chair will offer him the chance to do what many able bodied people haven't done.

Gaskill said the ability to paraglide will offer those confined to a wheelchair the same freedom he has in the air. In addition to being a wonderful recreational sport, there are also competitions where pilots can test their skills.

"Once we're in the air, we all compete on equal footing," said Gaskill. He said studies have shown that "just the freedom associated with flying" will affect their moods and outlook on life. "Throwing them into the air means they have to think in bigger terms."

Tim Meehan is a tandem instructor from Colorado who works with a lot of veterans. He said that injuries that rob formerly active men and women of their independence and mobility can be mentally debilitating.

"They become isolated," said Meehan, who was in Draper for National Hang Gliding and Paragliding Day and to help test the new chair. "They're in a whole new world and they may not have the confidence they had before. It's miraculous the transformation that comes from facing the challenges."

He said they worry about their lives and everything from how they'll earn a living to what they'll do for fun. Those worries, however, melt away as they learn piloting skills.

"They change from worrying and afraid to wanting to go out and chew up the whole world. It's amazing and we have to do that for more people."

Bloswick's wheelchair will undergo more testing and several more incarnations before his team finds a chair that disabled pilots can actually use.

"We're going to do more tests and simulated incidents to see how it handles," said Gunnuscio.

Both Gunnuscio and Greece offered Bloswick feedback on how to improve the chair. But after landing, Greece walked over to Barney and shook his hand.

"I think we'll have to do a lot of flight testing, but it's very doable," Greece said. "It's a real activity you can bank on doing. It flies just like a harness."

And then he patted Bloswick on the back.

"Thank you," Greece said, grinning. And Bloswick beamed back as they discussed some modifications.

Barney watched patiently. He said he isn't worried about waiting a few more months because at least the possibility of flying now exists in his world.

"I wouldn't know how to get involved in the sport otherwise," he said. "I feel a little bad taking advantage of all of the stuff, all of the perks of being in a wheelchair. But I do miss things. I miss being barefoot in the grass. I think that's what I miss the most."