Flying chair for old fellas

[John Carrodus]

I need a hip operation shortly. While I'm waiting for the NZ National Health system to catch up post covid I decided to build a flying chair from a second hand barstool ( no barmaid attached ) Gerald Wimmer , who can pretty much fix anything, kindly welded a few extra bits and pieces onto it for me. Tried it a few days ago and it WORKS !CLP** So all you stately guys out there thinking of hanging up your control lines, don't ! It is possible to have mobility problems, dizziness and not being able to stand unaided to still have intimate relationships with your ......control line models. Photo attached ( I hope) that may give you some ideas. It must be leveled, otherwise you speed up and slow down, but there is a way round that too by moving your arm across your body left or right. With practice , even basic aerobatics can be performed without receiving a model in the back of the head.

[John Rist]

That's cool.  What makes it go around and around?   

[John Carrodus]

Reply for John Rist.

Hiya John. Believe it or not the plane itself is more than ample. I tried it with a fox 19 in an old hacked Slow Goodyear without any undercarriage. Sometimes you need to put a foot down to stop for a loop or lazy eight etc, or push off to start a change of direction. My experience with a previous attempt at a flying chair 3-4 years ago when my other hip was buggered was anything from a 20 up was never a problem. The old leverage thing I guess, a cricket could probably drag you round on a 50 foot lever. My first chair was crudely made from an old office chair and plywood seat, footrest and back. I gave it away to a disabled guy getting back into control line. It worked.
There is a clip on You Tube , probably in here on Stunthanger ??of a guy flying on one built back a few years ago. I emailed them but never got replies so decided to build my own.

[Dan McEntee]

   We had a guy here in our local club that just used a simple office chair that swiveled. He ( Marvin, I can't remember his last name) had some sort of leg issue that really impaired his ability to stand and walk normally, but he could drive himself to Buder Park get out the office chair for the center of the circle, another folding chair to sit in and pit, and his launching stooge. It gave him immense pleasure that he didn't have to just sit on the sidelines and watch, and didn't really need anyone's help if he wanted to get a flight or two. He tended to crash a lot, and wasn't that great at repairing and building, but he was where a lot of other club member's old models ended up to flown some more use out of them before going to that great hanger in the sky!! Marvin 's condition eventually took him from us but he sure gave a lot of us a lot of inspiration to know that we CAN keep flying as long as we want to. Some one else here on the forum, in central Illinois somewhere, has a special built chair also. The seats of office chairs swivel very well, and a decently trimmed airplane will pull you around just fine. Use your feet to help get started and stop to change directions. I remember Carl Shoup flying from a wheel chair with his leg in a full cats at VSC one year. It just takes some effort and the will to succeed on a person's part to get out there and do it.!
   Good luck with it John!!
  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[John Paris]

John,
Glad to hear you over coming a difficult period.  There were a couple of brothers that made something similar commercially.  The link is below but I do not think the chair is still available.

http://www.thepilotseat.com/

Bob Labadie (coinventor) passed away a number of years ago and I bought his chair (the one shown in pictures and videos) from his estate sale to help out anyone who may have issues related to getting dizzy or has problems with standing for extended periods when flying CL.  You are right that it does not take much to pull you around.  I have used an electric powered Ringmaster to spin myself around a bit and we have had a club member become reacquainted with CL flying using the chair and a 35 sized model. 

Best luck with your near term flying and longer term recovery.

John

[john e. holliday]

Guess the old DOC is going to have to get busy.  I have a couple of office chairs to modify.

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

A power chair also works.  But glad to hear plane pull gets it done, as well.

[Doug Moisuk]

I am very interested in this chair. The only problem I have is getting dizzy when I fly, and only when I fly. That’s really not addressed in the website description. Has anyone had any experience with a chair for Dizzy only?

[John Carrodus]

Doug
Whata GREAT oldfashioned name!
Lots of my mates down here in the REAL Downunder NZ Kiwiland are named
Doug... get outa that lounge chair 5 times a day and hold that arm out, pretend to do the rotation every 5 seconds , I swear after a few days of that you will be fine . I always fall onto the lounge or practice the sportsmant patern in the pool. I love falling over then swimimg to the side. The more u fo the better. You DO NOT det as giddy in the chair
Tight lines
Good luck
Johnc

[944_Jim]

Gentlemen,
I'm not too far from retirement age, but am starting to understand my mortality. While I'm not near the point of needing this chair, it excites me to know there is a way to "stretch the flying season" for "the veteran pilot." This gives me hope that I'll fly well into my retirement.
Good for you guys...Bravo!

[Doug Moisuk]

Doug
Whata GREAT oldfashioned name!
Lots of my mates down here in the REAL Downunder NZ Kiwiland are named
Doug... get outa that lounge chair 5 times a day and hold that arm out, pretend to do the rotation every 5 seconds , I swear after a few days of that you will be fine . I always fall onto the lounge or practice the sportsmant patern in the pool. I love falling over then swimimg to the side. The more u fo the better. You DO NOT det as giddy in the chair
Tight lines
Good luck
Johnc

I have used that spin technique since I was 10 years old. Doesn’t work any more.  I have also seen my doctor, a ear nose and throat specialist, and worked with a physiotherapist. No improvement. I have been tested I do not have Vertigo. So I am hoping the chair may work.
So I would appreciate knowing if it works on dizziness.

[944_Jim]

Mr. Doug,
While not my thread, may I recommend trying any spinning chair to see if sitting while spinning still causes dizziness? I trained my old self by using our office chair first. Then I moved on to bar stools...but that only worked until the third beer. Now I know I can fly two beers in with only some problems.
This all lends new meaning to "sit on it and rotate."

[Doug Moisuk]

Mr. Doug,
While not my thread, may I recommend trying any spinning chair to see if sitting while spinning still causes dizziness? I trained my old self by using our office chair first. Then I moved on to bar stools...but that only worked until the third beer. Now I know I can fly two beers in with only some problems.
This all lends new meaning to "sit on it and rotate."

Don’t quit your day job. 😈😈😈

[John Carrodus]

Hiya Doug
I can not say 100% if the chair would improve dizziness in your case, but it does for me - makes an enormous difference in being able to cope with the rigors demanded by control line flying an under 5 sec model.