Patrick chamberlain jessica cox biography
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Jessica Cox
Armless aviator
Jessica Cox (born February 2, 1983) is the world's first licensed armless pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association.[5][6][7] She was born without arms due to a rare birth defect.[8]
Early life
[edit]Jessica Cox graduated from the University of Arizona in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in communications.[8][9]
Cox has not used prosthetic arms since she turned 14.[10] Using her feet as most people use their hands, she is able, among other things, to drive an unmodified car with an unrestricted license, to type on a keyboard at 25 words per minute, to pump her own gas, and to put in and remove her contact lenses.[9][11] She is also a certified scuba diver.[9]
Career
[edit]Jessica Cox flew in a single engine airplane for the first time via Wright Flight in 2004. Jessica earned h
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ON OCCASION NICK SPARK (Director) WILL brev PRODUCTION NOTES ON THIS BLOG
Jessica as a child
It’s not often in life that we get to meet someone we truly admire. That was my thought back in November of 2011, when inom drove to South Pasadena to meet with Jessica Cox and her fiance, Patrick Chamberlain. I had become aware of Jessica after seeing a short interview with her, and was intrigued. I looked online and saw that she lives in Tucson, Arizona — the same town inom grew up in — and inom couldn’t resist writing her a note. I told her that if she ever came out to Los Angeles I would love to meet her. Imagine my surprise when she wrote back and said, “I’m coming out in a couple of weeks, let’s meet. sent from my blackberry.” inom was doubly surprised and delighted to realize inom was not only going to get to meet Jessica, but that she’d typed that note with her toes!
Flash forward to our meeting, in the house of her fiance’s aunt Joan
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To the Horizon
As a toddler, Jessica Cox ’05 dreamed of flying. Today, the University of Arizona graduate, born without arms, is a celebrity pilot who has been invited to 29 countries to talk about her journey.
Cox tours the globe as a keynote speaker and disability advocate, promoting ways to mentor children facing challenges like hers.
“My goal to fly started as a kid on the swings,” she told attendees at a recent reception to honor winners of the Wildcat Heroes Award. “I wanted to do whatever other kids can do.”
She has achieved that, and much more.
Cox says her research suggests she is the first licensed armless pilot ever to successfully fly an airplane using only her feet.
And now she is working with students and faculty from the University of Arizona College of Engineering to design what she calls the Impossible Airplane. The project is part of a senior-level interdisciplinary capstone project, researching innovations for pilots who will fly using only their feet. Fo