Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools,” Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon was an emperor but Helen Kellar was not an empress. However, the iron lady had the kind of determination and diligence that can only be matched with the qualities of an emperor or empress.
Those who have read or heard about the lady will not be surprised at Helen Keller flying a plane.
Early Life
Helen Adams Keller, famously called Helen Keller, was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When Helen was only a 19-months old baby, she fell seriously ill with high fever and eventually lost her sight and hearing.
At that time, it was diagnosed as brain fever. However, doctors now think she suffered from meningitis or scarlet fever. The severe illness in her childhood changed her life completely, which she mentioned in her autobiography “The Story of My Life” where she poured out her emotion in a famous quote “at sea in a dense fog” to aptly describe how she felt living as a deaf and mute before receiving her education.
Fortunately, Keller was still able to communicate with people around her. However, according to Smithsonian Magazine, she used to communicate through 60 signs and loved spending time with Martha Washington, his family cook’s daughter.
Her parents initially believed that their daughter would not be able to read. However, they eventually approached the Perkins Institute for the Blind to hire an instructor for Helen. The instructor came to educate Helen. Her name was Anne Sullivan. She came with a light of hope in Helen’s life.
Anne ran Helen’s hands under a stream of cold water. The little girl’s face lit up with joy and she showed hand motions to exclaim ‘Water’. The event brought a breakthrough in Keller’s full-of-black life and sowed the desire of learning a word she could not see, hear or speak.
By the age of 16, Helen became a household name across America. Her accomplishments inspired many with or without physical disabilities. Keller became a role model in dispelling myths about blindness, previously associated with venereal disease.
She went to earn a bachelor’s degree as the first deaf-blind person and later became a lecturer, scholar, activist and even a one-time pilot. That she flew a plane is shocking because it was too risky a job for her. However, she really accomplished the feat.
Did Helen Keller Fly a Plane?
In June 1946, Helen Keller flew a Douglas C-54 Skymaster over the Mediterranean Sea en route from Rome to Paris. She flew the plane for 20 minutes.
Helen Keller, despite being deaf and blind, achieved many things in her life. She was also a prolific writer. She penned 14 books and many articles and dedicated her life to advocating for disabled people.
She truly showed that the word “Impossible” says “I’m possible”.
The question remains how she took control of the cockpit. This is truly incredible to believe. However, truth is stranger than fiction.
Helen Keller: A Life Fully Lived
Helen Keller started taking interest in aviation long before she flew a plane. In 1919, she got involved in the making of a silent film titled ‘Deliverance’, about her life and amazing capabilities. The producer showed her doing everything that able-bodied people could do, from getting dressed to sleeping with eyes closed.
At that time, aeroplanes were a relatively new technology. Therefore, the producers suggested that Helen Keller should appear in a plane during the film. Initially, Keller did not find it a realistic idea but later gave in. She was extremely excited to try flying.
As per a newsreel promotion for the movie, Keller flew for half an hour and later described the experience as “more physical freedom than ever in her life”.
Keller got another chance of flying in 1931 when she went to meet President Herbert Hoover from Newark, New Jersey to Washington D.C. According to an article by The New York Times, Heller described the flight as “a great graceful bird sailing through the illimitable skies”.
And in 1946, she got another chance to be in the air but this time, she flew a plane herself. She travelled many times as a flight passenger and flew a plane only once.
Keller and her friend Polly Thompson were en route from Rome to Paris. As soon as the plane crossed the Mediterranean Sea, the pilot passed the control of the Douglas C-54 Skymaster to Keller and allowed her to fly the plane for nearly 20 minutes.
The pilot relayed all the necessary instructions to Thompson who pressed symbols into Keller’s hand to explain what she should do.
“She sat in the co-pilot’s seat, with the pilot beside her, and I relayed to her his instructions,” Thompson told The Glasgow Bulletin. “The plane crew were amazed at her sensitive touch on the controls. There was no shaking or vibration. She just sat there and flew the plane calmly and steadily.”
“It was wonderful to feel the delicate movement of the aircraft through the controls,” Keller joyously told The Glasgow Bulletin.
Helen Keller’s brief flight did not take long to make international news. However, flying a plane was one of many incredible achievements in Keller’s life.
Helen Keller’s Exemplary Legacy
Helen Keller breathed her last in 1968 at the age of 87. Throughout her life, she faced exceptional challenges and overcame them with great confidence. She singleheadly broke the societal stigma regarding blindness.
She was fearless and relentless in advocating for disabled people. She proved with her life that even deaf-blind people, with their strong determination, can achieve all the seemingly unachievable milestones.
Keller dedicated much of her adult life to the American Foundation for the Blind. Her work for the organisation required her to travel extensively throughout America and even other countries around the world so that she could speak to visually impaired people.
Helen Keller became a name for people impaired with physical disabilities. Despite her physical challenges, she lived her life to the fullest and also worked for others. Her piloting a plane exemplifies the strength of her character.
Indomitable Helen Keller – she is truly an inspiration for millions. She was never a caged bird; sky was her only limit.
