Aerobility

About us

If I can fly, what else can I do?

Aerobility provides disabled men, women and children, no matter what their disability, with the opportunity to fly. Whether disabled from birth, a young age, through accident or illness, every disability comes with its own challenges and stigmas.  Living with a disability means having to deal with the limitations of your body, with the financial hardship that often comes hand in hand with a disability, and with the assumptions and prejudices of those around you.

For a disabled person it can seem impossibly beyond their reach to do something as extraordinary as to handle the controls of an aircraft in flight.  Run by people who know all too well about the frustrations and challenges of living with a disability, Aerobility takes the privilege of flight and uses it as a tool to help disabled people realise their abilities and live life to the full - Stretching horizons in every sense.

What we do

Aerobility operate five specially adapted light aircraft , along with access equipment such as a specialised hoist and electric buggy. The charity believes in access for all and is working extremely hard to ensure every disability gets the chance to participate. 

Spending an hour in the air can have a transformative effect on someone with disabilities and the experience offers a refreshingly different perspective on the world.  A 23 year old Royal Marine who was left paralysed from the waist down has gone on to gain his pilot’s licence with the charity ten months after his first flight: "There have been times when I haven’t known how to deal with the anger. Flying has given me that sense of achievement and freedom that I haven’t had for over two years”.  

From five airfields across the UK, Aerobility is able to offer, ‘Experience of a lifetime’ trial flights and red letter days, Aircraft hire for disabled licence holders, Flying Days for other disability charities and specialist PPL flying training for disabled members and injured service personnel.

The charity also provides a social platform for disabled people, and also fulfils a wider social goal by taking the aircraft and its activities to public events and demonstrating to the general public that disabled people are capable of achievement just like anyone else. Disability is demystified for the people we meet, and this ultimately leads to a more inclusive society.

What we’re raising funds for

This is simple. We need somewhere to call our own, a building with some office space, a classroom, flight simulator and some disabled accessible accommodation. We have reached the stage in our growth were a tatty Portakabin on the airfield has become very restrictive and does not meet our needs. We need to build an "Aerobility Centre".

• Many of our members need accommodation as they travel from all over the UK to fly with us and there is a real shortage of truly accessible cost-effective accommodation
• There is no accommodation that can host an adjoining carer room, or facilities for more seriously disabled people
• Learning to fly is best done intensively and residentially, allowing us to create holidays for disabled people focused around the challenge of flight
• We have funding for a flight simulator which will allow us to fly in any weather and with disabilities too severe to go in the actual aircraft, however we have nowhere to put it
• We urgently need an office space and classroom space
• This community facility will also be offered to the local disabled community for meetings and other activities

Current target for fundraising with Allia

We need to raise £300,000 to create this groundbreaking community space, the Aerobility Centre.

BDFA - Registered charity No. 1081804 (British Disabled Fying Association)

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Please note this page does not form part of the bond offer documentation and prospective investors should not rely on it when deciding whether to invest in Allia bonds. The information on this page has been provided by the cause as a summary of its activities. Allia accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this information and prospective investors should contact the cause directly if they require further information or verifications.

The cause is required to use any funds raised through Allia’s charitable bonds in line with the activities described on this page. However, the cause reserves the right to use funds where it considers them to be most needed in order to achieve the same or similar social outcomes.