Flying while deaf

I had a deaf student awhile back. He was already a pilot and wanted a tailwheel
endorsement and this eventually lead to a Pitts Special checkout. One of the
more challenging students I have had. We did it.
I met with the controllers at the tower to set up a procedure for him.
Basically it went like this. We (the flight school) would call the tower via
land line ahead of his flight to let the tower know that he was coming out. The
tower would then communicate with him via light gun signals for the taxi and
takeoff. He always flew a standardized departure to avoid confusion. If he was
going to do something different, we would let the tower know ahead of time.
When he came back from the flight he would fly and be treated just like a NORDO
aircraft. It worked well.



-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*