Did Helen Keller Fly A Plane To Paris? Yes - And Here's How She Did It

Helen Keller had been both blind and deaf since childhood, but that didn't stop her from becoming an author and activist later in life. It also didn't stop her from flying a plane. In 1946, Keller took over a flight from Rome to Paris for 20 minutes as part of a project to show just how capable she was despite her visual and hearing impairments. 

Keller had been on planes in the past — she was a passenger on a plane for the first time in 1919 while taking part in a biographical film called "Deliverance." This was back when flight was quite new — the first commercial flight was in 1914. The producers of "Deliverance" wanted to show Keller doing a variety of different things, like dressing herself and sleeping. 

She continued taking plane rides throughout her life, including a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet the president. This wasn't a big deal to Keller, who has been described as someone without fear throughout her life. But flying a plane? While at the time it seemed improbable, it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities for Keller.

In June of 1946, Keller and her translator, Polly Thomson, were taking a plane to Europe on behalf of the American Foundation For the Overseas Blind. While the plane was crossing the Mediterranean, Keller took over the controls and flew the Douglas C-54 Skymaster (used during World War II to transport small tanks and troops) all by herself. 

In a newspaper article titled "Wonderful Helen Keller Flies a Plane," published that same year, Thomson explained exactly how Keller flew a plane despite having no vision or hearing. Keller followed instructions that were told to her through "hand talk" between herself and Thomson, with the translator signing the pilot's instructions to Keller by touching her palm. In response, Keller flew the plane with a "sensitive touch" while remaining "calm and steady." 

Thomson recalled the plane crew being impressed at her smooth operation of the plane — especially impressive since she never went to school to learn to fly. Keller had been a fan of flying in planes throughout her life — both as a passenger and pilot. She compared planes to "a great graceful bird sailing through the illimitable skies," in an interview with the New York Times.