carseat for handicap on airplane

[S johnson]

I have been reading on the disney family forum that an faa approved carseat is required for flight
okay I have a carseat for my quad cp 7 1/2 years old. It is not approved but for that matter neither is his wheelchair. It does not have a 5 point restraint. It has a seat belt and sholuder straps. I hope they allow me to use it because he can not sit in regular carseat or airline seat. What do you think?

[SueM in MN]

Welcome. I saw your post on the family board about this too.
If you have time, you should probably write to the compnay that made the seat and see if they can give you any assistance. I can only think offhand of 2 companies that make special needs car seats (and I can only think of the name of one of them - we just arrived home from WDW this evening and my mind is not quite back to normal thinking).
You should also contact the special needs department of the airline you are flying on to get some assistance. In your case, they may say that FAA approval isn't necessary since your child can't sit up without the seat. The things that would be important to know would be how wide your car seat is and how wide the airplane seat is so you can see whether it will actually fit in the seat or not.
We've been lucky that our DD can sit in a regular seat, although it is tiring for her to sit for very long outside her wheelchair. When she was smaller, we used rolled up airplane blankets and pillows to provide some support. If your car seat won't work on the plane because of the size, maybe the OT and/or PT that work with your child can help you work out some other options.
Good luck and have a great trip.

[SueM in MN]

After my other reply, I did a little internet searching and found this information about special needs carseats. (http://www.adaptivemall.com/safetycarseats1.html) It looks like the Columbia car seat is FAA approved, but the other probably are not because they need a tether to properly secure them in the car.
Another thought I had was the chapter of United Cerebral Palsy in your area might have some ideas or possibly some car seats to lend out that would be FAA approved.

[tigger2on]

I travel quite a bit with my non-mobile, and non-verbal daughter who is 5.5yrs. We have an Alpha Omega Carseat and have never had a problem taking it on the airlines. We live quite close by and just take it to the airlines desk beforehand and get it okayed.
You could try that!