Kubica on the road to recovery after devastating crash

source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/motorsports/kubica-on-the-road-to-recovery-after-devastating-crash/article1922189/
JEFF PAPPONE
Published on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 9:54AM EST
Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 10:01AM EST
 

A big screen dedicated to Formula One driver Robert Kubica is seen during a training session on February 19, 2011 at Catalunya's racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona. Robert Kubica has begun physiotherapy after undergoing a third operation on injuries sustained during a horrific crash over a week ago. JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images

   .Although Formula One received some bad news this week with the cancellation of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix due to pro-democracy protests, the sport also had reason to smile when injured racer Robert Kubica left intensive care only two weeks after a devastating accident.

Kubica began light finger exercises Tuesday as he took his first steps on a long road back to the cockpit after undergoing a complex surgery to reattach his right hand.

The 26-year-old Lotus-Renault F1 driver was critically injured in an accident during an Italian rally on Feb. 6. when an Armco barrier pierced the floor of his Skoda and almost severed his hand. He underwent three operations and has remained in an Italian hospital since the crash.

“He is doing pretty well and his condition is positive considering what he has been through. The good news is that there have been no complications following all the surgery he has had recently,” said his hand surgeon, Dr. Igor Rossello.

“He no longer needs intensive care, so he has begun the rehabilitation process. He is now in his own large room, so that he is as comfortable as possible.”

Whether Kubica will ever return to an F1 car remains in doubt, but the fact that he is already beginning to flex his fingers is welcome good news for the sport. The Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled for safety reasons by the small Persian Gulf island nation on Monday after seven people were killed and more than 200 injured in ongoing pro-democracy protests.

The Polish driver was a top performer in 2010 and is a rising star in F1, regularly squeezing results from his Renault that were above its capabilities. He delivered three podium finishes and added five more top-5s to end the 2010 season eighth overall in points with 136. He scored all but 27 of his team’s total of 163 points.

Canadian fans will recall Kubica’s maiden F1 win at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2008 while driving for the Sauber BMW team. The victory came a year after Kubica made the Montreal F1 crowd gasp when he had a terrifying accident that saw his car hit a concrete wall at about 300 kilometres per hour and then barrel roll down the track.

While he missed only one race with a concussion after the 2007 accident, his recovery won’t be a simple process this time around. Doctors think it could take as long as a year before Kubica will know whether he will regain full use of his hand.

As his rehabilitation begins, fellow F1 driver Mark Webber, who came back in 2009 after suffering a severely broken leg that required a pin to fix, offered some advice.

“Clearly Robert has much worse injuries than I suffered in 2008, so it’s hard for me to know exactly what he’s feeling. But, with that in mind, a key factor of his recovery is that it is still going to entail a huge amount of patience and mental strength — he will encounter several bad days in a row, followed by some good days in terms of progress,” said the Red Bull driver who finished third overall in points last year.

“He’ll also have to trust the people that he’s working with to know that he is making progress with his rehabilitation, as it’s not always evident to the patient.”

Webber broke his leg after a cycling crash into an SUV during the 2008 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge. While the compound fracture threatened to end Webber’s career, he amazed many by returning to his car 81 days later for a pre-season test. Later that season, he won his first career grand prix in Germany and then another in Brazil. He won four times in 2010.

That scenario won’t happen for Kubica, who will likely miss the entire 2011 season, even though he said last week that he was targeting a return to the car before the end of the year. The team already hired his former BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld as a replacement for this year. He will partner with Vitaly Petrov who returns for a second season with the team.

Right now, Kubica will focus on his recovery as he tries to get his hand back to a condition where he can drive an F1 car again. He will stay in hospital near Genoa, Italy, for the next few weeks as doctors monitor his condition while his painstaking rehabilitation process gets started.

And that was a topic of conversation for Webber when he visited Kubica last week.

“Something I spoke to Robert about when I saw him was the ‘top two inches’, and by that I meant the psychological battle with himself in the coming months,” the Australian said.

“I’m extremely confident that someone like Robert will have all the right qualities to recover from these complex injuries in the best way possible. Let’s hope we see him behind the wheel again in exactly the same fashion as he drove last year’s car, but with this in mind, the focus should remain on how lucky he has been up to this point, and everything after this will be a huge bonus.”

Thai airline PC Air hires transsexuals as flight attendants

source: http://www.mizozo.com/travel/01/2011/29/thai-airline-pc-air-hires-transsexuals-as-flight-a….html

PC Air, newly started airline in Thailand, might have just started a new trend for the airline industry worldwide by hiring transsexuals, dubbing them as the “third sex”, as flight attendants. They have hired 3 of the 100 transsexuals that applied. These “third sex” flight attendants will wear special gold-coloured “third sex” name badges to help passengers and immigration staff to easily identify the gender they are faced with.

(Two contestants in the transsexual beauty pagent Miss. Tiffany in 2009 in Pattaya

 

Peter Chan, the new airline’s boss, is enthusiastic about his groundbreaking move because of the opportunities it would afford transsexuals.
“I think these people can have many careers – not just in the entertainment business – and many of them have a dream to be an air hostess,” he said. “I just made their dream come true. Our society has changed. It’s evolution. I’m a pioneer and I’m sure there will be other organisations following my idea.”

One of the successful candidates was Thanyarat “Film” Jiraphatpakorn, who won the annual Miss Tiffany “katoey” beauty pageant in 2007. “At first I thought they would just take applications but not actually recruit us, as happened at other places before,” said the 23-year-old, adding that she was delighted to have been chosen.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Thailand has one of largest population of transsexuals (called “katoeys”) where cheap and quick sex change operation has given an easy route for men wishing to be women.

Airlines all around the world as known for their equal opportunity hiring practices and this might just be the next step.

Come fly with us! P.C. Air launches as the world’s first ‘ladyboy’ airline

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355555/PC-Air-launches-worlds-ladyboy-Thai-airline.html#

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:34 PM on 10th February 2011

A new Thai airline is hiring transsexuals as flight attendants, aiming at a unique identity to set itself apart from competitors as it sets out for the skies.

Known as ‘katoeys’ or ‘ladyboys,’ transgenders and transsexuals have greater visibility in Thailand than in many other nations, holding mainstream jobs in a variety of fields.

They are especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant.

In demand: Four transsexual flight attendants were chosen by new airline PC Air after hundreds applied for the positions

 

PC Air, a charter airline set to start operations on Asian routes in April, originally planned only to hire male and female flight attendants.

But it changed its mind after receiving more than 100 job applications from transvestites and transsexuals.

Four were chosen, along with 19 female and 7 male flight attendants.

While the airline strives for equality, PC Air president Peter Chan, who chooses the transsexual cabin crew himself, said he needed to spend longer with interviews for such applicants.

‘For male flight attendants, if I don’t want to hire them, it’s because of their attitude or their characters, like the way they walk and smile.

‘When I knew that I got this job, I burst into tears because I’m very happy,’ said 24-year-old Chayathisa Nakmai.

Instruction: PC Air flight attendants watch during a make-up training session in Bangkok

 

raining: Officials from PC Air said it had to be spend all day interview transsexual applications to make sure they had 'feminine character'

 

‘I had sent many applications to different airlines.’

The airline said that the qualifications for the ladyboy flight attendants were the same as for female flight attendants, with the additional provisos that they be like women in how they walk and talk, and have a feminine voice and the right attitude.

Though there is very little discrimination against ladyboys in Thailand, they are not officially recognised as women and their identification cards will always say ‘male’.

‘For female flight attendants, if they have no patience and their character does not qualify, we won’t hire them,’ he added.

‘For transsexuals, we can’t just spend five or 10 minutes with them, we have to spend the whole day with them to make sure they have feminine characters.’

Taking off: The new airline will initially fly to South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and China

 

The airline said it may hire more flight attendants from the ‘third gender’ in the future since the Department of Civil Aviation has no objections.

Though excited by the opportunity, the transsexual flight attendants said they were aware they needed to prove themselves.

‘People will keep their eyes on us… There will be more pressure,’ said Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 23, who was crowned as Thailand’s most beautiful transvestite in 2007.

‘We have to prepare ourselves more than the women.’

The airline is initially set to fly to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

 

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