Hi JH,
First off, very sorry to hear of your diagnosis and I certainly hope you can find a solution to manage the disease. I was diagnosed with RA when I was 23 years old (I'm 41 now) and mine started in my left wrist. I thought I had carpel tunnel syndrome when it first started. Most of the time RA develops symettrically, ie, both right and left joints are effected. Thus it was a bit odd that it started in only one of my wrists. Go figure. At any rate, I was involved in skeet shooting at the time and quickly discovered there was no way I was going to be able to continue that hobby with the RA in my wrist. I was pretty bummed but decided to sell my shotgun and other skeet equipment. I now wish I had kept it all! The RA has done some damage and I no longer have full range of motion in my wrists but, the good news, I don't have a lot of pain in them any more either! So while flying may be problematic for you now there is a good chance that the pain will not be as intense indefinitely. The disease itself seems to have ebbs and flows and, of course, your body is a pretty magnificent machine which has ways of learning to cope. Not to mention that the doctors too may be able to find a treatment regimen for you that can make a huge difference. Last, but certainly not least, be sure to get mutliple doctor's opinions. There are several other conditions that are commonly mis-diagnosed as arthritis which are, in fact, imminently more treatable than arthritis is. Keep your chin up and best of luck!