Untitled Document

08 August 2003

Paul MacCready, Father of Human Powered Flight

by Forrest M. Mims, III
Geronimo Creek Observatory
Seguin, Texas

Pioneer aviator and inventor Paul MacCready. Click image to enlarge.

Please fasten your seat belt, for we're going on a whirlwind tour of the amazing world of Dr. Paul MacCready, the Father of Human Powered Flight. When he was only a teenager, MacCready broke records with his hand-crafted model airplanes. After serving in the Navy during World War Two, MacCready earned a physics degree from Yale University and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from California Institute of Technology. MacCready went on to become a famous glider pilot. He won U.S. soaring championships three times. In 1956 he became the first American pilot to win the world soaring championship.

During his glider days, MacCready founded Meteorology Research, Inc., and pursued cloud seeding and atmospheric research.

In 1971 MacCready founded AeroVironment, Inc., a company that has built a reputation on a string of astonishingly innovative achievements. In 1977, MacCready created the Gossamer Condor, the first aircraft to fly and maneuver while powered solely by a human being. The plane had a wingspan of 90 feet and weighed only 70 pounds.

The Gossamer Condor made aviation history when it flew a figure-eight course under human power and earned MacCready the $100,000 Kremer Prize. The Gossamer Condor now hangs in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum alongside the Wright brothers flyer and the Spirit of St. Louis.

In 1979, bicyclist Bryan Allen flew a second MacCready human powered plane, the Gossamer Albatross, more than 20 miles across the English Channel. This earned MacCready the second Kremer Prize and $200,000.

MacCready's successes in human powered flight taught lessons that he soon applied to other aircraft and even electrically powered cars. In 1981, his solar-powered Challenger flew 163 miles from Paris to Canterbury, England, reaching 11,000 feet during the flight.

This and other ultralight aircraft eventually evolved into the Helios, a monster flying wing powered by banks of solar cells on the upper side of its 247-feet long wing. Helios achieved an altitude record by flying to 96,863 feet.

AeroVironment is developing a modified Helios powered by fuel cells. The firm has spun off a new company to develop an unmanned plane that will circle high above cities for six months at a time providing cell phone service to subscribers far below. While pioneering these and other completely new kinds of ultralight aircraft, MacCready returned to his first love, the model airplanes of his youth.

One of the most interesting AeroVironment products is the Pointer, a remotely-controlled airplane that military troops in the field can use to spy on enemy forces.

Pointer weighs around 10 pounds and has a 9-feet wing span. The electrically-powered plane has a see-in-the-dark infrared television camera that sends images back to the soldiers who launched it. Raven, Pointer's successor, is only half its size, yet just as capable. Raven can be ordered to return directly back to where it was launched simply by pressing a button on a transmitter. When it arrives a few feet over the place from which it was launched, it's engine automatically stops and the plane falls harmlessly to the ground in easily reassembled pieces. Then there's the Black Widow. This tiny aircraft is only six inches across and weighs a few ounces. Yet it can reach an altitude of 800 feet and fly more than a mile from its pilot.

The tiny Black Widow is invisible to people on the ground. No problem. Black Widow carries a color TV camera that weighs only a few grams. The pilot can fly the plane by watching a TV monitor that shows what the plane sees!

Recently MacCready gave the keynote lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS). We were captivated by his lecture and the video clips he showed.

Equally impressive is that this very busy, 78-year old icon of science and engineering attended every session of the SAS meeting. He ate box lunches with us, told stories and shared ideas. Amazing!

Paul MacCready has secured a prominent role in aviation history. Five of his planes are at the Smithsonian Institution, and he has won numerous awards and honors. Hopefully history writers will also record something about the congenial, inspirational side of this amazingly creative genius.

This feature was originally published in Forrest Mims's weekly science column in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, Seguin, Texas. The column is written for a general audience.