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On January 1, 1994, physicist Shawn Carlson founded the Society for Amateur Scientists. Among the original members of the board of trustees of the fledgling organization was world famous aviation innovator Paul MacCready, the Father of Human-Powered Flight.
As a member of the SAS Board of Trustees, Paul MacCready was present at every session of the SAS meetings he attended. He took notes, ate box lunches with the participants, told stories and shared ideas.
Why did a man with a doctorate in aeronautical engineering, dozens of awards and prizes and worldwide fame have an interest in amateur scientists? A review of MacCready’s life provides the answer.
Back in the 1950s MacCready won U.S. soaring championships three times, and in 1956 he became the first American pilot to win the world soaring championship. Though MacCready had a doctorate in aeronautics, he never lost touch with the model airplanes he built as a young boy and which inspired him to become an award winning glider pilot.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, features many historic aircraft suspended from the ceiling of the huge building. The Wright brothers pioneered powered flight in 1903, and their first Flyer is there. So is the Spirit of St. Louis that Charles Lindberg flew during his historic first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.
Nearby is an exotic-looking, transparent aircraft with a giant 90-feet wing span. It’s the Gossamer Condor, the first successful aircraft propelled solely by human power, and it was designed by Paul MacCready. The Gossamer Condor is unlike any plane before its time. In 1977, bicyclist Bryan Allen flew the 70-pound craft on a figure-eight course that earned MacCready the $100,000 Kremer Prize.
A new Kremer prize of $200,000 was then announced for the first human-powered flight across the English Channel. Dr. MacCready designed a new ultralight called the Gossamer Albatross, and in 1979 Bryan Allen flew the Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel to win the prize.
MacCready's successes in human-powered flight taught lessons that he soon applied to other aircraft. In 1981, his solar-powered Challenger flew 163 miles from Paris to Canterbury, England, reaching an altitude of 11,000 feet during the flight.
Even after five of his airplanes were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution and he had became world famous, MacCready reached out to the next generation of do-it-yourself innovators through various public appearances and his enthusiastic involvement with the Society for Amateur Scientists. He also strongly believed in the importance of teaching basic science to children when they are as young as five. He practiced what he preached, as demonstrated by the successful engineering collaborations he established with his sons as they grew up.
During his long career, MacCready attended and spoke at countless scientific and engineering conferences, many of which presented him with awards. When he was attending the 2005 Citizen Science Conference of the Society for Amateur Scientists, where he also gave the Winfree Lecture, I asked him why he was willing to attend meetings of amateur scientists. Dr. MacCready replied that he had attended only one professional meeting with topics as diverse as those addressed by the amateur scientists at their meetings. This reply answered the question of why Paul MacCready stayed involved with the SAS since he joined the founding board of trustees.
A Paul MacCready lecture did not end when the PowerPoint and videos were over. When Dr. MacCready completed his talks, he produced miniature flying machines and other devices and invited the audience to inspect them up close. At the 2005 Citizen Science Conference, one of these devices was a tiny ornithopter, a fly-weight aircraft with flapping wings powered by a rubber band. This amazing aircraft flew to the top of the meeting room before descending softly to a chair below.
After this demonstration, MacCready passed out several Walkalong gliders, and an aisle in the lecture hall soon became a runway. Enthusiastic audience members strode down the aisle while a novel flying wing hovered over an invisible bubble of air that flowed over their outstretched hands. When members were unsuccessful in flying the tiny gliders, MacCready rushed over to assist.
Dr. Paul MacCready died in his sleep at his home in Pasadena, California, on 28 August 2007. Hopefully the history writers who describe his many achievements will also record something about the congenial, inspirational side of this amazingly creative genius.
You can find out more about the amazing creativity of Paul MacCready by visiting AeroVironment, the innovative aeronautical company he founded. The AeroVironment web site has a page for those who would like to leave memorials to Paul MacCready. For more about the accomplishments of this genius of flight, see previous articles in The Citizen Scientist by entering "MacCready" in the TCS search window. Dr. Shawn Carlson has written a memorial to Paul MacCready that appears in this installment of The Citizen Scientist.
Forrest M. Mims III. 
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