MacReady, Kings, X-Prize Founders Visit HQ

John and Martha King from the King Schools; Paul MacCready, the father of human-powered flight; and X Prize Foundation representatives Erik Lindbergh and David Knight visited EAA's Oshkosh headquarters on Wednesday, May 5. The group of aviation notables had been attending a meeting of the Lindbergh Foundation Board this past weekend where John and Martha were installed as newly appointed members.

The Kings met with EAA Executive Vice President Bob Warner to discuss progress of their recently announced King/EAA sport pilot training program. The two organizations are working together to produce four new, comprehensive training courses for flight students and instructors that will be released shortly after the final sport pilot rule is published.

MacCready is one of aviation history's most highly regarded figures. He designed the first successful human-powered aircraft, the Gossamer Condor, which is housed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, as well as the Gossamer Albatross, the first human-powered vehicle to fly across the English Channel. MacCready toured the EAA AirVenture Museum with Director Adam Smith, focusing on the new KidVenture Gallery set to open on May 15. The new Gallery features an interactive exhibit on human-powered flight, and MacCready tried out the pedal-powered thrust display. 

X Prize Foundation Vice President and Trustee Erik Lindbergh and Vice President David Knight also accompanied the Kings. The X Prize Foundation, which offers the $10 million Ansari X Prize to the first private organization to produce an aircraft that can achieve feasible, repeatable suborbital space flight by January 1, 2005, will be a major participant at the upcoming EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. An evening presentation about the program is scheduled for Saturday, July 31, at Theater in the Woods. 

FMI: www.eaa.org