Famous people in soaring

On Saturday, September 15, 2012 5:04:38 PM UTC-7, Jim Logajan wrote:
Ramy wrote:

While Neil Armstrong was one of the most famous glider pilots, he

wasn't the only one. Other famous people who where also glider pilots

which I recall: John Denver

Christopher Reeve (Superman)

Sully (Hudson landing pilot)



Others?



Susan Oliver, who played the character "Vina" in the "Star Trek" pilot

episode, had acquired a glider rating (as well as a number of other pilot

ratings.) See:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Oliver



Some scenes of her from the Star Trek pilot episode:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F5pAFhByU8



Here's a video that appears to show her in her Aero Commander 200 that she

used to fly the Atlantic in an attempt to become the first woman to fly

solo from New York to Moscow:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM77SEPJQFA



Her book, if you can get a hold of a copy, is an interesting read with

plenty of material that most pilots can relate to. No glider content in it,

though.

Nice you should mention her. She made an episode of "The American Sportsman", a popular ABC TV show about soaring at El Mirage, California in 1972. She spent a week there flying and filming the show. I got to fly with her for a total of 4.2 hrs in the 2-33 and a 2-32. She was very lovely and gracious. She was the real deal as far as flying goes. On her solo Atlantic crossing, she had to take off from a one-way strip at the head of a fjord in Greenland, and made a dead reckoning circling instrument departure to get out of the fjord, and could see some wrecks on the cliffs of some others who had didn't make it doing the same thing. I heard that later, she also flew sailplanes at Black Forest in Colorado.