Interview with Dr. Paul MacCready

 
Lifelong modeler and aeronautical engineer challenges Americans to "do more with much less"

I ENTER A large room, and an overwhelming presence along a wall is Pathfinder—one of the largest remote-controlled airplanes ever flown, once to an altitude of 86,000 feet. A sample rib hanging above a doorway and the transparent wing covering attest to its model-airplane heritage. As impressive as Pathfinder is, I learn that Helios, a still larger version with a 247-foot wingspan, reached 96,863 feet in 2001—an altitude more than two miles higher than any airplane has flown continuously.
 

The 247-foot-span Helios prototype at start of amazing 2001 solar-powered flight to 96,863 feet. It's being groomed with H2 energy storage for long, multiday-duration flights at 60,000-65,000 feet.

Earlier Pathfinder Plus version, spanning 120 feet, is sent to 60,000 feet to study communication techniques carrying various commercial telecom payloads.

Click on photos to enlarge.

A bit later I find myself sitting in a workshop surrounded by miniature aircraft, most with wingspans of just a few inches. These state-of-the-art, radio-controlled airplanes are capable of near-silent flight. Recently one tiny ornithopter, built to evaluate small flapping-wing propulsion, flew an astounding 22 minutes and 45 seconds, setting a world endurance record for this type of aircraft.

These aircraft represent the other end of a continuum of flying machines produced by AeroVironment: a California-based research and development firm dedicated to exploring new frontiers of science and technology.

The man behind these aircraft and many similar projects is Dr. Paul B. MacCready: a lifelong modeler, aeronautical engineer, and visionary whose work for more than 25 years has been focused on how to do more with much less, and that's his challenge to Americans. I spent a morning with him and two of his staff members in AeroVironment's Simi Valley, California, facility—the hub of the company's aeronautical work.

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