The MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department's Daedalus was a human-powered aircraft that, on 23 April 1988, flew a distance of 71.5 mi (115.11 km) in 3 hours, 54 minutes, from Iraklion Air Station on the island of Crete to fall into the sea 7 meters short of the island of Santorini. The flight holds official FAI world records for distance and duration for human-powered aircraft. The craft was named after the mythological inventor of aviation, Daedalus.
There were actually three aircraft constructed:
- Light Eagle (originally Michelob Light Eagle): a 42 kg (92 lb) prototype.
- Daedalus 87: Crashed on Rogers Dry Lake on 17 February 1988, and was rebuilt as a backup.
- Daedalus 88: Flew from Crete to just off the beach on Santorini.
Both Daedalus 87 and 88 weighed 31 kg (69 lb).
Light Eagle (known to the flight crew as "MLE", or "Emily") set a closed-course distance record with Glen Tremml as the pilot, as well as straight-line, closed-course, and duration women's records with Lois McCallin as pilot. These record flights took place at Edwards AFB in January, 1987.
The record-setting flight of Daedalus 88 had as pilot Olympian cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos of Greece.[1] The flight ended in the water (7 meters from Perissa Beach on Santorini, according to the official record), when increasing gusty winds caused a torsional failure of the tail boom. Lacking control, the airplane then pitched nose-up, and another gust caused a failure of the main wing spar. The pilot swam to shore. Much of the wreckage of Daedalus 88 is in storage at the Smithsonian's Garber Restoration Facility. Light Eagle is in storage in Manassas, VA.
Daedalus 87 is on display in the lobby at the Museum of Science, Boston.
References
- Dorsey, Gary (1990). The Fullness of Wings: The Making Of A New Daedalus ISBN 0-670-82444-5
- NASA's page about Daedalus
- FAI human powered flight world records
- Daedalus drawing: TIF, PDF
- Light Eagle (Daedalus prototype): TIF , PDF
Notes
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