Bryan Allen (hang glider)

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Bryan L. Allen
Bryan Allen NASA Mission Data Operations Team.jpg
Bryan Allen while at NASA
Born (1952-10-13) October 13, 1952 (age 72)
Education

Bryan Lewis Allen (born October 13, 1952) is an American self-taught hang glider pilot and cyclist. He achieved fame when he piloted (and provided the human power for) the two aircraft that won the first two Kremer prizes for human-powered flight: the Gossamer Condor (1977; the first human-powered aircraft that met the specified criteria of the first Kremer prize) [1] and Gossamer Albatross (1979; the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel). [2] [3] He later set world distance and duration records in a small pedal-powered blimp named "White Dwarf." [4]

Contents

Biography

Allen graduated from Tulare Union High School in Tulare, California. He then attended the College of the Sequoias, and Cal State Bakersfield. [5]

As of 2018, he was employed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, working as a software engineer in the area of Mars exploration. [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "10 Amazing Pilots You've Probably Never Heard Of". Flying Magazine. April 8, 2015. Bryan Allen: hardest-working pilot ever. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023.
  2. ↑ "MacCready "Gossamer Albatross"". National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  3. ↑ Jex, Henry R.; Mitchell, David G. (1982). "Stability and Control of the Gossamer Human-Powered Aircraft by Analysis and Flight Test" (PDF). nasa.gov. p. 2-1. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  4. ↑ "The White Dwarf Flies Again". Archived from the original on May 25, 2015.[ user-generated source ]
  5. ↑ Wilkinson, Stephan (June–July 1986). "Who Is Bryan Allen?". Air and Space Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 2. Photos by James Sugar. p. 49-55. JSTOR   community.31044268.
  6. ↑ Wilklow, Colette M.; Allen, Bryan; Clarke, Kelly; Lee, Young; et al. (2005). The care and feeding of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Ground Data System (GDS) (Report). Pasadena, CA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. hdl:2014/37642. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010.[ failed verification ]


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