At age 16, Larry McNay helped make history as part of the team that built and flew the Gossamer Albatross, the pedal-powered aircraft a cyclist-pilot flew across the English Channel in June 1979.
Three decades later, McNay is leading an effort to write aviation history again.Sometime in the next couple of weeks, the Weatherford resident hopes to strap his 13-year-old son, Andrew, into the cockpit to fly another human-powered airplane, the Wind Rose. The goal of McNay and a handful of colleagues for the last four years has been to win a pair of sizable cash prizes for human-powered aircraft put up by Britain's Royal Aeronautical Society.It's also to conduct a demonstration in conjunction with the 2012 Olympic Games in London, with hopes of eventually turning human-powered flight into an Olympic sport.For four years, McNay, an aeronautical engineer in Fort Worth for Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, has been studying, designing, making and testing components for the aircraft in a hangar at Mineral Wells Airport.The goal isn't another human-powered aircraft; that's been done. This time it has to fly with some speed, maneuverability and endurance.It's a two-part, two-competition challenge that McNay and his supporters hope to accomplish with one aircraft. The Kremer International Marathon Competition calls for the aircraft to fly a 26-mile marathon course -- part racetrack and part figure-eight pattern -- in less than an hour.Oh, and the aircraft has to be transported to the site in a trailer, assembled and made ready for takeoff within 30 minutes.McNay, a licensed pilot, glider pilot and hang-glider enthusiast, pretty much eats, breathes and sleeps aviation. His father was an Air Force pilot, engineer and aviation buff, and an acquaintance of Paul MacCready, the engineer who designed and led the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross projects.As a high school student in Southern California, McNay joined MacCready's efforts building the Gossamer Albatross in Long Beach."I was basically doing all the grunt work -- sweeping floors, getting things -- and eventually I started building things. But I couldn't have asked for any better."McNay ran alongside the Albatross to keep the wing steady until pilot Bryan Allen built enough speed to take off. Then he jumped in a boat and crossed the English Channel to try to catch it on the other side."It was the most awesome thing to participate in as a kid," McNay said.At a reunion of the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross teams in 2005, McNay talked to MacCready, who bemoaned the lack of progress in human-powered aircraft since then. A seed was planted.After MacCready died in 2007, McNay discussed the challenges with Peter Lissaman, MacCready's longtime partner. They decided to study the feasibility of a plane that could compete for the other Kremer prizes sponsored by the aeronautical society, ignored since the Albatross' achievement.With advances in aircraft technology, it was feasible, they concluded, and the effort to design and build an aircraft was launched."It's been a matter of trying to find the resources and people to undertake this," said McNay, who figures he has spent $50,000 of his and other enthusiasts' money in the effort.As McNay designed the aircraft, he built and tested parts and technology. The Wind Rose is built almost entirely of advanced composite materials. The 60-foot-long wings are covered with a material similar to Mylar but much stronger.Friends in California are involved. A bicycle shop in Virginia is building the sprockets that will transmit pedal power to a lightweight, two-blade propeller to generate the thrust needed to fly and maneuver the Wind Rose.McNay has done his own research and development along the way. Test pieces, called "coupons" in the trade, were made to gauge strength and suitability.McNay thinks the plane will fly fine, although he won't know for sure until it's done.The next challenge is assembling a team and raising money to take the Wind Rose to the United Kingdom for the competition and the Olympics demonstration in July.For a long time, McNay and his supporters thought they were the only ones pursuing the prize. But recently they learned that at least one British team, from the University of Southampton, is also making the effort."We went from no pressure, if we get there we get there, to now we have to get there," McNay said. "The pressure is on, and we have to at least get airborne in the next couple of weeks."Bob Cox, 817-390-7723Twitter: @bobcoxict