Word: daedalus
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...M.I.T. and now a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Va. His dream took the combined brains and brawn of 36 engineers, students, historians, physiologists and athletes -- and nearly three years -- to realize. Like the ultralight craft Gossamer Albatross, which crossed the English Channel in 1979, Daedalus uses human energy and a pair of pedals to drive its propellers. The craft was designed and constructed specifically to challenge Albatross's records for both duration (2 hr. 40 min.) and straight- line distance (22.3 miles). To achieve this, the M.I.T. team built a gearbox with...
...waves, even a second's pause would result in a quick dunking. To keep the human engine from sputtering, Nadel, with the Shaklee vitamin company, developed a lemon-flavored cocktail of energy-rich glucose, water and a blend of salts to nourish the pilot throughout the flight. In addition, Daedalus' team of five pilot-athletes staggered their training schedules, each of them bicycling an average of 450 miles a week so that one of them would be in peak physical form whenever the go-ahead for the flight came...
Eventually, however, the gods smiled on the ambitious endeavor. The rosy- fingered dawn that broke over the Greek air force base at Heraklion last Saturday was accompanied by only the merest zephyrs, perfect flight weather for Daedalus. Temperatures were mild, in the high 60s, ensuring that Kanellopoulos would not burn himself out during the long flight. By 3 a.m., most members of the team were awake. Some made last-minute checks of the weather, while others gently assembled the spindly pink-silver-and-white plane and carried it to the runway. At 7:06 Kanellopoulos eased his 156-lb. frame...
Once in the air, the young pilot maneuvered Daedalus 88 with a stubby metal joystick on the floor to his right. To decrease the drag on their sprawling invention, the plane's designers had dispensed with the hinged ailerons on the following edges of the wings that normally make turning easier. As a result, Daedalus responded sluggishly, to the stick's movements, making it more difficult for Kanellopoulos to steer a straight course...
...tried to land. First the tail broke off and then the wing. Next thing the pilot-athlete knew, he was swimming toward shore, where an enthusiastic mob surged forward to greet him. Champagne corks popped. Kanellopoulos good-naturedly signed autographs on the broken bits and pieces of Daedalus' wing. And the crowd had a new Greek hero to celebrate...