HAMILTON–Pilot Bjarni Tryggvason insists he wasn't worried about death or injury or public humiliation or even the bitter cold when he took the controls of a replica of the first aircraft flown in Canada.
"It felt great," bubbled Tryggvason, 64, a former astronaut who blasted into outer space in 1997 as a payload specialist on a NASA Discovery flight.
As dozens of reporters and camera people watched yesterday, the Silver Dart replica took to the air half a dozen times.
Several of its exertions on Runway 24 of John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport weren't high enough to clear a sport utility vehicle. On its final ascent, however, the Silver Dart triumphantly lifted 4.5 metres (15 feet) in the air – enough height to comfortably clear Toronto Raptors' basketball player Chris Bosh with his arms outstretched.
More & Video
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/583884
Topic: One small step for aviation buffs (Read 1865 times)