Erik Robbins Lindbergh (born 1965) is an American

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, adventurer, and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

. He is the grandson of pioneering aviator

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, the first person to fly non-stop and solo between New York and Paris in 1927. In 2002, Erik Lindbergh honored the 75th anniversary of his grandfather's historic flight by retracing the journey in a single-engine Lancair aircraft. The journey was documented by the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Dis ...

, raised over one million dollars for three charities, garnered half a billion media impressions for the X PRIZE Foundation and helped to jump-start the private Spaceflight industry. The flight prompted a call from United States President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

for inspiring the country after the tragedy of September 11.

Career

Erik has a degree in

Aeronautical Science Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

from

Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is a private university focused on aviation and aerospace programs. Initially founded at Lunken Field in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1926, its main campuses are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Presco ...

, is a commercial rated pilot and flight instructor. owns the Lindbergh Gallery, and is the founder and CEO of Powering Imagination. He also serves on the board of directors of Aviation High School in Seattle, Washington. He lives in a yurt which he built in the Pacific Northwest. He serves on the board of the X PRIZE Foundation, which administered the Ansari X Prize for the first non-governmental reusable crewed

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to spaceflight, fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth ...

, in addition to serving on the NatureBridge Olympic Board of Directors. The X Prize is seen as a major boost for the cause of space tourism, and of

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet U ...

in general. It is fashioned after the

Orteig Prize The Orteig Prize was a reward offered to the first Allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa.Bak. Pages 28 and 29. Several famous aviators made unsuccessful attempts at the New York–Paris flight before the rel ...

, the aviation incentive prize won by Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927. In June 2012, Lindbergh became a brand ambassador for global aircraft charter provider, Air Charter Service. The company's founder and chairman, Chris Leach, was quoted as saying: "It is a great honour to have Erik on board as our Brand Ambassador – his pioneering work in the world of aviation is inspiring and he shares our visions for the future of how we travel around the planet."

Anniversary flight

In May 2002, Erik Lindbergh honored the 75th anniversary of his grandfather's historic flight by re-tracing the flight across the Atlantic in a small single engine aircraft, a

Lancair Lancair International, Inc. (pronounced ''"lance-air"'') is a U.S. manufacturer of general aviation aircraft kits. They are well known for their series of high-performance single-engine aircraft that offer cruise speeds that surpass many tw ...

Columbia 300 dubbed ''The New Spirit of St. Louis'' which cost US$289,000. Leaving from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, he flew to

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, then

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of ...

, and then the most famous portion, the non-stop flight from

Republic Airport Republic Airport is a regional airport in East Farmingdale, New York, located one mile east of Farmingdale village limits. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation '' reliever airp ...

on Long Island to Le Bourget Airport in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

on May 2, 2002. The last portion of the flight was completed in 17 hours and 7 minutes, roughly half the time as the original (33 1/2 hours), but still a challenge as Lindbergh suffers from disabling

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and ...

and has two artificial knees. The "Mission Control" for the flight was located at the

Saint Louis Science Center The Saint Louis Science Center, founded as a planetarium in 1963, is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. With over 750 exhibits in a complex of ov ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, which as of 2011 maintains multiple exhibits about the flight. Lindbergh participated in the Flight Across America project, speaking during the opening ceremonies at

Paine Field Paine Field , also known as Snohomish County Airport, is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington, between th ...

, Everett, Washington on August 11, 2002 and then participating in the closing ceremonies in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on the deck of the USS ''Intrepid'' on September 8, 2002.

Verdego Aero

In December 2017, Lindbergh formed VerdeGo Aero with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Pat Anderson, and Eric Bartsch. VerdeGo develops

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described b ...

propulsion systems for aircraft. As over 100 companies try to build eVTOL, Lindbergh wants to supply its electric

distributed propulsion In aeronautics, Distributed propulsion is an arrangement in which the propulsive and related air flows are distributed over the aerodynamic surfaces of an aircraft. The purpose is to improve the craft's aerodynamic, propulsive and/or structural ...

from 2023: the -H2 powered by one or two

piston engines A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

for 2-3-seat aircraft and the IDEP-H7 based on a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

for 5-7-seaters. Its competitors would include

Safran Safran S.A. is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft engines, rocket engines as well as various aerospace and defense-related equipment or their components. It was formed by a merger between SNECMA an ...

, Siemens, Yates Electrospace, motorist

MagniX magniX is an electric motor manufacturer for electric aircraft, wholly owned by Singapore investor Clermont Group. The company is headquartered in Everett, Washington, United States. History The company was founded in 2009 in Australia to resea ...

or Swiss H55 formed by Solar Impulse co-founder André Borschberg.

Helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

-style Articulated rotors provide more control for larger aircraft than

multicopter A multirotor or multicopter is a rotorcraft with more than two lift-generating rotors. An advantage of multirotor aircraft is the simpler rotor mechanics required for flight control. Unlike single- and double-rotor helicopters which use complex ...

drones' fixed- pitch propellers, avoiding control lag.

Personal

Son of

Jon Lindbergh Jon Morrow Lindbergh (August 16, 1932 – July 29, 2021) was an American underwater diver. He worked as a United States Navy demolition expert and as a commercial diver, and was one of the world's earliest aquanauts in the 1960s. He was also ...

and Barbara Robbins, Erik Lindbergh is the grandson, by his father, of the pioneering aviators

and

Anne Morrow Lindbergh Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights. Raised in Englewood, New Jers ...

. His father's Lindbergh siblings are Land Morrow Lindbergh (1937-), writer

Anne Spencer Lindbergh Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights. Raised in Englewood, New Jerse ...

(1940–1993), conservationist Scott Lindbergh (1942-), and writer

Reeve Lindbergh Reeve Morrow Lindbergh (born October 2, 1945) is an American author from Caledonia County, Vermont, who grew up in Darien, Connecticut as the daughter of aviator Charles Lindbergh (19021974) and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh (19062001). She grad ...

(1945-).

Writing

Lindbergh has written the foreword to several books, a monthly column in AOPA Pilot magazine and numerous freelance and op-ed articles.

Awards, honors, distinctions

In May 2008 Lindbergh was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Molloy College in NY for outstanding service to humanity.

References

External links

www.ErikLindbergh.com
official site
Erik Lindbergh Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindbergh, Erik 1965 births Living people American people of Swedish descent Aviators from Washington (state) Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University alumni Erik People from Bainbridge Island, Washington Artists from Washington (state)