"Silent Wings" Soars

Yeah, I know, the idea of a jet-powered glider sounds like somethin’ right out of the Jetsons. But it’s not. A forward-thinking gentleman named Bob Carlton mounted two side-by-side Amt USA AT 450 engines, engines actually designed for smaller radio-controlled airplanes, to a retractable pod. Then, he stuck all of this on top of an Italian Alisport glider.

Bob can not only make this glider fly and soar. Bob can make this glider dance.

If you’ve never seen the Silent Wings air show, it’s a real treat and one of the prettiest flight demonstration you’ll ever see. Bob self-launches utilizing the two Amt 450 engines which kick out about 90 lbs of combined thrust. He climbs to about 2,000 feet, where he throttles back to idle and performs a series of choreographed aerobatic maneuvers, matching movement for movement, a song entitled: "Tamara’s Love Theme." By the end of the song, Bob will be at five feet above the runway.

At this point, he shoves the throttles forward and his act now becomes a quote; "No kiddin', on the deck, low-level jet show!"

The next four minutes are intense! Bob pushes this genuine fire breather through an aggressive low-level aerobatic sequence set to music with a little more kick. 

Hey, what else can you expect a rocket scientist to do on the weekend? That's right, Monday through Friday, he really is a rocket scientist.

At the age of 19, Bob was introduced to aviation when he started flying hang-gliders. He has since logged more than 2,000 hours in everything from single engine airplanes to helicopters and earned a commercial certificate.

Bob was inspired to join the air show business after seeing a Manfred Radius performance in Albuquerque. Bob’s first act used a Salto Sailplane and was very similar to the upper half of his present jet-glider routine. For six years, Bob traveled around the country performing at any air show he could. The only down side to this was that he also had to travel with his own tow-plane and a second pilot.

After watching the late Jimmy Franklin's jet Waco, Bob thought he could adapt the same concept to a glider. After crunching some serious numbers, Bob concluded there actually was an engine on the market that could provide the thrust he needed, yet was still under the weight limit the task required. The only problem was nobody had ever tried to put this engine on a real aircraft! And he was going to need two of them.

Just imagine what the FAA thought.

To make a long story short, after six months of paperwork with the FAA investigating the FAR's from every possible angle to stop him, the FAA discovered that mounting engines designed for model aircraft onto a human carrying aircraft is not illegal simply because nobody had ever tried it before. With no legal way to stop him, the FAA had to step aside and watch Bob from the ground.

Now, hundreds of thousands of spectators get the pleasure of watching Bob from the ground. He is currently in the middle of his third season and performing 15 shows a year.

"I’m not getting rich at this, but it is paying for my toys and I’m sure having a lot of fun," Bob says.

FMI: www.silentwingsairshows.com