Montgomery Flight
1904
Moffett Field
1933
China Clipper
1936
Hiller XH - 44
1944
NASA Ames Research Center
1939

The most recent Crystal Eagle Awards Banquet was Saturday, October 24, 2009 at the Hiller Museum, San Carlos Airport where we recognized the achivements of Mike Melvill.

The Aero Club of Northern California recognized Mike Melvill, who flew SpaceShipOne on a sub-orbital mission into space in 2004 to become the first commercial astronaut.

Melvill was the 27th recipient of the Crystal Eagle Award, presented annually by the Aero Club to honor those whose achievements are among the highest in aviation.  Melville made history on June 21, 2004 as the first pilot of SpaceShipOne, which was built by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites LLC.  His flight was the first privately funded mission to reach space.  He was the 435th person to go into space.

Melvill also flew the next mission of SpaceShipOne – the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition for the first non-government organization to send a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.  The SpaceShipOne project won the $10 million prize awarded by the X Prize Foundation.

In 25 years as a test pilot, Melvill logged 7,600 hours as the pilot of more than 130 types of aircraft.  He made the first flights in 10 of the Burt Rutan-designed aircraft.  In 1997, Melvill flew around the world with Dick Rutan in a Long EZ aircraft that he built himself.  He is the sole or joint holder of nine FAI aviation world records.

The Aero Club also presented National Aeronautic Association Certificate awards to general aviation activist John Blair of San Jose, and FBO Owner and aviation professor Brian Stout of Morgan Hill for their life-long contributions to the advancement of flight.

More about the Crystal Eagle Award
The Aero Club Crystal Eagle is presented annually by the Aero Club of Northern California to recognize an individual whose accomplishments have significantly contributed to the advancement of aviation or space technology. Our past Crystal Eagle Award Winners are:

1983: General James “Jimmy” Doolittle
1984: Brigadier General Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager
1985: Stanley Hiller, Jr.
1986: William “Bill” Lear, Sr.
1987: James M. “Jim” Nissen
1988: Anthony W. “Tony” LeVier
1989: Elbert “Burt” L. Rutan
1990: George S. Cooper
1991: Allen E. Paulson
1992: Jeana Yeager
1993: Robert T. Jones
1994: Frank L. Christensen
1995: James S. Ricklefs
1996: Darryl G. Greenamyer
1997: Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson
1998: Donald D. Engen
1999: Paul H. Poberezny
2000: Wayne Handley
2001: Igor I. Sikorsky
2002: A. Scott Crossfield
2003: Clay Lacy
2004: Elgen M. Long
2005: Eileen Marie Collins
2006: Sean Tucker
2007: Steve Fossett
2008: Phil Boyer
2009: Mike Melvill

The Crystal Eagle Award is a unique work of art crystal handcrafted in Italy.
It is fitting that the eagle should be the symbol for the Aero Club’s annual award. The North American eagle is recognized as a bird possessing great strength, natural grace, keenness of vision and power in flight. The eagle has historically been used by man to identify with flying.

The Crystal Eagle is mounted on a California redwood base, unique to Northern California. In its natural state, redwood has unusual durability, commensurate with the recipients of this coveted award.