Gus McLeod
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Gus McLeod, (born 1954) is a pilot and author whose exploits have been featured in television appearances. He was the first person to fly around the North Pole in an open-cockpit biplane. McLeod is planning a solo, pole-to-pole flight.
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[edit] Biography
As a boy McLeod lived in Corinth, Mississippi. "His father, a Methodist minister, later moved the family to Washington, D.C. where McLeod studied chemistry at Catholic University and met his future wife" (Smithsonian). On Apr 17, 2000, he became the first person to fly around the North Pole in an open-cockpit biplane. McLeod is an entrepreneur who lives in Laytonsville, Maryland. He is working with Florida Atlantic University and the Federal Aviation Administration to create a course on aviation history for middle schools. His wife, Mary, and three children, including Hera, who competed with him in The Amazing Race.
[edit] Notability
McLeod was featured in a four-column article in the Smithsonian magazine, because he planned to fly his "...Beech 18 solo from the South Pole to the North Pole, a 32,000 mile trip, in about two months" (Smithsonian).
The UK aeronautic company Cobham reports in an employee newsletter that Gus McLeod is a former CIA chemist, and is currently a businessman based in Maryland, USA. (Source: http://www.cobham-news.com/09/default.asp?action=pdf&issue=9&cat=6&article=238).
[edit] Works
- Solo to the Top of the World: Gus McLeod's Daring Record Flight, 2003, 245 pages ISBN 1-58834-102-X
[edit] Appearances
- Television — Inside Base Camp: Tori Murden and Gus McLeod, 2002
- Television — The Amazing Race 6, Nov 14, 2004
[edit] Resources
- Smithsonian magazine, Apr 2003, pg 42 Flight of Fancy
- CUA Magazine[1], "Embracing Adventure Two Alumni Show the Way"
