American Aerolights

[1][2][3][4] Newman was well known for his 1978 flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the balloon Double Eagle II with Ben Abruzzo and Maxie Anderson.

As a result of that flight Newman received the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Congress.

[1][2][3][4] The Eagle design sold in large numbers, but suffered many wing failures that resulted in several fatalities as a result of the deterioration of the unreinforced Dacron sailcloth trailing edge design.

The lawsuits, as a result of the design defects, put the company out of business in about 1984, just as the market for ultralight aircraft in the United States collapsed.

[3] The company is most noted as the first manufacturer of ultralight aircraft to have one of their designs used by a police service.

American Aerolights Falcon
An American Aerolights Double Eagle that was flown by the Monterey Park, California Police Department, seen in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum , Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center .