History repeats itself, entertainingly

Seventy-five years ago today, Charles Lindbergh climbed alone into a tiny single-engine plane, settled into a wicker lawn chair and took off from a foggy New York airfield. He landed in Paris 33 1/2 hours later to the cheers of 150,000 people bowled over by his feat: the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

To mark that defining moment in American history and the development of aviation, Lindbergh's grandson, Erik Lindbergh, duplicated the flight on May 1-2. The History Channel captures the details and danger of both adventures in Lindbergh Flies Again, premiering tonight.

The first half of the two-hour documentary alternates between the flights, providing quick biographies of the pilots and focusing on the background and preparation for each journey. (The second half of the show was being edited at press time and was not available for preview.)

Archive footage of Charles Lindbergh captures his all-American charm and youth; he was 25 when he flew to Paris. The show also conveys the courage involved in setting out in the Spirit of St. Louis, which was constructed mainly of wire and canvas. The plane was so stripped down that it lacked even a radio and parachute because Lindbergh wanted to carry as much fuel as possible (he even trimmed the margins off his maps to save a few ounces).

Erik Lindbergh, 37, flies the New Spirit of St. Louis, a Lancair Columbia 300 that is much more high-tech than his grandfather's Ryan monoplane. But his effort is impressive: His training included being strapped into a simulated cockpit and dunked into a tank of water, then swimming in near-freezing chop in the Atlantic so he could learn how to escape his plane if he had to ditch at sea.

This becomes more remarkable when we learn that Erik was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at 21 and for years was severely disabled, unable even to walk without pain. A biopharmaceutical treatment developed a few years ago allowed him to follow in his grandfather's flight plan.

Erik Lindbergh, who champions environmental causes and private development of space travel, said in an interview that he sees his flight as a continuation of his grandfather's legacy.

"Grandfather always talked about the flight as 'we.' He talked about the beating of his heart and the firing of the pistons, each one depending on the other. I wanted to experience that, the organic relationship between nature and technology" that became important to Charles Lindbergh late in his life and has long been a passion of his grandson's.

Lindbergh Flies Again makes clear that the spirit of adventure was passed down from grandfather to grandson.

TV PREVIEW

Lindbergh Flies Again airs at 9 tonight on the History Channel.

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