Bill Lishman

Bill Lishman is a Canadian inventor, artist, and ultralight aircraft enthusiast.

Gliders and ultralights

Lishman started out by flying a revolutionary fixed-wing glider called the Easy Riser, a bi-wing craft designed in California by Larry Mauro as a hang glider. Bill practiced foot launching from his back yard (a 100-acre wooded lot with a large hill at one end) with varying degrees of success. Steering on the Easy Riser was controlled by two drag rudders, mounted between the wingtips. To turn, the pilot twisted the bars under his armpits from which the pilot hung. Pitch control was by weight-shifting pilot's body; leaning forward made gave a pitch down for more speed; and backward move of the pilot's body gave a pitch upwards and a slowing of the craft.

Tired of endlessly hauling the glider back up the hill, Bill took the next step and bolted an 8 horsepower go-kart engine on to the back of the hang glider (thus forming an ultralight aircraft), carved himself a propeller and on a fateful day in 1978 made Canadian aviation history by becoming the first in Canada to foot-launch a rigid-winged powered ultralight aircraft.

Operation Migration

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lishman openly wondered if waterfowl could be taught new migration patterns by following low-speed ultralight aircraft. In 1993, after several years of logistical and bureaucratic setbacks, Lishman successfully led a flock of Canada geese on a winter migration from Ontario, Canada to Northern Virginia. Of the sixteen birds that participated in the migration, thirteen returned to Ontario the following year - entirely on their own.

Operation Migration was co founded by Bill Lishman and Joe Duff in 1994 and registered as a charity in Canada and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States. Following the successful experiment with Canada geese, the team turned their efforts to rare and endangered species.

In 1999 Operation Migration, led by Joe Duff, was asked by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to spearhead an attempt to reintroduce whooping cranes into eastern North America. As of 2005, the team continues to lead a new generation of whooping cranes on their first migration with the goal of establishing a self sustaining flock by the year 2015.

The 1996 movie "Fly Away Home" was loosely based on Lishman's early work, including his book "Father Goose", published in 1995.

Politics

Lishman ran for the New Democratic Party in the Canadian federal election, 1974 in the riding of Ontario and placed third.

Personal life

In the early 1990s Lishman designed and built an energy efficient dome-shaped underground home. He lives there with his wife Paula Lishman, an internationally renowned fashion designer and president of the Fur Council of Canada.

External links

* [http://www.williamlishman.com Bill Lishman Home page]
* [http://www.operationmigration.org Operation Migration]
* [http://www.paulalishman.com Paula Lishman International]

ource

*Lishman, William. "Father Goose". Crown, 1996. ISBN 0-517-70182-0.