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Ivo Zdarsky

So I was researching how the electric Ivo propeller pitch change works and learned more about its inventor, Ivo Zdarsky.

Ivo Zdarsky was born in communist Czechoslovakia and started building self designed hanggliders in his teenage years. He later used a self built powered version of one of his flying contraptions to escape to Austria, becoming the first refugee to successfully fly a homebuilt aircraft over the Iron Curtain to freedom. He started this particular flight around 3AM, flew lowlevel to a radar station, circled up to altitude overhead, in its “cone of silence”, and then quickly descended into Austrian airspace. Since it was dark he circled close to and even overhead Vienna International Airport for some time, but there was no activity so early in the day. He then saw a 747 being towed on one of the taxiways and landed right next to it, under its wing.
Once on the ground, he requested political asylum, and after moving about Austria for 6 weeks to avoid Czechoslovakian secret agents, he flew to the US, where he founded Ivoprop. He now lives, as the only person around, in an abandoned railroad town, where he inhabits a huge hangar turned into a “mancave”.

Last Edited by Snoopy at 11 Mar 23:12
always learning
LO__, Austria
always learning
LO__, Austria

He started this particular flight around 3AM, flew lowlevel to a radar station, circled up to altitude overhead, in its “cone of silence”, and then quickly descended into Austrian airspace.

That’s pretty clever

Ivoprop’s postal address is in Long Beach CA.

Lucian, Utah where he has his hangar etc really is the middle of nowhere. I used to spend some time in the area.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 12 Mar 01:37

Damn. A life less ordinary for sure. Apparently he also owns the airfield there with two 4000 ft runways and a VORTAC. Thanks for sharing.

EBGB EBKT, Belgium

The realisation of freedom…
Fantastic individual and story, would be worth a movie with… Tom Hanks in the lead

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Wow. What a story.

That airfield is pretty far off the actual Lucin ghosttown or whatever it is. Google Maps actually calls the area Wendover. I wonder, is this possibly the former Wendover airbase? Looks small for it but who knows.

https://goo.gl/maps/3XpndayLrdMuBc7J6

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Quite a story indeed. But how exactly do you get into the cone of silence from below without being painted by the radar?

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

I wonder, is this possibly the former Wendover airbase? Looks small for it but who knows.

They are 40 nm apart. Here is a view of the Sectional, neglecting the Restricted Area in between it shows the route from Wendover (KENV) to Lucin in relation to Salt Lake City.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 12 Mar 17:40

If you go to Berlin and see Ivo’s trike on display, notice the nick in one of the (fiberglass?) prop blades. As he took off, he heard a rock hit one of the blades. Had he made the prop from wood, he says it probably would have broken. Instead, it held together as he flew above the trees toward a border radar station. Directly above the station, he pushed the engine to full power and climbed inside the radar’s cone-shaped blind-spot to a couple of thousand feet, then glided swiftly across the Danube River to safety in Austrian airspace. // Source https://ivoprop.com/about/

always learning
LO__, Austria

Thanks Snoopy. So he probably created a massive signal on the radar which the operator must have interpreted as a spurious signal I suppose. maybe even just one blip if it was a slowly rotating long range one :)

Private field, Mallorca, Spain
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