1929: The first blind flight occurred when U.S. Army Air Corps pilot, Lt. James Doolittle, at the Guggenheim’s Full Flight Laboratory at Mitchel Field, took off in a specially instrumented Army Air Corp NY-2 Husky aircraft built by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation with Lt. Benjamin Kelsey as his safety officer and landed after a fifteen minute, 20 mile flight without ever seeing the ground. At the time the NY-2 Husky was the world’s most instrumented aircraft engaged in blind flying research. The rear cockpit contained the blind flying displays and during the trials preceding the blind flight was covered by a special hood to eliminate external references.
