By Angela Satterlee
Mike Blyth — a test pilot, entrepreneur, and aircraft lover who founded Sling Aircraft — is the winner of the Dr. August Raspet Memorial Award this year. He accepted it on Wednesday, July 24, from the director of EAA chapters and homebuilding, Charlie Becker.
Named for the late Dr. August “Gus” Raspet, a professor at Mississippi State University and avid light aircraft enthusiast, the award has been presented every year since 1960 to a person making an outstanding contribution to the advancement of light aircraft design.
Mike is a member of South Africa Chapter 332 in Johannesburg and now lives in Cape Town, South Africa, where he’s officially begun his retirement. He has made numerous contributions to the light aircraft industry over several decades, beginning in 1985 when he started Skyriders flight school out of Bapsfontein, South Africa, the oldest microlight flight school in South Africa, only one year after getting his instructor rating. He has been involved in the ultralight industry ever since.
Mike started Sling Aircraft from scratch in 2005. What started as a company with three people has expanded to employ more than 425 people who produce nearly 15 aircraft every month. Just a few of the airplanes that Mike has designed include the Sling High Wing, the Sling 2, the Sling 4, and the Sling TSi.
Mike said his success is due to wanting to fly his creations. “I suppose it was the motivation. Design it yourself, make it yourself, fly around the world yourself.”
Mike always loved drawing airplanes, and he used to make model planes with his dad. He was interested in the process of building planes and learned through hands-on experience. Mike didn’t have a strong background in aviation at first, and he wasn’t a certified engineer or architect when he started his companies. But through a strong passion and a collaboration with his team at Sling, his company has grown exponentially.
On top of designing and building ultralights, Mike has flown his designs for several monthlong expeditions around the world. He also won the World Microlight Championship in 1992 and is the only South African to do so. Between taking friends, business partners, and now his wife on safaris and trips, along with training for flying competitions, he has flown more than 5,000 hours at the controls of different types of light aircraft.
“Flying around the world, it gave me the insight to be able to produce an aircraft that really met the ideas that I had about what an aircraft should be,” Mike explained.