"John H. Campbell" wrote in message
...
It is registered as a glider, it appears (N328KF),

Heh, heh. Indeed -- "engine type: none". That's rich.

but I couldn't find a Mike Melville with a glider rating in the pilot
certificate database

That's because it's spelled "Melvill", no "e" unlike the author of "Moby
Dick". Getting wrong the name of a world hero (of S. African origin)!?
His
FAA listing duly shows "glider". Don't you recall that Mike did test
flights in the 1980s on the "Solitaire" which won the SSA's motorglider
design contest?



Hmmmm. Does this mean that a new glider attitude record has been set?
Maybe an altitude gain record too? I don't recall that the FAI is on record
excluding altitude gain resulting from ballistic trajectories.

Bill Daniels