SSA President and Board Member. National Aeronautics Association Contest and Records Board. Evaluator for initial phase of the Perlan Project.
Warren E. Eaton Memorial Trophy. 435-mile Distance Record.
Brian Utley was born in Cottingham, England, and came to the States in 1949 to live in Utah. He became a citizen in 1954 and soon joined the Civil Air Patrol. He went to work for IBM in 1956, finished his flight training and organized a group to purchase an ERCO Ercoupe. Following a move to California, he began soaring. In 1957, Brian placed 14th in the National Soaring Championship in his first competition. He competed annually until 1987, earning first place (15-meter) in 1976 and second place (15-meter) in 1978.
IBM assigned Brian to Rochester, MN, in 1974 and at this time he was appointed to the SSA Board of Directors, a position he held until 1982. He did the planning for the 1975 Region 7 Soaring Championships at Sleepy Eye, MN. He won his class there, and also soared from there to St. Louis, a distance of 435 miles, a record which is still standing. In 1977 he soared to over 30,000’ over Pike’s Peak, CO. Brian was elected president of the SSA in 1978, and during his term, developed a relationship with the EAA and AOPA to stop the FAA proposal to lower controlled air space to 10,000’. Brian testified to Congress on this issue, and as a result of his efforts, Class A airspace remained at 18,000’ MSL. In 1981 was awarded the Warren E. Eaton Memorial Trophy. He returned to Minnesota in 2001 and was invited to join the National Aeronautics Association Contest and Records Board in 2003. There he supervised speed and altitude record attempts of all kinds.
In cooperation with the NAA, Brian led the way for use of IGC-approved flight recorders for contest and record flights. As a result, Brian served as the official observer for Felix Baumgartner’s parachute jump from the stratosphere. He also supervised documentation of Steve Fossett’s round-the-world flight. Brian served as evaluator for the initial phase of the Perlan Project, and because of his work, the IGC approved the instrumentation for the Perlan Project’s data recording above 50,000’.
Brian and his wife, Sharon, currently live in Bloomington, MN.