Thomas Knauff
American writer
Thomas L. Knauff (April 27, 1938 – February 21, 2024) was an American writer, glider pilot, flight instructor, former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Designated Pilot Examiner, and a member of the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame. He was an early pioneer of ridge soaring in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in the 1960s, ultimately setting five world records flying gliders there. He was the stunt pilot in the 1999 film The Thomas Crown Affair.
Knauff was the first glider pilot to fly 750 km and 1000 km triangle course flights in the United States, and was the first to fly 1000 km with a passenger. His 1,647 km (1,023 mi) out-and-return flight in 1983 was the world's longest glider flight at the time, stood as a world record for nearly 20 years, and is still a U.S. national record. He has set more than 50 other U.S. National soaring records.
His glider flight training manuals, Glider Basics from First Flight to Solo and Glider Basics from Solo to License are his most popular in the U.S., and he remains a respected glider flight instructors in the world despite his death in February 2024. Knauff was one of the few FAA designated pilot examiners authorized to issue initial flight instructor certificates.
Knauff lived near State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Doris Grove, another hall of fame glider pilot. They owned and operated the Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Julian, Pennsylvania which they founded in 1975 (closed 2022).
The public source identifies “Thomas Knauff” as american writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Thomas, Knauff and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7791572. VIAF identifies the subject as 30855354. The Library of Congress control number is n81028750. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2024, 1999 and 1000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Knauff” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.