About Aeronautical Publishers

Welcome to our website. We're glad you're here. Our mission is to help you learn more about aviation and model aviation so you can enjoy your activities more and become a better builder, flyer, or pilot. Enjoy.

• Watch Mike Markowski on "To Tell The Truth" circa 1973.
  Windows Media Player  Broadband or Dialup.
  Apple Quicktime  Broadband or Dialup.
• Mike's Induction into the E.A.A. Sport Aviation - Hall of Fame Ceremony Videos
• Harrisburg Magazine Article
• Mike's Biography
• Sky Pilot Article
• PA 2009 Highest Acheivment Award
• Living Legacy Interview of Michael
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Mike Markowski, founder, author, and publisher, began his aviation career when he received his first model airplane at five years old. He was active in the hobby and also designed and built a wind tunnel as a science fair project. He used it to conduct experiments on model wing sections, which earned him numerous awards, leading to a full-tuition scholarship to study aerospace engineering at Penn State University. Upon graduation, he worked for Douglas and Sikorsky Aircraft Companies as well as a NASA job shop, but after four years he felt something was missing.

In the early 70s, when he got his pilot's license, started hang gliding, and discovered Otto Lilienthal's great book, Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation, things started coming together. Reading Lilienthal's book inspired him to become an entrepreneur, and led him into being instrumental in forming the first two hang glider manufacturing firms on the east coast.

Local and national media began featuring Mike's hang gliding activities, which included publishing Skysurfer magazine, leading to a call from a literary agent. He then wrote The Hang Gliders Bible, published in 1976 by TAB Books, soon followed by The Encyclopedia of Homebuilt Aircraft in 1978. After launching a mail order aviation book business, Mike then wrote Ultralight Aircraft and published it 1981, marking the beginning of Aeronautical Publishers. The FAA used his book to help them formulate The Ultralight Rule: FAR 103.

Since that time, Mike has written eight books and published many others covering model airplanes, ultralights, homebuilts, and aviation history. He operates the business together with his wife Marjie, the love of his life.

In celebration of the First Flight Centennial, Mike has republished the great aeronautical classics which have been out of print for a century or so. These rare, fascinating books trace the exciting beginnings of aviation--both before and after the Wright Brothers first flew on December 17, 1903. The Wrights studied three of those books, The Aeronautical Annuals of 1895, 1896, and 1897, which were recommended to them by the Smithsonian Institute.

Otto Lilienthal, "The Father of Gliding Flight," who wrote Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation, was the Wright Brothers' hero and inspiration. They studied the aerodynamic data he developed through his experiments, which are incorporated into the back matter of the book.

We hope our website, books, video tapes, and models inspire you to follow your model and full-scale aviation dreams. Enjoy your visit. We look forward to serving you.