Remembering a once-in-a-lifetime Grand Canyon flight, 50 years on

Fifty years ago, five young men stepped off the edge of the Grand Canyon one by one, each suspended beneath the wing of a hang glider.

From Maricopa Point they flew into the canyon’s depths, crossing the inner gorge before landing at Plateau Point. It was the first time, and the last time, that the National Park Service gave permission for anyone to fly a hang glider below the canyon’s rim.