Shane Lundgren facts for kids

Shane Christopher Lundgren, born on March 21, 1961, is an American pilot and a leader in the aviation business. He started a company called Metolius Aviation Capital, which helps invest in airplanes. He has worked with commercial airlines and helped companies rent out airplanes.

Lundgren is a special member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He has led many exciting trips focused on flying.

Early Life and Learning to Fly

Shane Lundgren was born in Palo Alto, California. He went to the University of San Diego and studied economics and history, finishing in 1984. He also trained at National Air College to become a pilot. There, he earned many different pilot licenses.

In 1982, when he was just 21 years old, Shane became qualified to fly the Boeing 737 airplane. This was with Air Berlin USA, an airline started by his father, Kim Lundgren, in Berlin, Germany. At that time, Shane was the youngest person ever to fly the 737 for an airline.

A Career in Aviation

Lundgren flew as a captain for Air Berlin from 1982 until 2012. After the Berlin Wall came down, Lundgren helped Air Berlin change from a U.S.-registered airline to a German one. This was a very unusual change in airline history.

In 1998, Lundgren started working for Pembroke Capital in Dublin, Ireland. Here, he began to learn about renting out and financing commercial airplanes. He even led a flight to the North Pole that Pembroke Capital sponsored. From 2000 to 2012, he was involved in selling and leasing airplanes from the Air Berlin fleet. In 2015, he started his own company, Metolius Aviation Capital, which focuses on investing in commercial aircraft.

Amazing Expeditions

After traveling in Russia, Lundgren thought of flying across Siberia in Russian Antonov An-2 biplanes. These are old-fashioned planes with two sets of wings.

Flying Across Siberia

In 1994, Lundgren led an exciting flying trip across Siberia. This adventure was supported by Wired magazine and several technology companies. It was one of the first expeditions ever to be shared and documented online. The flight started in Moscow and went north of the Arctic Circle all the way across Siberia to Magadan.

Exploring the Arctic

In 1995, the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center joined Lundgren on another flying trip. Their goal was to learn about and record the lives of native people from Yakutsk to Alaska, flying across the Bering Straits. This expedition was also featured on Discovery Online, which was a new online platform at the time. Lundgren later started WorldSight, an early online magazine.

Lundgren led more polar expeditions in 1997 and 1998. In 1998, a National Geographic Television show featured one of his flights to the North Pole. On April 13, 1998, Lundgren piloted a special flight that landed right at the North Pole. On this flight, he carried the Explorers Club flag. This was the same flag that famous explorers Sir George Hubert Wilkins and Carl Ben Eielson carried on their flight across the top of the world in 1929.

The airplane Lundgren used for his Arctic trips, an Antonov An-2 Colt biplane (registration N61SL), is now on display. You can see it in the Aviation Pavilion at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.