Claim: McCornack flew from California to Wisconsin in 1979 before being invited to fly an aircraft on ethanol, a simple alcohol produced by fermentation.
Evidence: In 1979 McCornack and his flying partner, Keith Nicely, flew two improved Fledglings from their base in Monterey, California, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where they made a positive impression on the large gathering of pilots at the EAA annual convention there. At the convention they were invited by Mother Earth News magazine to fly the aircraft on to the Atlantic coast on pure ethanol supplied by the magazine. It is a simple alcohol with the chemical formula C 2H 6O. Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration.