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Power glider describes performing at Air Show

Posted at 11:55 AM, Oct 03, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-03 14:55:17-04

The Miramar Air Show has been jam-packed with some of the military's most amazing performers.

There are also some civilian performers like Dan Buchanan.

"It's like how you'd imagine being Superman because the wing's above you, there's nothing below you except the ground down there," said Buchanan. "The first time my feet left the ground it was incredible."

That was 35 years ago, and now he's on the road eight months a year.

"It's nuts, it's fun," he said.

Buchanan has a motor so he can stay up higher, longer, with some flights lasting longer than six hours.

Saturday he will perform with pyrotechnics.

"I can't believe I'm allowed to do this, and I'm not going to jail," said Buchanan.

Buchanan says it's an honor to perform alongside the men and women who give him the freedom to do it.

The Marine Air Ground Task Force has been giving people a close-up look at how they insert troops and how they take them out of enemy territory.

It's what they do in combat, but at the Air Show they're having a blast.

"Being here around the military, I love being around the military anyway," said Buchanan.

Buchanan doesn't need the use of his legs in the air, but he lands with wheels because he was paralyzed after a hard landing in 1981.

To many in the audience, that makes him a lot cooler than Superman.

"It's a byproduct of what I do, I can't help that," said Buchanan.