Wright Flyer Replica to Fly in 2003
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Wright Flyer Replica to Fly in 2003
WIRE:09/12/2000 17:28:00 ET
Wright brothers plane replica to
fly in 2003
WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - A
replica of the Wright brothers" historic
biplane is being built to honour the first
flight of a powered aircraft, planned to
take place exactly a century after the
landmark in aviation history. A group of
pilots and flight enthusiasts stood Tuesday
at the National Air and Space Museum
under the original "Wright Flyer" to
announce the countdown to the event. "It is a once in a
lifetime opportunity for aviation to tell its story," said
Tom
Poberezny, President and CEO of the Experimental
Aviation Association, which is sponsoring the project. "This
airplane started it all." He said that on Dec. 17, 2003, at
10:35 a.m. (1535 GMT), a century to the minute after the
flight, the replica will attempt to take off from the same
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, beach where history was
made. On the cold and windy morning of Dec. 17, 1903,
Orville and Wilbur Wright managed to get their frail Flyer,
made of cloth and wood, into the air for a mere 12 seconds.
"The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly
erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and
partly to
lack of experience in handling this machine," Orville later
wrote in personal notes. "I would hardly think today of
making my first flight on a strange machine in a 27 mile
wind, even if I knew that the machine had already been
flown and was safe," Orville wrote years afterward. The
replica of the Wright Flyer has been under construction for
two months, said its builder Ken Hyde, a former airline pilot
who has been restoring aircraft since 1965. "It"s going to be
challenging but two people flew this plane so we are
confident we can do it," Hyde said. "It"s very humbling to
understand just what these two gentlemen were trying to
do."
Happiness is a warm L1011
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Hey Guv , if you could only persuade them to make a couple of extra , you could start a small parcel freight service!
Mind you , on second thoughts ,as the ministry would probably insist on the operation being two crew ,and bearing in mind the subsequent available payload , perhaps that should be a "verbal message service"!
Mind you , on second thoughts ,as the ministry would probably insist on the operation being two crew ,and bearing in mind the subsequent available payload , perhaps that should be a "verbal message service"!
