Reliving landmark in aviation history

Reliving landmark in aviation history
REUTERS

WASHINGTON, SEPT 13: 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 on 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 December 17, 2003, at 10:35 a m (15:35 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 December 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 later.

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 the 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."