Countdown is on to historic “Wright” flight

Goggles—check. Scarf—check. Test flight—check.

Kevin Kochersberger, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and organizers of Countdown to Kitty Hawk and the First Flight Centennial Celebration recently took another step toward next week’s reenactment of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.

In a test flight on Nov. 20, Kochersberger flew a reproduction 1903 Wright Flyer for more than 100 feet. At 10:35 a.m. on Dec. 17—the 100th anniversary, to the minute, of the Wright brothers’ historic flight—Kochersberger or Terry Queijo will take the controls in Wright Brothers National Memorial, a national park near Kitty Hawk, N.C., and fly 119 feet, a foot less than the Wright brothers’ first flight. Each was named a Pilot of the Century by the Experimental Aircraft Association last summer, and a coin toss will determine who pilots the craft first next week.

“I can’t describe how incredible it felt when the flyer lifted off the track,” Kochersberger says of last month’s test flight. “Now I know with great confidence that Dec. 17 will be very special.”

Kochersberger coordinated wind-tunnel testing of the replica flyer and conducted reverse engineering tests on a Wright brothers’ aircraft engine and on propellers and airframes. Pilot training was funded by Northrop Grumman Corp. Kochersberger’s work is documented at www.rit.edu/upub/kittyhawk, which includes photographs taken by Steve Diehl, associate professor of photography, and Vici Zaremba-Diehl.

The reenactment is sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association, Ford Motor Co. and The Wright Experience.