Wright brothers' piloting skills revealed

ALLISON GATLIN ^ | March 10, 2006 | ALLISON GATLIN

[BenLurkin]

EDWARDS AFB - The Wright brothers may be noted for their pioneering work as aeronautical engineers, but their piloting skills are worthy of recognition as well, said one modern-day pilot who took the unsteady controls of an accurate replica of the Wrights' 1903 powered flyer. Kevin Kochersberger , a mechanical engineering professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, took part in the Wright Experience, an attempt to re-create the brothers' historic 1903 flight in celebration of the centennial of the beginning of modern aviation.

Kochersberger shared his experiences with the Wright Flyer replica before an appreciative audience at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Wednesday. He was one of four pilots in the project, and was selected to helm the celebratory flight on Dec. 17, 2003, marking 100 years since the two Ohio bicycle-makers made the first successful powered human flight.

As the recreators discovered, the 1903 flyer's design is very unstable and physically demanding for the pilot to control.

Far from the first to attempt human flight, the Wrights' airplane designs were exceptional in that they were the first to place the pilot in control, Kochersberger said.

This control system used a technique called "wing-warping" to turn the airplane left or right. The pilot, lying flat on his stomach, moved his hips side to side in a cradle which in turn pulled a system of wires to subtly twist the wings.

In addition, a horizontal control surface in the front of the airplane was used to keep the airplane in level flight. This surface was easily affected by the wind and required constant efforts by the pilot to maneuver it into place.

Unfortunately, these pilot inputs were imprecise, making it easy to overcorrect, Kochersberger said. This led to an up-and-down, "roller-coaster" effect to the brief flights.

[BenLurkin]

"You're constantly fighting all these controls simultaneously," he said. "You have to continuously fight this airplane's tendency to go out of control."

[Yo-Yo]

Because the Wright Brothers used the cradle control for roll, if you didn't coordinate your turns properly, your weight would cause the aircraft to roll in one direction, causing your body to fall further in that direction, resulting in more roll, etc.

I believe it was Curtis among others that went to the wheel for roll control to counteract this positive feedback loop.

[Cecily]

Wright brothers piloting skills = a wing and a prayer.

[xcamel]

A) beginners luck
B) no preexisting bad habits (or any habits, for that matter)
C) Yo-Yo is exactly "wright" about Glenn Curtiss solving the roll problem with a wheel (and the seat was wired to correct for weight against roll)