Wright replica fails to get off the ground

Washington Times ^ | Thursday, December 18, 2003 | By Joseph Curl

[JohnHuang2]

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. -- One hundred years to the day after Orville and Wilbur Wright soared into history on man's first powered flight, modern-day aviators sought to duplicate the feat, with a little help from 21st-century technology and supercomputers.

They flopped badly.

[JohnHuang2]

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Quote of the Day by MissAmericanPie

[ALASKA]

Wright replica fails to get off the ground

Does this mean we have to start over?

[lepton]

Using a crew of Wright ancestors

Why is it that people can't figure out the difference between ancestors and descendants (mentioned later in the sentence)?

[supercat]

Most modern airplane designs are aerodynamically stable. The Wright Brothers' Flyer isn't. Although the Flyer's instability probably makes it much harder to fly than its modern counterparts, it does have a decided advantage. A modern aircraft which stalls will fall into a descent pattern where it will pick up airspeed until either (1) it has enough airspeed to fly again, or (2) the ground gets in the way. Unfortunately, hitting the ground with a rate of descent nearly equal to flight speed is not apt to be very good for an aircraft or its pilot. By contrast, the Wright Brothers' design will fall into a descent pattern in which the plain does not pick up much airspeed. This means that in case of a stall the plane won't be able to recover, but it also means the pilot and plane are likely to end up in one piece.