Press Release

Wright Flyer Replica May Test Wings at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

By SpaceRef Editor
December 18, 2001
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Engineers from the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics (AIAA) are talking with their counterparts at NASA’s
Dryden Flight Research Center about flying a replica of the Wright
Brothers’ first airplane at Dryden’s facility on Edwards Air Force
Base in California’s Mojave Desert.

The Wright Brothers made history by flying for the first time on
this date in 1903.

AIAA’s Los Angeles section has undertaken the Wright Flyer
project to create and fly a replica of that first airplane. Their
project has already involved wind tunnel tests at NASA’s Ames
Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Dryden and Ames are two of
four NASA Centers involved in cutting-edge aeronautical research.

At Dryden, project manager Frank Cutler is NASA’s point of
contact for the Wright replica venture. Cutler says the flight tests
could take place at Dryden by mid-2002.

SpaceRef staff editor.